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Michael Vennemann


Michael Georg Maria Vennemann (born Sept.12, 1955 in Gütersloh/Westphalia) is a German writer and poet. His main field are novels, poems and short stories.

As a painter Vennemann was known mostly by an elderly clientèle. This has considerably changed during the last year as requests concerning his paintings grew.

As a writer he had established himself in the 70ties with his poem AlphaLit and presently with his great novels “Weißer Rauch im Vatikan”, “Der Letzte Papst” und “Fürchte Dich nicht, Petrus Romanus”. As a painter he has been known via his exhibition in Amersfort (NL) und Düren (D) in the 70ties and in Hamburg in the middle of the 80ties with his travelling exhibition across the Hamburg libraries HÖB “Spiel nicht auch mit den behinderten Kindern” (Don’t play with handicapped children).

Biography:

Michael Vennemann descends from an old German merchant family from the north of Westphalia and the “Oldenburger Land”. The family of his father retailed wholesale trade in the south of Bremen. Vennemann's father, Hermann Vennemann (1918 – 1998), was a learned draper in Haren/Emsland. He married in his first wife, the daughter of his master of apprentice and had with her a child.

In 1939 he joined the “Wehrmacht” and in 1945 he was badly wounded. 1946: death of his wife after giving birth to their first daughter, second marriage with Margret, née Laufenberg from Gütersloh near Bielefeld. From that period date three children, the youngest: Michael Vennemann.

The family life was characterized by a strict upbringing to work (works ennobles), punctuality (Punctuality is the politeness of kings) and correct appearance (Clothes make the Man).

Beyond doubt enthroned the maxim of the family: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you!

Michael made also an apprenticeship as a commercial- and industrial clerk at first in Emmerich, later London and Hamburg, than acquired higher education entrance qualification in Essen/Ruhr, studied in Hamburg with Birgit Dankert, Gisela Schoch and Ulrich Hofmann to be a librarian.

Employments at AkzoNobel Deutschland, Kühne & Nagel, Gruner + Jahr, town library Elmshorn, DER SPIEGEL.

Travels:

Egypt Turkey Maldive Sri Lanka Seychelles Greece France Italy Spain Kenia America Switzerland Sweden Denmark

Significance for literature:

Vennemanns early work of literature was sentimental over his dispute with his homosexuality. His texts appeared only in respective publications. This changed on his 50th birthday. 2006 in addition to the former two edited volumes with texts of his past 30 years were published:

- Wegweiser – Bilder und Texte –

- Gegangene Wege – Weites Land –

In 2007 followed the tales with a new dispute against the Catholic Church:

- Der Letzte Papst (in engl. „The Last Pope“ may be 2010)

- Weißer Rauch im Vatikan

In 2008 were published:

- Fürchte Dich nicht, Petrus Romanus – Teil 1 + 2

Relevance of his painting:

The talent of art of Vennemann became visible in his early years but without noticeable advancement. His concrete paintings like the picture “Hungernde Frau” or much stronger in “Ohne Worte 1” make obvious very early his dispute with the political issues of post-war era and the sheer insanity of arms races. On the other side you will find the mix of two realities in his picture “Ohne Worte 1” – the mixture the telling imagination, which he be master of also in the literary.

Beside of his concrete paintings there you will find more the cubistic and abstract works like “Raum Geben” or “Hoffnung”. Vennemann found his own painting style in the mix of the concrete and the abstract, e.g. in the paintings “Phönix aus der Asche” or “Planeten” or “Schwan mit Auster”. So his oeuvre connects his literary merits and those as a painter.

After the failure his great project Triptychon, a modern altarpiece for a German dome, he turns away from his own painting and take to the pen.

Today his works are mostly noted by an elder public, but after the presentation of his paintings on the internet, also the younger people get more and more interested.

Works:

Whole and book edition

Wegweiser - Bilder und Texte. ISBN: 978-3-00-020153-0

Gegangene Wege - Weites Land. ISBN: 978-3-00-020154-7

Der Letzte Papst. ISBN: 978-3-00-020038-0

Weißer Rauch im Vatikan. ISBN: 978-3-00-0224980

Fürchte Dich nicht, Petrus Romanus - Teil 1 -. ISBN: 978-3-00-025347-8

Fürchte Dich nicht, Petrus Romanus - Teil 2 -. ISBN: 978-3-00-025348-5

Weblink:

https://portal.d-nb.de/opac.htm?query=Michael+Vennemann&method=simpleSearch – Books in the „Deutsche Nationalbibliothek”

http://www.michael-vennemann.de – Books, Pictures, Activities, Cats