To all puzzle enthusiasts - see our one-of-a-kind art puzzles in the Giftshop



Fritz Stehwien

Fritz Stehwien (1914-2008) was a German-Canadian artist, whose passion for the beauty inherent in nature, architecture, and people was translated into a long and prolific painting career. He was born in a small town near Tangermünde, in the eastern province of Saxony Anhalt in Germany. As it did many in the early 20th century, the Second World War affected his life profoundly. A pacifist by nature, he was drafted into the military and continued to create art throughout his service, painting and sketching the landscapes he saw and the people he met. After a tumultuous period during and after the war, he arrived in the city of Halle, where he enrolled in the prestigious Burg Giebichenstein school of art. It was here that he met fellow artist Waltraude, who would later become his wife and mother of his four children. After clandestinely leaving East Germany due to its then communist government, the young family settled for a period in the south western province of Baden-Württemberg. In the 1960s, an opportunity to move to Canada arose and the young family took the chance to immigrate, and to make a fresh start in this vast country. Inspired by the unique prairie vistas, Stehwien continued to paint his adopted homeland, capturing the beauty of his new surroundings as they changed with the seasons and over the years. He left behind an extensive body of work, with a legacy of works depicting different continents, countries, cities, and towns, from Döffingen to Taipei, and the many thousands of Canadian land and cityscapes between. To read more about Fritz's life and artwork, please visit the Fritz Stehwien blogspot