Drawing, 150 x 180 cm
If anyone has shaped the Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen and its environment for decades, it was its founding director Arno Krause (1930 - 2018). The group Partners for Europe, of which the academy is a member, presented him with this drawing on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Hetty Krist drew him in her typical style: She took a look behind the scenes and created a comprehensive portrait of Arno Krause as a personality, capturing not only his appearance, but also his history and special features. She used collages, overlays, detailed illustrations and also included characteristic keywords or quotations. The focus is on Arno Krause himself, as well as facets of his life's work, the Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen. The drawing furthermore includes a seminar scene and the Celtic warriors at the entrance to the Arboretum Europaeum - Sustainability Park.

Arno Krause was an energetic personality. His idea, which he pursued with rousing enthusiasm and deeply humanistic conviction until the end of his life, was peace among nations. He considered personal encounters and education as keys to achieving this goal. Thus he "seized the moment and acted" when, after the catastrophe of the Second World War, "the time had come for his idea". The foundation and establishment of the Europa-Haus Otzenhausen in 1954 (from which the academy was later to develop) was laborious and overshadowed by difficulties; however, 24-year-old Arno Krause also had his own attitude to problems, which is also found in this drawing ("Solving problems, not complaining"). His staff also remember how fond he was of quoting Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher among the Roman emperors.

The German-Dutch artist Hetty Krist (*1942 in The Hague, Netherlands) lives and works today in Frankfurt/Main and is closely associated with the Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen. She exhibited at the Academy in 2004 ("Erinnertes Leben - Remembered Life") and 2009 ("Alte Welt – Neue Welt - Old World - New World") and is represented here with nine works. The former lecturer for figurative drawing and art history in Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt and Wiesbaden depicts people in detail, often drawing multiple overlays and trying to show a development in response to the question: "How has man become what he is today?”