Fritz Neumann (AKA Ric)

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Fritz Neumann, AKA Ric (German, 20th C.-    ) painter and graphic artist primarily known for his oil paintings and etchings in color and B&W—under both his own name and that of his pseudonym artist name of ‘Ric’—of which we have a note from him regarding his pseudonym (see below).

There has been a lot of confusion over the years regarding the unknown artist named ‘Ric’ and also for the artist Fritz Neumann, as well as the specific paper that was used for many of their color and B&W etchings that featured the ‘mysterious’ publisher’s blindstamp with initials of ‘JCB’ (J.C. smaller letters intertwined with a larger ‘B’ inside a shield/crest). Their respective artwork of more-modern abstract and cubist styles for their oils and etchings have been bought and sold, and posted on various sites online in recent decades with no clear answer as to their identities. Even some specific blog sites devoted to, and about this unknown and collected artist of Ric, have popped up in recent years with people all trying to solve the mystery of this extremely elusive artist. With a lot of research and help from various people and collectors, we can now shed a bit more light on the artist and JCB publisher of their prints…though his true identity still remains elusive.

Circa the early 1960s, Fritz Neumann had been working as a painter and graphic artist (Maler und Graphiker) out of Haselhorst, Germany, as well as under his pseudonym artist name of ‘Ric’. During that time, he worked directly with the publisher and art dealer, Walter Tetzlaff of Kunstverlag J.C. Blumenberg, Import-Export (JCB, For: Josef Carl Blumenberg [German, 1880-1949]) located out of Heiligenhafen in Holstein, Germany for his etchings. Neumann’s etchings for both his real name and also that of his pseudonym ‘Ric’ were distributed through J.C. Blumenberg on nice heavier wove paper that featured their ‘JCB’ shield blindstamp in the lower paper margin. Neumann also sold his etchings as well as his paintings (under both Neumann and Ric) directly through Walter Meibohm of Walter Meibohm Fine Arts (W.M.F.A.) in East Aurora, New York. According to our old invoice records, Neumann resided and operated from his Haselhorst location at Gartenfelder Strasse 132h, which is a borough of Berlin. In September of 1963, when Walter Meibohm was attempting to clear commercial paintings through U.S. Customs purchased directly from Neumann himself (and also works under his pseudonym of Ric), he requested that Neumann write a statement saying that they were indeed original oil paintings. Neumann promptly sent back a signed letter (see below) which indicated Neumann’s pseudonym alias of Ric, written as follows: “Berlin, Germany, 24. 9. 1963. [date written in blue ink], I, Fritz Neumann, declare that I am the painter of certain works of art: 9 oil paintings painted by me under the name of Ric – and I further declare these paintings are originals. [signed in blue ink] Fritz Neumann, [with artist stamp] Fritz Neumann, Maler und Graphiker, Berlin – Haselhorst, Gartenfelder Str. 132 h, Tel. 38 48 57”.

Letter of Attribution for the Artist Pseudonym of Ric from Fritz Neumann:

Click to Supersize

For now, part of the mystery has been solved regarding the correct attribution of Neumann having the pseudonym of ‘Ric’ and the mystery of the publisher. For a time, we really thought we’d found the correct artist, listed as, Fritz Neumann (German, 1928-2014) and I was able to find a lot of biographical information which seemed to match the associated time period, but in July of 2024, a fellow acquaintance and collector in Germany contacted the surviving son of that particular artist through the associated Oldenburg “Freundeskreis Bildende Kunst” (FBK, Friends of Fine Arts) who forwarded his request onto Neuman’s son, Andreas Neumann who replied via email in July 2024, stating: Unfortunately, my father - Fritz Neumann - is not the same as the painter "Ric". The writing and painting style do not match, and the Berlin address given does not match either. We lived in Ohlenstedt at the time and then moved to Oldenburg. Unfortunately, you will have to keep looking. I hope with more luck. Best wishes from Andreas Neumann

***A big thank you to Christian Mahnke for his help and keeping me in the loop. You can see most current updates on the 'Search for Fritz Neumann/Ric' on his website link.***

So… even though we are a couple steps closer, we’re now basically back to square one trying to find the identity of the correct ‘Fritz Neumann’... What we do know is, there have been several other similarly-named artists which sometimes have been mis-attributed over the years to this ‘more-modern’ artist Fritz Neumann (AKA Ric) in countless auctions, websites and elsewhere which are all incorrect for our artist, to include:

Hermann "Fritz" Neumann (German, 1858-1920)

Friedrich "Fritz" Neumann (German, 1881 -1919)

Fritz Neumann-Hegenberg (German, 1884-1924)

Fritz Neumann (German, c1900-1930)

Fritz Neumann (German, 1928-2014)

 

Signature Examples for Fritz Neumann:


 

Signature Example for Neumann’s Pseudonym of ‘Ric’:

 

Fritz Neumann's Personal Logo from Circa 1960s-1970s from Letterhead in Our Records.

