Walther Klemm was a famous German woodblock carver and illustrator (Goethe’s Reineke Fuchs, Grimm’s fairy tales, and other children’s books). The topic of skating was particularly close to his heart, and he depicted it in his paintings, woodcuts, and etchings. He studied art history at the University of Wien (Vienna) and took courses in drawing at the School of Applied Arts and the Art Academy. He joined the Berlin Secession in 1910 and beginning in 1913 lectured graphic arts at the School of Visual Arts in Weimar. From 1919-21 Klemm worked as a form master of the graphic print shop at the State Bauhaus. After World War II, Klemm had a leading role in the reconstruction of the Art Academy of Weimar, where he was named an honorary senator in 1952.
Klemm was asked by Reich culture warden Edwin Redslob (1884-1973) to provide Skating on the Tennis Court, woodcuts, and graphics for the 1928 art competitions. He won the bronze medal with his painting Skating on the Tennis Court in 1928. The painting was acquired by the Reich Ministry of the Interior after the exhibition. Apparently, the Ministry then sold or gave away the painting to the DRAfL, the predecessor of the National Olympic Committee, because IOC member Theodor Lewald later gave it to Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner (1880-1963) as a thank-you gift for his work as attaché to the German team. The other submitted works of 1928 were an etching (Transverse Jump), and two woodcuts (Mountain Ascent and Swimming Pool).
Germany