Heinz Braun

Braun was born into a modest background. His mother was a tailor and his father a taxi driver. After completing school, he became a mail carrier. His father occasionally painted, and Braun, an autodidact, followed his example. He married Elisabeth Schmelzer in 1965 and moved to Germering, at the outskirts of his native Munich. There he continued to work as a postman. In January 1968, the couple had a son they named Alexander. In 1966 he had a nervous breakdown. After that, he began to create abstract works. In 1979 Braun became unable to work due to a walking disability. He retired from the post office and began to receive a disability pension. ==Artistic work ==

Braun painted at least since completing school, but from 1951 onward, he devoted himself more and more to painting. In the beginning, his paintings were mainly decorative art, but gradually his personal style got more expressive and unconventional. From about 1971, Braun painted with oils on canvas in a style that was partly photo-realistic and partly surreal. In 1974, Braun became acquainted with Herbert Achternbusch, a German independent movie director, and played leading parts in some of his productions. He is remembered as a bulky and boisterous man, 2 meters (6 feet 4 inches) tall and described as ferocious, in the later years even rabid. ==Death and legacy==

In 1986 Heinz Braun succumbed to cancer. After his death both the Munich Stadtmuseum and the Kunsthalle Emden dedicated solo exhibitions to his artwork. The "Cycle Großhadern", his last drawings that were created while at the Klinikum Großhadern, a hospital of Munich, now is part of the permanent exhibition of the Kunsthalle Emden. Additionally, works by Braun are housed in the collection of the Munich Stadtmuseum, in the Lenbachhaus Munich, and also in various private foundations and numerous private collections. The city of Germering has named a hall of the civic center after Heinz Braun. The respected Süddeutsche Zeitung called his works an elemental power and himself an event of nature because of the impressive force of his paintings. == Public collections ==

• Lenbachhaus, Munich • Museen der Stadt Regensburg • Municipal Art Gallery in the Cordonhaus, Cham • Museen der Stadt Dachau • City of Germering • Stadtmuseum Munich • Kunsthalle Emden • Museum für aktuelle Kunst – Sammlung Hurrle Durbach bei Offenburg == Filmography ==

The following is a selection of Braun's filmography: • 1975 – Das Andechser Gefühl (The Andechs feeling) • 1976 – Die Atlantikschwimmer (The Atlantic swimmers) • 1977 – Bierkampf (Beerfight) • 1978 – Servus Bayern (Goodbye Bavaria) • 1978 – Der junge Mönch (The young monk) • 1979 – Der Komantsche (The Comanche) ==References==