Gottlieb Scharff (1905–1991)

Is art more bound to truth or to beauty? This debate is probably as old as art itself. And just as humanity has produced so many artists, so too have their works offered so many answers to this question. Answers ranging from the false idyll of ‘roaring stags’ or the ‘millennial’ blood-and-soil kitsch of heroes, to the deliberate distortion and ugliness that largely characterises contemporary art as the supposedly only appropriate expression of these ‘crisis-ridden’ and ‘apocalyptic’ times.
The “painter and draughtsman of the Kemnath region”, Gottlieb Scharff, whose work is the subject of a new special exhibition at the Kemnath Local History Museum marking the 120th anniversary of his birth and commemorating the 35th anniversary of his death, understood in his own way how to steer clear of these two extremes. Alongside his favourite poet, Adalbert Stifter, he sought the “clear and beautiful” in a world that, for much of his eighty-six-year life, was anything but an Elysium, and strove to “depict” it truthfully.
It was likely not least his austere homeland, ‘portrayed’ from ever-changing perspectives with unflagging enthusiasm, that instilled in his son Gottlieb Scharff little inclination towards either the uglifying or the idyllising excesses. The down-to-earth Upper Palatinate civil servant’s son, who was born in Kemnath in 1905 and grew up there in the buildings of the former Franciscan monastery, never opted for a mere “artistic existence”. Although his passion for painting had already been awakened whilst he was still at primary school, he decided of his own accord to pursue a “bread-and-butter profession”.
However, the nature-loving lad’s hopes of becoming a forester were quickly dashed: vacancies in this field were few and far between. Yet another, more fruitful path soon opened up for him: as a teacher, Scharff was able to cultivate and pass on his love of art not only as a hobby but also in his profession. Over the decades, he rose to become a specialist advisor for art education at the Upper Franconian government’s education department and a trainer for art teachers at the Bayreuth University of Education.
Throughout Scharff’s long life, his artistic creativity remained virtually unbroken. Even during the Second World War, which took him to Italy as a soldier, he attempted to capture the beautiful motifs of the country to which he had been consigned under such grim circumstances with his pencil. When he was taken prisoner at the end of the war, he set up a small art school in the camp near Rimini together with other artists and architects who had been conscripted into military service.
In 1948, Scharff returned from captivity to Bavaria and worked for several years in Arzberg as a designer of patterns for porcelain objects. Some of these designs are also on display at the Kemnath Museum. They complement the cross-section of the work by the artist, who died in 1991, which has also been recognised at numerous exhibitions both at home and abroad.
Anyone who takes the time to absorb the drawings, watercolours and oil paintings compiled by the Kemnath Local History Working and Support Group in the Alte Fronveste will certainly not fail to recognise the ‘truth’ of these unvarnished yet beautiful depictions of our rugged local landscape. At the same time, visitors will rediscover many things that have long since fallen victim to the ‘ravages of time’ in and around Kemnath, but which have been preserved thanks to Scharff’s pencil. Furthermore, the public can look forward to seeing several works from the period of Scharff’s captivity as a prisoner of war, as well as porcelain artworks, which have never before been shown in public. The exhibition, themed “Views and Insights from Kemnath 100 Years Ago”, curated by the well-known Kemnath artist and Scharff pupil Rainer Sollfrank, can be visited from 1 February at the Kemnath Local History and Small Arms Museum, Trautenbergstraße 36, on Sundays from 2 pm to 4 pm and, on the first Sunday of every month, additionally from 10 am to 12 noon. Admission is free.

Last edited on 15.04.2026