In the invitation of the FDP parliamentary group it states: “…when the first elected State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia convened for the very first time in October 1946, among the ten members of the liberal parliamentary group was the painter Friedrich Wilhelm Mundinger. The native of Offenburg was at times chairman of the Westphalian Artists’ Association and belonged to the state parliament until June 1950. Our special thanks go to Dieter Günther Baumhoff, who, as Mundinger’s grandson, has made available the works of his grandfather, who passed away in 1965, for the vernissage. The FDP parliamentary group wishes to use the exhibition of his colorful watercolors to commemorate the birth of democracy in North Rhine-Westphalia.”

After Mundinger’s death in 1965, the gallery owner Müller in Remscheid – now also deceased – took over about 200 watercolors. According to his research, there were exhibitions of Mundinger’s watercolors in Dresden in September 1949 on the occasion of the 2nd German Art Exhibition, as well as in Düsseldorf at the Kunsthalle in 1951. Further exhibitions took place in the 1950s in Hagen/Westphalia and at the Secession in Münster. An early oil painting from 1926 is also kept in the storage of the LWL Museum in Münster. In February 1974, a major Mundinger exhibition was held at the Georg Müller Gallery in cooperation with the company Vogel. Another exhibition of Mundinger’s watercolors was organized by the gallery owner in October 1995 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death.

Friedrich Wilhelm Mundinger is best known for his landscapes. The fact that, starting around 1948, he completely changed his painting style, became more abstract, and should certainly be counted among the Expressionists today, is less well known. Quite unusual for a watercolor painter are his large formats (up to 70 x 100 cm). About 40 excellently preserved examples from the years 1947 to 1960 still exist.

For those who would like to delve deeper into the history of the Mundinger family, we recommend reading “Ajor, die Halbjüdin” (Ajor, the Half-Jewess) by Roja Baumhoff, née Mundinger, published by Frieling Verlag under ISBN 978-3-8280-3525-6.

Dieter Baumhoff has self-published an account of members of his family who were particularly affected by National Socialism under ISBN 978-3-00-073997-3 as a contemporary document:

“We are only links in a chain – My family during the Nazi regime” by Dieter Günther Baumhoff.