Fritz Neumann (AKA Ric)

Fritz Neumann, AKA Ric (German, 1897-1984) was a painter, graphic artist and draughtsman primarily known for his Cubist, Abstract/Expressionist and Naturalist/Representational oil paintings, watercolors and etchings in color and B&W, as well as drawings in pastel and charcoal—under both his real name and that of his pseudonym name of ‘Ric’—of which we have a note from the artist regarding his pseudonym (see below). Neumann worked in several mediums to include: Oil, watercolor, drypoint/etching, as well as drawings in pastel and charcoal and he is mostly known for motifs such as: Landscapes, cityscapes, streetscenes, marine/seascape scenes with fishing boats/ships/sailboats, architectural/buildings/churches, waterfowl/birds, other animals (cats, dogs, tigers, horses, fish), nocturnes and religious/inspirational subjects.

There has been a lot of confusion over the years regarding the unknown artist named ‘Ric’ and with the association to the German artist, Fritz Neumann, as well as questions about the specific paper used for many of the 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 or inside the silhouette of Holstentor City Gate in Lübeck). The respective artwork features modern Abstract as well as Cubist and Naturalist styles for the oils and etchings which have been bought and sold, as well as posted on various sites online in recent decades with no clear answer as to their individual and/or shared identities. Specific blog sites devoted to, and about this unknown and collected artist of Ric, had even 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, institutions and specific collectors, his true identity has now been discovered and more light can now be shed on the ONE artist who used both his real name and that of his pseudonym of Ric during his career, as well as fully identifying the *JCB publisher of the prints!!! So, a big thank you goes out to collector, Christian Mahnke for his dedication, perseverance and tremendous help in finally figuring out the mystery and completing this long-time puzzle, as well as keeping me in the loop. You can read his most current updates on the REAL Fritz Neumann/AKA Ric as well as view numerous examples of Neumann’s art and other information on his blog site ric-unknownartist.projektemacher.org.

Fritz Neumann, AKA Ric was born Franz Robert Fritz Neumann on December 6, 1897 in Berlin, Germany to typesetter and letter-press printer, Ludwig Karl Franz Neumann (1858-1933) and Clara Emilie Emma (née Wusterhausen) Neumann (1871-1942, AKA Wusterhauser/Wusterhause) who were married September 29, 1893 in Berlin, and he had a younger brother, Wilhelm Franz Rudolf Neumann (1901-    ). The family resided at Lettestraße 1, Berlin and Fritz Neumann studied art from 1912-1916. From old records, he was enrolled for at least one semester at the Akademische Hochschule für die Bildenden Künste (Academic College of Fine Arts) in the winter semester of 1912/13 and while at art school, he met his future wife, fellow painter and draughtswoman, Anna Hedwig “Hede” Klinge (German, b. Sept. 21, 1895-d. Nov. 5, 1980).

During WWI, Neumann served in the German Army and fought in the trenches at the ‘Battle of Verdun’, France which was one of the longest and most-ferocious battles of the war. After the war he managed an advertising studio and later married Hede (née Klinge) Neumann on May 2, 1925, in Mitte, a borough of Berlin, but the couple never had children. Circa the 1920s, Neumann also made contributions to the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (DAZ, German General Newspaper). By 1930, Neumann decided to become a freelance painter and etcher and it was around this time that the couple resided and maintained their studio in Spandau/Haselhorst, Germany, where they lived for the rest of their lives. From 1933-1945, his wife was listed as being a member of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts (Reichskunstkammer, [RKK]) which was compulsory for all German creative artists after being established by law in Nazi Germany in 1933—no record has been found for Fritz yet, though most likely, he was a member as well. Every artist had to apply for membership on presentation of an Aryan certificate and if an artist received a rejected inscription de facto, their art was labeled as “degenerate art” and resulted in an occupational ban from painting exhibiting and publishing any and all artwork. To further acknowledge his likely membership in the RKK, both he and his wife actively published and sold various prints from the mid-late 1930s through the publisher and art dealer, Kunstverlag J.C. Blumenberg, Import-Export (*JCB, For: Josef Carl Blumenberg [German, 1880-1949]) located out of Heiligenhafen in Holstein, Germany (*See publisher biography below)—His wife’s works were published under her maiden name as, Hede Klinge or sometimes her hyphenated name of Hede Klinge-Neumann, and were often simply signed Klinge, but like her husband, she also used a pseudonym name of ‘Dienhoff’ for some of her works.

Fritz Neumann later served in WWII from the beginning of the war, but it didn’t turn out as bad for him that time, and he stated, “I painted more than I fought during the war. My company commander was a professor, and he had  a lot of understanding for it.” After the war, Neumann continued to paint and switched from the drypoint etching technique to the acid-based technique for his etchings. From that point forward, he made a decent living working with several print-publishers, art dealers and distributors like Amsler & Ruthardt, Vagart & Co. as well as continued his relationship with Kunstverlag J.C. Blumenberg.

