Biography

1858
January 10: Rudolf Heinrich Zille is born in Radeburg near Dresden, the son of Johann Traugott Zill (from 1854: Zille, later also Zill again), a clockmaker and precision locksmith, and his wife Ernestine Louise (née Heinitz).

1862
The family moves to Dresden. The father is imprisoned in the Dresden courthouse, the mother earns barely the bare necessities as a cleaner working from home with the help of Heinrich and his sister Fanny.
The family moves to his grandfather Heinitz in the mining village of Potschappel, where Heinrich Zille attends the village school from 1865 to 1867.

1867
In November, the family moves to Berlin and initially tries to make ends meet by working from home until his father finds work as a mechanic at Siemens & Halske in 1869.

1872
With the help of an inheritance, the family buys a plot of land on Grenzweg in the Lichtenberg district for around 500 thalers and builds a modest house the following year.
Zille finished school and, on the advice of his drawing teacher Spanner, began training as a lithographer at the Fritz Hecht company in Berlin. As a journeyman, he changed workshops several times. He studied as an evening student at the “Königliche Kunstschule” under Carl Domschke and Theodor Hosemann.

1877
October 1: Zille is employed as a reproduction technician at the “Photographische Gesellschaft” in Berlin.

1880-1882
Military service in Frankfurt/Oder and Sonnenburg. A sketchbook with 96 drawings from this period has been preserved. (Mülheim an der Ruhr Art Museum, Themel Collection)

1883
December 15: Marriage to Hulda Frieske, the daughter of a teacher from Fürstenwalde. The young family initially takes an apartment in the Rummelsburger Kiez, Grenzweg. The marriage produced three children: Margarete Zille in 1884, Hans Zille in 1888 and Walter Zille in 1891. The growing family moved to Lichtenberg twice, in 1887 and 1890.

1892
After the “Photographische Gesellschaft” moved its workshops to Charlottenburg, Heinrich Zille and his family also moved to Charlottenburg to the apartment building at Sophie-Charlotte-Straße 88, 4th floor, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Zille’s work brought him into friendly contact with many artists who had their prints printed in the “Photographische Gesellschaft”, in particular with the members of the Berlin Secession, whose bowling evenings he attended.

1899
Zille models for his friend, the sculptor August Kraus, for the (now lost) stone sculpture of the knight Wedigo von Plotho for the Sieges-Allee in the Tiergarten.

1901
Works by Zille are exhibited at the “IV. Kunstausstellung der Berliner Secession – Zeichnende Künste” in the exhibition building at Kantstraße 12.

1903
Accepted into the “Berliner Secession” with two dissenting votes. Drawings by Zille are published for the first time in *Simplicissimus*.

1904
Collaboration on the magazine “Der liebe Augustin” published in Vienna, edited by Gustav Meyrink

1905
Starts working for the magazines “Jugend” and “Lustige Blätter”. From then on, he travels and hikes with artist friends

1907
After 30 years of employment, Zille is dismissed from the “Photographische Gesellschaft” and now lives as a freelance artist.

1908
Publication of the book “Kinder der Straße” and the artist’s booklet “Berliner Rangen” in the publishing house “Lustige Blätter”.

1909
The portfolio “Zwölf Künstler-Drucke” is published by M. Lilienthal.

1910
At the instigation of Max Liebermann, Zille wins the Menzel Prize of the Ullstein publishing house together with Fritz Koch-Gotha.

1913
He becomes a member of the board of the “Freie Secession” after it splits from the “Berliner Secession”.

1914
The Lustige Blätter publishing house publishes “Mein Milljöh. New pictures from Berlin life”. The “Korl und Vadding” series is created for “Ulk”, the supplement to the “Berliner Tageblatt”, with 200 drawings appearing in four installments until July 1918.

1916
The lithograph “Das Eiserne Kreuz” is published in “Der Bildermann”.

1916-1919
The collection of critical drawings “Kriegsmarmelade” is created.

1919
June 9: Hulda Zille dies.
The illustrated book “Zwanglose Geschichten” is published by Gurlitt-Verlag and is confiscated for being too outspoken, the publisher is fined and several of the prints are no longer allowed to be sold.

1920
Zille self-publishes “Die Landpartie. Aus meiner Jugendzeit”.
Collaboration on the chauvinistic joke magazine “Pieron”, editor-in-chief Kurt Tucholsky

1921
The lithographic cycle “Hurengespräche”, which had already been announced in 1919 under the title “Hetärengespräche”, is published by Fritz Gurlitt. Because of the revealing depictions, Zille erases the signatures on the stones. The book is published under a pseudonym, with the wrong year 1913 and without a publisher’s name.

1922
Acquaintance with Otto Nagel

1924
Admitted to the Prussian Academy of Arts at the suggestion of Max Liebermann, at the same time awarded the title of professor.
The book “Berliner Geschichten und Bilder” by Heinrich Zille with an introduction by Max Liebermann and the volume “Die Zeichner des Volkes: Käthe Kollwitz, Heinrich Zille” by Adolf Heilborn are published.

1925
The film “Die Verrufenen. Der fünfte Stand”, directed by Gerhard Lamprecht, premieres in Berlin to great acclaim.
March 21: First “Hofball bei Zille” at the Großes Schauspielhaus with the one-act play “Mein Milljöh” by Hans Brennert and Hans May, followed by a charity ball in Zille costumes. The fifth and last Zille Ball takes place on January 19, 1929 in the Sportpalast.
The “Simplicissimus” prints the lithograph “Modellpause”. Despite the expert opinions of Liebermann, Slevogt, Stuck, Lederer and Kubin, Zille is sentenced to a fine for pornography and the printing plates have to be destroyed.

1926
“Die da unten”, directed by Victor Jansen, is released as a “Zille-Großfilm” without being authorized by Zille.

1927
Carl Boese releases the “Zille film” “Schwere Jungen – leichte Mädchen”. 1929 The film “Großstadtkinder” follows.

1928
Zille’s popularity culminates in major celebrations to mark his 70th birthday. The Märkisches Museum shows the retrospective “Zilles Werdegang”.
Initiated by Otto Nagel, he gives the weekly newspaper “Lachen links” drawings to print. His name appears as a co-founder of the satirical magazine “Eulenspiegel”.

1929
August 9: Heinrich Zille dies in Berlin-Charlottenburg and is given an honorary funeral in Stahnsdorf. More than 2,000 mourners, including Käthe Kollwitz and Erich Mühsam, attend the funeral. Speeches were given by the Lord Mayor Gustav Böß and Zille’s friend, the sculptor August Kraus, among others.
The film “Mutter Krausens Fahrt ins Glück” (Mother Krausen’s Journey into Happiness), dedicated in the credits to the great man and artist Heinrich Zille, was completed after his death under the patronage of Otto Nagel, Käthe Kollwitz and Hans Baluschek.