Leseprobe

His younger siblings Paul, Max and Erna Juliane later en­ larged the Heinsohn family over the following years. Stein­ straße was both their workplace and place of residence. The father took over the distillery and wine shop at the age of 33 from his father Peter in 1860. There are no surviving documents regarding Alfred’s childhood and adolescence. Just like the Schwaan artists Franz Bunke, Rudolf Bartels and Peter Paul Draewing, he initially learned the decorative painter trade and attended a vocational school in Hamburg. His mother died in 1894. Afterwards, the younger brother Paul had to become in­ volved in the business of his ill father. In the same year, Al­ fred Heinsohn enrolled in the Weimar KUNSTSCHULE, registry no. 290, at the same time as Otto Tarnogrocki, who was also active in Schwaan. On 13 March 1895, he was fully accepted by the Weimar KUNSTSCHULE, after provisional acceptance had been granted on 1 October 1894. The time between these dates can be seen as a probation period. Heinsohn received instruction from Theodor Hagen and Christian Rohlfs, who gave him important inspiration for his own work. His father died in 1896, and Alfred Heinsohn was ap­ pointed guardian of his younger siblings Paul, Max and Erna Juliane. The inheritance had to be divided among the sib­ lings. Initially, they wanted to keep possession of the family house on Steinstraße 48 (fig. 1) in Hamburg and thus sold two other houses in Hamburg. A report of 27 October 1896 gives us a glimpse of the family situation. ‘The oldest of the wards, Paul, already worked in his father’s business during his father’s lifetime, in a frequented distillery and wine shop on Steinstraße. With the approval of all the other heirs and under the supervision of his sister Juliane Elise, who resides here, he is running this business for the account of the estate with the help of a bookkeeper right now.’ 1 At 19 years old, Paul was trying to secure a declaration of maturity document in order to be able to continue running his father’s business. Maturity, meaning legal age, was 21 years. In the spring of 1897, he wrote a letter to the guardianship authorities: ‘First and foremost I would like to see my declaration of maturity brought about, and in the very short-term, fol­ lowing this, a very timely resolution with my siblings as fellow heirs, so that I will obtain the status of taking over the business on my own, which along with the associated properties is to be run by myself [...].’ 2 These efforts failed and Paul was unsuccessful in running the liquor factory and wine shop. His brother Alfred wrote a letter on 14 July 1898—Paul was of legal age by this time—to a lawyer with the following contents: Abb. 1 WOHN- UND GESCHÄFTSHAUS DER FAMILIE HEINSOHN, WVZ HZ 032 Abb. 2 Charlotte Houwing: PORTRÄT VON ALFRED HEINSOHN 2021, Aquarell mit Bleistift auf Papier, 38×27,5 cm, ICEAC CFVV