The father Erich Bowien, civil engineer and later commercial director of the Rhine port in Weil am Rhein, was the brother of the well-known pastor Otto Bowien. He probably originally came
from a Huguenot family who had immigrated from France, primarily merchants and craftsmen from Mohrungen in East Prussia. During the First World War as major of the pioneers, he received the
highest awards.
The mother Anna-Maria, born Neufeldt, came from a Dutch Mennonite family who had immigrated to East Prussia and was the daughter of the well-known manufacturer and city councilor Adolf
Heinrich Neufeldt from Elbing in East Prussia.
Erwin Bowien's children's shoe in bronze
1900 to 1908
Childhood in Berlin-Charlottenburg, the first 4 years of school in the Schillergymnasium
there
Bowien family in Berlin-Charlottenburg, 1902
1909 to 1917
Adolescence in French-speaking Switzerland
Attended the Collège Latin in Neuchâtel, first regular art education with Professor William Racine at the local school of applied arts
Carl Russ-Suchard
(1838-1925), owner of the Swiss chocolate manufacturer Suchard, is the artist's first patron.He acquires a number of paintings from him
first portrait of his father (with guitar)
Erich Bowien, (father of the artist) and his officers, 1914
1917
first exhibition in the gallery “A la Rose d'Or” in Neuchâtel
1917 to 1918
Participation in the First World War, Bowien is opposite the French in
the Argonne Forest, because of his knowledge of French he serves as an interpreter and translates hostile radio messages
Drawings from the front
military award
Erwin Bowien with his father Erich Bowien, 1917
1918 to 1919
Discharge in Hanover
Participation in evening drawing courses at the trade school in Hanover
1919 to 1920
half a year in Constance on Lake Constance
lifelong friendship with the Enzenroß family, princely forest ranger, in the forest seat on Kilenberg / Lake
Constance
Family and landscape pictures
1920
Award of the Iron Cross to Erwin Bowien
1920 to 1921
Studied at the State Art Academy in Munich with the later founder of Munich New Impressionism,
Professor Robert Engels (decorative wall painting)
Erwin Bowien at the Art Academy in Munich, 1921
1922
half a year of study in Dresden, advised by Professor Richard Müller, who declared the young painter
"done"
Inflation, total breadlessness
City vedute of Danzig, 1923
1923
Training as a drawing teacher at the State Art School Berlin-Schöneberg with Professor Philipp
Franck in Berlin, art history lessons with Professor Oskar Fischel
Exam as a works teacher in Düsseldorf
First encounter with Hans Thoma in Karlsruhe.Started his painting
trips to Kassel, Aachen, Hamburg, Lübeck, Gdansk, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Basel, Königsberg, Hildesheim
Great painting trip to East Prussia on the trail of his ancestors.Stops are Elbing, Mohrungen, Danzig, the Kuhrische Nehrung and Königsberg
1924
Trial year as an art teacher at the Realgymnasium in Hechingen / Hohenzollern
1925 to 1932
Solingen: Art teacher at the Schwertstrasse grammar school from June 19, 1925 to September 30, 1931, over 100
lectures on art history at the Volkshochschule, presentation of all work processes at the Zwinger J.A.Henckels, large family portrait of director Dr.Gontermann, large family portrait of Hanns Heinen and sons, Wupper landscapes, Solingen cityscapes
Art trips to Prague and Vienna (1928), Northern Italy (1929)
Friendship with the family of the editor and poet Hanns Heinen from Solingen
1932 to 1942
Photos from
the former possession of the artist Erwin Bowien
now in the
archive of Dr.Haroun
Ayech
Bowien goes into self-chosen Dutch exile
Building a new existence
Life as a freelance artist in North Holland in Egmond aan den Hoef (in the house of the philosopher
René Descartes, at the ruins of Egmond Castle)
Traveling across the country;Works of important Dutch landscapes: seascapes,
dune pictures, especially in pastel;large series of graphite drawings by Dutch farmers and artisans;City sketches
In 1937 the
municipality of Egmond commissioned the artist Erwin Bowien to portray all children who were born in the municipality of Egmond in the same year as the later Queen Beatrix.In 1937 and 1938 around 20 graphite drawings were made which
are still in the possession of the Dutch royal family and which are known under the name "Egmondse Kinderportretten".
