Why?

Why a site about an artist (actually two) about whom so little seems to be known? It began with a idle web search for ancestors; among the few names that came up for the original spelling of my surname (Heudtlass) was an Axster-Heudlass. This was in the designer credit for a 1938 poster for the kdf-Wagen (the prototype for the Volkswagen). At the time I thought nothing of it, but over the next year or so I collected some 50 examples of Axster-Heudtlass' work. It became something of an obsession to find out more about Axster-Heudtlass, encouraged by the later discovery that Werner was, in fact, a distant relative.

What I didn't find at the time was any information about the artists, except for birth and death dates for Werner and a rough idea of when the von Axster-Heudtlass partnership was active. This meagre information was fleshed out with speculation and guesswork in the biography section and there it remained untouched for 12 years. In 2017, however, more information came to light through copies of marriage certificates and a greater range of identifiable works, so a fuller story began to emerge (albeit one with several questions remaining). At the end of 2017 further information was obtained after email correspondance with a member of Maria's family, and this was added to the biography section in January 2018.

Regardless of the original motivation that started this search, there is a certain charm about the earlier (non-propaganda) art that is partially responsible for this site making it on to the web.

If you know anything further about the von Axster-Heudtlass partenrship, please e-mail me – I would be most grateful for your input. And if you know nothing, enjoy the site; while not a great artist, Axster-Heudtlass provides a glimpse of two past worlds – one charming and innocuous, the other all-together more sinister.