 

Logo Used On Kunsterverlag J.C. Blumenberg ‘JCB’ Stationary:

 

‘JCB’ Shield Blindstamp Example:

 

Kunstverlag J.C. Blumenberg (JCB) Biography:

Kunstverlag J.C. Blumenberg, Lübeck, Germany (Art Publisher, c.1920-c. mid 1980’s) Import–Export, is for the art dealer Josef Carl Blumenberg (German, 1880-1949) who was born in 1880 in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany and attended the Josephinum Grammar School (Gymnasium Josephinum) from 1891-1894. He apprenticed in the Hildesheim bookstore of Hermann Olms and later founded his art publishing business of J.C. Blumenberg, Import-Export, located from his home at Hansestrasse 6 in Lübeck after WWI. They were a successful publishing firm known for their religious art prints as well as other art prints, postcards, etchings etc. Blumenberg’s family went back generations within the diocese of Hildesheim with many Catholic priests in the family to include, Friedrich Blumenberg SJ (1732–1811) and Franz Edmund Blumenberg (1764–1846). His upbringing in the Catholic faith and diocesian connections influenced his early publishing business with art prints and postcards after well-known master works and the like.

Josef Blumenberg married Else (née Schreier) Blumenberg (1882-1945) and his eldest son, Hans Blumenberg (German, 1920-1996) was a well-known author, philosopher and historian. After the allied bombing and destruction of Lübeck during WWII on March 29, 1942 (Palm Sunday), Hans had to interrupt his philosophical studies to help rebuild and assist with his father’s publishing business that they had operated from their home. After the war, Blumenberg’s publishing company was relocated to Bargteheide, a small town in the Hamburg region. After Josef’s passing in 1949, the J.C. Blumenberg publishing company continued operating out of Bargteheide under the direction of Walter Teztaff who had been in correspondence with Josef’s son Hans—as noted from online records dating from 1949. Tetzlaff continued under the same company name of J.C. Blumenberg, Import-Export, later operating out of Hamburg and eventually Lübeck again and then eventually out of Heiligenhafen, Holstein, Germany through circa the mid 1980’s, from our internal records. The last known printed publication I could find online was a reference to a catalog of colored etchings published by J.C. Blumenberg, Lübeck in 1963, which more than likely included the color etchings by Fritz Neumann and those under his pseudonym of ‘Ric’—both artist names of which match the date of 1963 from our old purchase order records for those particular etchings and paintings.

On the colored etchings from the early 1960s by Fritz Neumann and his pseudonym artist name of ‘Ric’, the publisher blindstamp appears in the outer paper margins (usually lower-left) indicated by the intials of ‘JCB’ (J.C. smaller letters at top intertwined with a larger ‘B’ below, inside a shield/crest) which stands for the publishing company of J.C. Blumenberg as mentioned above. Their shield logo of ‘JCB’ is printed directly on old letterhead paper examples from our records from the mid 1950s-mid 1970s, from written correspondences back and forth between Walter Tetzlaff and Walter Meibohm. Mr. Meibohm took yearly art-buying trips to Europe from the mid 1950s-early 1980s and worked directly with many art dealers, galleries and artists alike in the wholesale art trade. He traveled to Europe first while still working for the Thanhardt-Burger Corporation in LaPorte, IN, then under his own art gallery name of Walter Meibohm Fine Arts (W.M.F.A.), located out of East Aurora, NY starting in 1957. Walter maintained good working relationships with all of the dealers and artists over the dacades, creating many long-lasting friendships and he maintained many of those friendships even after his art-buying trips ceased in the early 1980s. Mr. Tetzlaff worked with Walter Meibohm from the mid 1950s through the mid 1970s representing Kunstverlag J.C. Blumenberg, Import–Export from his location in 2447 Heiligenhafen, Holstein, Germany, Post Office Box 127. Tetzlaff also mentioned that he had exclusive wholesale rights during the 1960s for several well-known publishers such as Frost & Reed, Ltd., Bristol, Thomas Ross & Sons, London, and Mansell Publishing, Ltd., Croydon, London as well as representing for other firms such as Royle Publications, Ltd., London, Art Pictural, Paris, and also for the well-known painter Ingfried Henze-Morro (German, 1925-2013) during that time.

I have not been able to find significant biographical information, birth and death dates etc., regarding Walter Tetzlaff yet, except for a few facts about his family from our company records and letters to Walter Meibohm.

(Compiled, translated in parts & written by Mark Strong of Meibohm Fine Arts, Inc., East Aurora, NY, meibohmfinearts.com)

 

 

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