Purchase of pictures by the Museum of Hoorn.The director of the art cabinet acquired
drawings and pastels, which he later bequeathed to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
after the outbreak of war life in material need
Novel cycle "The School of Dilettantes" and "There is a House in Holland", poems and diaries that
will continue for life
Artistic training of painter Dirk Oudes from Ouddorp near Alkmaar
1934
Historical photo: Erwin Bowien (1899-1972) in exile in the Netherlands during a visit by his muse Erna Heinen-Steinhoff (1898-1969) in 1934
Portraits of the Dutch fleet manager, Vice Admiral Brutel de la Rivière, and the friends of the Boeke, Groot,
Hemelrijk, Hünder-Decker, and Swart-Boer families
Great North Africa trip with the Hünder-Decker family to Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, numerous
pastels and graphite drawings from this trip
1940
At dawn on May 10, 1940,
Bowien witnessed the German attack on the Netherlands.He witnessed the bombing of Bergen Airport.In his autobiography he writes: ... the farmers who believed that an accident had happened at the airport ran outside in pajamas and nightgowns.In the air the planes were circling with the devil mark, and I had to tell
the unsuspecting that it means war.
Erwin Bowien was
arrested during the attack by the Wehrmacht in the Netherlands in May 1940.
Erwin Bowien
succeeds, with the help of his friend Hanns Heinen, in the release of a Dutch hostage from Egmond a.d. who was abducted by the German occupiers.To obtain Hoef.
1942
Bowien leaves the Netherlands to avoid being drafted into the Wehrmacht.From
then on, he struggled through Germany without any valid military papers until 1945.
In November 1942 Bowien exhibited in the “Kunstzaal Plaats” in The Hague.Title of the exhibition "Works by E. J.
Bowien"
1942 to 1943
Stayed for half a year in Solingen with the Heinen family;there are a number of
cityscapes in watercolor;the most beautiful representations of Solingen before the destruction
Escape through Germany.Since Bowien had no valid military papers, he was not allowed to spend more than 6 weeks
in one place, otherwise he would have had to register with the authorities.After half a year with the Heinen family in Solingen, he left the city so as not to endanger them and embarked on a journey into the unknown.This is followed by stations on the manor house Ahse near
Soest, in Hannoversch Münden, in Kreuzthal-Eisenbach near Isny, in Augsburg, in Munich, in Garmisch Partenkirchen, in Mittenwald, in Weil am Rhein, in Alsace etc ....In 1943 he became careless and stayed in Augsburg for half a
year.This extended stay is almost his
undoing.He is displayed and can barely save
himself.Many of his works are confiscated by
the Gestapo.
Catalog of works N ° 170 - Augsburg, 1943
1943
After six months in Augsburg, his pictures were confiscated by the Gestapo on the orders of the
Reich Chamber of Culture.These are later destroyed by the effects of war.
1943 to 1945
Escape to Allgäu to Kreuzthal-Eisenbach near Isny;silent landscape painting;literary work "Les heures perdues du matin" u.a.
