A painter, draughtsman, and commercial artist, Schwann was born in 1893 in Germany and passed away in 1969 in East Berlin. He later worked in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) under the pseudonym Nilgreen.
Since 1912, Schwann mainly worked in Berlin and focused on creating industrial landscapes during the 1920s. In 1925, he became the leader of a group called “the abstract ones,” which later changed its name to “the up-to-date ones.” In the 1930s, influenced by East Asian painting, Schwann began experimenting with vibrant landscape watercolors. This artistic shift aligned with the Soviet cultural policy in the GDR, where socialist realism became the dominant artistic style starting in 1949.
Schwann studied at the Strassburger College of Arts and Crafts from 1908 to 1912. From 1912 until 1915, he trained under Emil Orlik and Emil Rudolf White at the teaching institute of the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Berlin. In 1921, he joined the storm movement. Then, in 1925, he assumed the leadership of the group known as “the abstract ones,” which later evolved into “the up-to-date ones.” In 1928, Schwann became a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, he faced an exhibition ban. After the end of World War II in 1945, Schwann served as a professor at the University for Screen and Art in Berlin Charlottenburg until 1951. During the years 1947 to 1949, he collaborated with Karl Hofer in publishing the magazine “Screen and Art.” In 1955, he became a professor at the Academy of Art Berlin Weissensee, where he remained until 1958.
www.ftn-books.com has the Nerlinger book from 1947 now available
