Künstler - - Stift Admont

Johann Knopf
*Wünschmichelbach near Weinheim 1866–1910, Wiesloch Clinic
Pseudonym from Prinzhorn: “Johann Knüpfer”
no image available
After the death of his mother in 1895, the formerly solid baker from the Forest
of Odes, factory worker and mechanic allowed himself to be convinced to marry.
He became unhappy, delusional, beat his wife, roved about and went to jail for
begging and assault.
In 1903, he stabbed himself in the stomach with a pocketknife “because of the
awful harassment, because of the torture”. The hospital in Mannheim transferred
him to the Heidelberg Clinic, where he felt as though he was being followed and
spoke of religious visions: He was the “resurrection”, no one had suffered as
much as he had, not even Christ. He was close to animals and claimed to
understand the voices of the birds.
Knopf drew and wrote on every piece of paper "with religious zeal”. He rejected
praise for his work, since his only concern was that everything was “correct”.
“Truth” was what he had to reveal, the holy and the murderous, which only he
knew.
He created thick networks of writing in the empty spaces of his drawings, filled
with his messages, marked with the names of places in the Forest of Odes and
the biblical genealogies from Abraham forward.
Reports on the culprits of “secret murderous acts” stemmed from these or led to
the beloved farm of his grandparents. He painted this numerous times, open,
bright red, with free-ranging animals, the sun and birds.
On another pieces of paper, the sun shone as monstrance which appeared to him
as: “The splendour of my saviour Jesus Christ.”
The Christ-like figure, however, is also a hunter, armed with a razor, stiletto and
rifle, standing against (evil) harpies with the heads of women. Birds, which Knopf
believed he could understand precisely, appeared in many drawings, often large
and black, like messengers of death.
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