a portrait of leading telegraphist peter w. sinden Royal Navy by the german artist hubert Gruter.
oil on board, with historical notes on the reverse.
portrait size ... 385mm wide x 475mm high.
overall frame size ... 600mm wide x 700 mm high.
the painting of leading telegraphist peter w. sinden of the royal navy was painted in cuxhaven naval barracks germany in january 1946. peter sinden who had served on h.m.s. rye during d-day and previously on h.m.s.belfast on arctic convoys was posted to cuxhaven as an e.v.t (Educational and vocational training )instructor. By 1946, the war was over, but thousands of personnel faced a long backlog waiting for their official demobilisation number to be called up. In frontline transit hubs like Cuxhaven, troops faced immense boredom. The Navy used skilled non-commissioned officers like Leading Telegraphist Sinden to keep the troops constructively occupied, ensuring they returned home with useful, employable peacetime skills.
The portrait was painted by Herbert Gruter ( 1902-1987 ) who before being conscripted into the german naval service in 1941 was a leading portrait artist, stage designer and graphic artist with a studio in berlin. before the war he would have charged £50 for a head and shoulders, he received the equivalent from peter sinden, a half pound of tobacco and a half pound of coffee.
hubert gruter ( somtimes spelt grutter ) 1902-1987 was a versatile german painter, graphic artist and stage designer whose career spanned over 6 decades. he successfully modified his career from high-profile commercial and portrait work in pre war berlin to becoming a major figure in the post- war cultural reconstruction of cuxhaven. he deeply explored modern movements that had been banned before and during the war in germany, particularly expressionism and cubism.
hubert gruter studied at the kunstakademie dusseldorf in 1919 and the academy of fine arts in munich 1924-1928. he moved to berlin in 1928 and established a studio and workshop. as well as portraits he won major corporate contracts, designing large scale advertising and promotional graphics for the german imperial mail and heavy industry. in 1943 an allied bomb struck his berlin studio destroying his lifes work up to that point. settling in cuxhaven in 1945 he went on to establish the rosenhof studio. gruter heavily shaped the physical landscape of cuxhaven. he designed murals, mosaics, metalwork and stone reliefs for numerous newly built schools, municipal offices and commercial buildings. his extensive portfolio includes oil paintings, watercolours, chalk/red-chalk drawings, linocuts, lithographs and monotypes. gruter remained active late into his life, producing watercolour lithographs well into the 1980's. to celebrate his 80th birthday, the city of cuxhaven hosted a massive retrospective of his lifes work at the cuxhaven stadttheater. his art is held in the regional collection of the landschaftsverband stade a local cuxhaven estates.
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Following the end of hostilities in 1945, hundreds of thousands of British service members remained stationed in occupied Germany and northern German ports like Cuxhaven for staging, minesweeping operations, and eventual transport back to the UK. Cuxhaven was an important transfer hub after ww2, with thousands of servicemen passing through. the government introduced e.v.t. courses dhaving undertaken an e.v.t.
