Heinz Gaugel

Heinz Gaugel (August 25,1927-December 28, 2000) was a German-Canadian artist. He created multiple installations in the US and Canada, the most well-known of which is the Behalt cyclorama at the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center (AMHC) in Holmes County, Ohio.

Early life and education Heinz Gaugel was born August 25, 1927, in Eybach in the Black Forest region of Germany, where he grew up speaking Swabish, a dialect similar to the Pennsylvania Dutch spoken by most Amish. He had a brother. He began painting at the age of twelve and was self-taught. He was wounded, captured by the American forces, and taken to a field hospital. He worked as an accountant, then in 1953 started painting professionally, painting multiple murals in northern Ontario. During the trip he stopped in the town of Berlin, Ohio, for lunch, and overheard someone speaking what sounded much like his mother tongue. In 1978, there was growing Amish tourism in the Holmes County area and a resulting frustration expressed by his Amish neighbors with the constant interruptions of their lives by tourists; an Amish blacksmith told him, "I wish there was some place in the area that people could go and find out about why we live the way we do.

In Canada He created a 16'x80' window of slablass at St. Mary's Church in Richmond Hill, Ontario, as well as a 14' tall statue of the Virgin Mary. He created a 5-story tall mural for the facade of the E. L. Crossley school.

In the United States He created an 18'x44' mosaic of Byzantine glass at St. Hyacinth Church in Dunkirk, New York. In 1975 he created a life-size statue of Clinton Rickard, a Tuscarora tribal leader who founded the Indian Defense League; as of 1990 the statue was in place at the New York State Park at Niagara Falls.

Behalt

Gaugel's largest installation and best-known work is the Behalt cyclorama, a 10'x265' oil-on-canvas mural in the round, which he worked on for 14 years from 1978 through 1992. Before starting the mural he researched the history of the Anabaptist movement and travelled to Europe to find descendants of the movement's leaders to study their facial features.

Commissioned Work

In the 1970s, Heinz Gaugel created a sgraffito for a private residence in Pataskala, Ohio. The piece, which is installed on the exterior of the home, depicts scenes of early logging, portraying the strength and skill of the loggers as they work. The earthy tones and dynamic figures capture the intensity of labor in the natural environment. This artwork, crafted in Gaugel's signature style, integrates seamlessly with the architectural design, enhancing the rustic charm of the home while providing a unique glimpse into American labor history. The piece is one of several large-scale sgraffito works by Gaugel, who was known for his attention to historical detail and ability to depict human effort in monumental form.

Techniques Gaugel worked in fresco, Byzantine mosaic, glazed brick, sgraffito, polyurethane enamel, and oil on canvas. A memorial service was held for him in the mural hall at the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center January 7, 2001.