1944
Bowien no longer ventures out of the Kreuzthal;Protection by the village
policeman Ottmar Meer
1945
after the end of the war return to the Heinen family's home in Solingen;Time of
hunger;literary work: borrowed life, worn clothes (unpublished);Resumption of lectures, extensive landscape oeuvre: Bergisches
Land, Rhineland, portraits, still lifes
Foundation of the artists' colony - "Black House"
Erwin Bowien drawing in the garden of the "Black House", 1946
1946
Erwin Bowien
participates in the founding conference of the Rhenish-Westphalian Writers' Association from June 4-6, 1946 in Lobberich / Ingenhoven Castle (today part of the city of
Nettetal)
Erwin Bowien in Lobberich on the occasion of the founding of the Rhenish-Westphalian Writers' Association, 1946
As an observer, Erwin Bowien draws the war processes in Wuppertal
British military prosecutor in Wuppertal, 1946
1948
through the mediation of the childhood friend Eric Thiébaud from Neuchâtel: trip to Lausanne, where painting
material, oil and pastel colors can be bought for the first time in years;since then periodic stays in Switzerland, especially in the Bernese Oberland, at the
Bieler and Neuenburger See, at the sources of the Rhine and in Ticino
Erich Bowien's father dies
1949
Purchase for 500
DM - a very high sum at the time - by the state government in Düsseldorf of a painting for the art collection of North Rhine-Westphalia.
1950 to 1969
Erwin Bowien divides his life between Solingen and Weil am Rhein;countless trips
through Germany;Main focus: Representation of the Rhine current from the source to the mouth, with special attention to the large Rhenish
cathedrals
1951
Start of the annual trips to Sylt to the Klappholttal Adult Education Center
essential phase in the instruction of his master student Bettina Heinen
1952
Painting trip with his student to Ticino
Friendship with the Fallet, Lehmann and Roth families in Bern and the Eggenberger family in Au / St.Gallen
Erwin Bowien with the Swiss art patron Eduard M. Fallet - Von Castelberg
1953
Painting trip to southern Sweden (invited by Ms. Olson from Helsingborg) accompanied by his student
Bettina
Portrait sketch of painting student Bettina Heinen-Ayech during a painting trip with Erwin Bowien
1954
first trip to Norway, invited by Ms. Lillengen, a Swiss woman married in Norway;(Nygard near Gjövik) important stations on Mjösa and in Sandnessjoen on the island of Alsten
Friendship with the Ottar Lillengen and Per and Arna Milde families;thereafter almost an annual invitation to Norway, often together with Bettina Heinen;purchase of the hut "Bettina-Bo" on the island of Alsten;the journey to Norway ushers in the late work
Start of the picture cycle of Swiss cities
Erwin Bowien drew the finals of the World Cup final in Bern in 1954
1955
Bowien met his other student Amud Uwe Millies
1958
Start of the annual painting trips to Paris
Bowien with his student Bettina in Paris, 1958
1961
Death of his brotherly friend Hanns Heinen in Solingen
1964
Relocation to Weil am Rhein to the parental home to care for the old mother;significant press recognition on the occasion of the exhibition in Paris;cityscapes of Paris are created
Continuation of the Rhine cycle started earlier
1966
Interview on Südwestfunk on December 12th
1968
Mother Anne-Marie Bowien died on June 17, 1968
1969
Death of his close confidante Erna Heinen, née Steinhoff, in Solingen
Painting in the border triangle
1969 to 1971
Painting trips to Algeria to visit his student Bettina Heinen-Ayech;landscapes are created on the Mediterranean in Skikda and from the region around Guelma in eastern Algeria and in the Sahara near Biskra
1970
Marriage to Inken Strohmeyer, née Vogt on July 28th
for the Rhine cycle, the cathedral pictures of Breisach, Freiburg, Worms, Speyer, in Alsace from
Thann and Strasbourg were created;large flower pictures;Writing poems ("100 pearls") for his young wife Inken
1971
largest representation of the Cologne Cathedral;Travel to Finland, Norway and
Algeria
Start of autobiographical transcript
1972
Painting trip to the south of France.Termination of the trip due to health
problems;After previous operations in Solingen, inpatient treatment in the cancer clinic of Dr.Issels in Rottach-Egern
feverish work on his autobiography "The beautiful game between spirit and world, my painter life" (published
1995)
died on December 3rd, 1972 at home in Weil am Rhein;buried in
Weil