The great Ferry Ahrlé who celebrated success as a painter, draughtsman and author, died at the age of 93 on 4 April 2018 in Frankfurt am Main. Until shortly before his death, he still created numerous works, including a large-scale mural for the Leipzig restaurant "Augustiner", which opened in March of that year.
The highly decorated artist, who was awarded, among others, the "Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse" (1985), the "Goethe-Plakette" of the city of Frankfurt am Main (2004) and the "Hessischer Verdienstorden" (2014), is one of the most renowned artists in Germany. In his artistic work he devoted himself to different subjects and themes, each of which met with great approval and recognition. Born in Frankfurt am Main in the 1920s and trained at the Berlin Hochschule für Bildende Kunst under Professors Gerhard Ullrich and Max Kaus, he transferred 20th-century art into the modern era.
His nationally and internationally esteemed works, including numerous portraits of important personalities, are in private and state ownership (such as in the Burgtheater in Vienna or in the Römer, City of Frankfurt am Main). As versatile as the artist himself is his Œuvre. In the 50s, he was commissioned by Constantin Film AG to create film posters for films by Fellini, Bergmann, Buñuel, Truffaut and Polanski. In the 1960s he lived and worked in Paris, devoting himself to urban landscapes and architecture. In 1965 he returned to Frankfurt am Main.
Other influential works were created, such as the cycle "Painted Music", a painterly interpretation of important musical works of the classical period. Ferry Ahrlé was also present on television for decades. He wrote the scripts for his series such as "Da sind sie wieder" or "Galerie der Straße" and appeared himself in various roles. The TV series "Sehr ähnlich, wer soll's denn sein", in which he talks to his interviewees and draws them at the same time, became legendary. Among the interview partners were Maria Schell, Erika Pluhar, Johannes Heesters and Yehudi Menuhin. For this special kind of portraiture "in double form" Ferry Ahrlé received the "Golden Award" at the 1980 International Film and Television Festival in New York.
Work cycles on the life and works of E.T.A. Hoffmann and on poems by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Christian Morgenstern and Joachim Ringelnatz followed. In addition, Ferry Ahrlé was active as a book author and published numerous publications. In 2014, the biography "Jahre wie Tage" (Years like Days) was published with a foreword by his friend Hilmar Hoffmann, the former head of the culture department of the city of Frankfurt am Main.
The artist also took time for young talent again and again. From 2005 to 2013, he was the artistic director of the jury for the children's painting competition organized by the Frankfurt Trifels Verlag.
Ferry Ahrlé lived and worked in Frankfurt am Main and Berlin. <link http: www.ferry-ahrle.de _blank>Www.ferry-ahrle.de
