Hans Kloss (artist)

Kloss was born in Ohlau, Silesia, on 12 July 1938. He trained as a ceramics painter, and studied at the Fachschule für Gestaltung in Schwäbisch Gmünd, a town in the eastern part of Baden-Württemberg, where he settled in 1953. In 1969 he moved to the neighboring town of Lorch, where he has resided since. [1]

Kloss' most famous work is his Staufer-Rundbild, a panoramic painting depicting in great detail the history of the House of Hohenstaufen, a powerful ruling house in the 12th and 13th centuries. Located in Lorch Monastery,[2] his panorama is 30 m (98 ft) long and 4.5 m (15 ft) tall.[3][4] He started the painting in 1997, and completed it in 2002, the 900th anniversary of the monastery.[5][6] Starting in 2012, Kloss was working on a new 47 square meter Staufersaga-Panorama, which he completed in 2015. It can be seen in the new Panoramamuseum Schwäbisch Gmünd.[7]

A monumental altar of his, in the style of Jerg Ratgeb, was bought by the Sammlung Würth in 2004.

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  A detail of Staufer-Rundbild (2002)
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  Hohenrechberg (2002)
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  Umbettung von Herzog Friedrich I. (2005)
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  Der Geiger zu Gmünd (2006), inspired by a poem of the same name by Justinus Kerner
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  Kloss' studio, with his Staufersaga still in progress, 2013

For his work, Kloss has received the Premio Internazionale Federichino of Iesi, Italy in 2004; the Staufermedaille of the state of Baden-Württemberg in 2005;[8] and the Irenen-Preis of the Freundeskreis Königin Irene Maria von Byzanz e.V. of Göppingen in 2003.[9]

Kloss was formerly married to Maria Kloss, a fellow painter. Kloss was a member of the Social Democratic Party, and was a member of Lorch's municipal council, starting in the late 1970s. He was part of the administration and finance committee.[10] He left the council in 2009, saying he was disappointed about the lack of estimation of his work.[11]

• Lange-Greve, Susanne (2011). Hans Kloss: Maler, Grafiker, Zeichner; alles unter einem Himmel. Unterm Stein: Sonderveröffentlichung. Vol. 1. Schwäbisch Gmünd: Der einhorn-Verlag. ISBN 9783936373615.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hans Kloss.

• Official website (in German)