Circa the early 1960s, Fritz Neumann started to have a lot of success selling his paintings and etchings not only in Europe, but also abroad in America. He continued working not only under his real name, but also incorporated the pseudonym of ‘Ric’ for some of his paintings and etchings which were distributed and sold with the help of his long-time art dealer, Walter Tetzlaff of J.C. Blumenberg or through various other art dealers and galleries. His wife Hede also continued to publish some of her colored etchings through J.C. Blumenberg during that time period, which were similar to Fritz’s etchings and often simply signed with her maiden of Klinge. 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 stock that featured their blindstamp with initials ‘JCB’ within a shield, in the lower paper margins, nice platemarks and wide margins -or- the shield incorporated inside the silhouette of Holstentor City Gate in Lübeck. *See JCB blindstamps and trademark logo examples below. Here in the United States, Neumann’s paintings and etchings (under both his real name and pseudonym) were represented directly through Walter Meibohm of Walter Meibohm Fine Arts (W.M.F.A.) in East Aurora, New York (Now simply known as Meibohm Fine Arts) and continue to be sold by our gallery to this day. According to our old invoice records, Neumann’s residence and studio in Spandau/Haselhorst was located at Gartenfelder Strasse 132h, which is a borough of Berlin, and his real name for that address shows up in old city directories going back to the 1930s.

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), 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, 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's Pseudonym of 'Ric' from Fritz Neumann:

Click to Supersize

Neumann was later featured in a 1972 article of the Spandauer Volksblatt (Spandau People’s Newpaper) titled, “Visual Artists in Spandau: Sailboats for millionaries and birds for themselves”, by Uwe-Michael Troppenz (Saturday, February 19, 1972). Neumann elaborated on the article’s title by saying, that he sold his marine scenes with boat motifs “for millionaires”, Spandau motifs “for the people” and birds “for himself”. The article also featured a nice portrait photo of Fritz standing next to one of his modern sailboat paintings (which can be seen on the artist’s page of our website at right, along with various examples of his artwork). Over the course of his career, Neumann sketched and painted throughout Germany, Greece, Venice, Amsterdam as well as  Paris and his work can be found in the Museum Spandau, Berlin, in addition to numerous private collections around the world. Neumann’s wife Hede, passed away on November 5, 1980 and Fritz passed away a few years later on June 8, 1984 in the Spandau Municipal Hospital, Kladower Damm 221, Germany (now known as the Havelhöhe Community Hospital).  

Throughout the 19th, 20th & 21st centuries, there have been several other similarly-named artists which have sometimes been misattributed to this ‘more-modern’ artist Fritz Neumann (AKA Ric, German, 1897-1984) in countless art auctions, galleries, online auction sites, websites and blogs around the world which are all incorrect for this artist and still continues to this day, including, but not limited to:

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

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

Fritz Neumann-Hegenberg (German, 1884-1924)

Fritz Neumann (German, 1928-2014)

Signature Examples for Fritz Neumann:

Signature Example for Fritz Neumann's Pseudonym of 'Ric'

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

Logos Used On Kunsterverlag J.C. Blumenberg ‘JCB’ Stationary c1960s:

‘JCB’ Shield Blindstamp Examples:

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 Meibom Fine Arts, Inc., East Aurora, NY, 14052, meibohmfinearts.com, Sources: A big thank you to collector & researcher, Christian Mahnke, of projektemacher.org & blog ric-unknownartist.projektemacher.org, for finally figuring out the mystery of the pseudonym ‘Ric’ to the real artist Franz Robert Fritz Neumann (German, 1897-1984), with his sources to include, “Standesamt Berlin 9 (IX), Heiratsregister, Nr. 131, 1925”, Translated article & portrait photograph in the, Spandauer Volksblatt, “Visual Artists in Spandau: Sailboats for millionaries and birds for themselves”, by Uwe-Michael Troppenz, Saturday, February 19, 1972 with the poor quality halftone photograph enhanced with the help of AI.Nero Image Upscaler at ai.nero.com/image-upscaler, Academy of Fine Ats Records “Alphabetical index of names WS 1909/10 to SS 1924 of the Academy of Fine Arts, page 92, shelfmark UdK Archive 6-204”, membership register of the Reichskunstkammer Berlin for Hedwig Klinge-Neumann, “Shelfmark A Rep. 243-04 No. 6263 in the Berlin State Archives”, Marriage Certificate, “Standesamt Berlin 9 (IX), Heiratsregister, Nr. 131/1925”, Death Certificate, “Standesamt Spandau von Berlin, Sterberegister, Nr. 1476/1984” & Death Register of Anna Hedwig Klinge-Neumann “Ehe Frau, vestorben, (Standesamt Spandau von Berlin, Nr. 3262/1980), leiter des Standesamtes”, as well as numerous emails, documents and photos; ric-unknownartist.blogspot.com; Ancestry.com, “Franz Robert Fritz Neumann” & “Anna Hedwig Klinge”; German Death Register, “Franz Robert Fritz Neumann”, #1476; Wikipedia; Geneanet, geneanet.org , “Ludwig Karl Franz Neumann”, “Clara Emilie Emma Wusterhausen”, “Franz Robert Fritz Neumann” & “Wilhelm Franz Rudolf Neumann”; Das Stadtgeschichtliche Museum Spandau, /berlin.museum-digital.de, museum-digital berlin, “Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Spandau Sonstige [III A Bi So 11]: Flamingo; Fritz Neumann (Maler) (1897-1984); J.C. Blumenberg (Kunstverlag)”)