Ernst Oberhoff

Biography of Ernst Oberhoff

Ernst Oberhoff learned the craft of painting from 1920 to 1923, but was also interested in fine arts, taking evening classes with Gustav Wiethachter at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Barmen during his training.
From 1929 to 1931 Oberhoff continued his studies with Heinrich Campendonk at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. At the age of 26 he became a lecturer and taught for 18 years at the Wuppertal Work School in the field of painting.
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From 1950 to 1953 he settled in Düsseldorf, where he devoted himself to mural painting and teaching at the art academy. He then returned to Wuppertal and was appointed professor in 1970. For fourteen years he was president of the Bergisches Künstler-Genossenschaft. Several contemporary artists, including Wolf Vostell, Joseph Beuys, and Friedrich Julius Scherff, studied with him. Known as the "Origeté Stone of Wuppertal painting", Oberhoff presented a figurative-geometric version of art in the spirit of the times.
His works include the paintings "Colorful Landscape" and "Hogel Monastery", which fetched high prices at Christie's auction in Amsterdam after his death. He also left a lasting monument with the design of the relief at the entrance door of the Protestant church in Lottinghausen, as well as the abstract window in the octagonal tower of the New Reformed Church on Sophienstraße in Elberfeld and the elaborate design of the staircase of the Wuppertal police presidency.