Biography
Konrad Leonhard "Leo" Birkmann
Leo was born in Nürnberg on December 4, 1911.  He came from a generation of decorators/painters.  His grandfather Konrad had a business in the Veillodter Strasse, where he lived with his wife Babette.  Leo's father Fritz continued the business, but moved with his wife Madlon "Lona" to the village of Reichelsdorf around 1930. 
The Family Business
Leo's grandfather Konrad started the business of interior and exterior decorating/painting in the City of Nürnberg. Leo's father Fritz and his mother Madlon "Lona" moved to the suburb of Reichelsdorf in the 1930s and relocated the business to that area.  Leo worked as an apprentice and finished his master's certificate to enter the family business as expected.  Before World War II, Leo attended some seminars and took art courses in the city's art school, but primarily worked in the business. Marriage to Marthe "Helene" Liebert in 1935
Following a huge learning curve (the newly wed Helene had to take a crash course in cooking), Helene was running the household for Leo and his father Fritz—Lona had passed away in 1934—cultivating a huge garden and providing administrative support for the business.   They had a son Thilo in 1938. Military Service and POW Years
Leo was drafted in 1940, served initially as an instructor, then deployed to North Africa, later to the Siegfried Line in the Ardennes, where he was captured September 1944 and confined to the American POW Camp in Reims, France.  On the German side, he was reported MIA.  Not until late 1945 did the family receive word that Leo was alive.  Leo painted this portrait of his son Thilo at the POW Camp from a photo received from the family. Post-war Creative Period
In the late 1940s during the Reconstruction Period, Leo joined a number of art associations in Nürnberg, such as the Künstlerklause, the Berufsverband freier Künstler Nürnberg [BBK], and Der Kreis (Künstlergruppe) where he enjoyed the fellowship of artists Leo Smigay who founded 'Der Kreis' in 1947, and Helle Rossner-Böhnlein who served with Leo Smigay and Leo Birkmann on the board of directors of the BBK.  Prominent citizens in the neighborhood, such as Mr. Hesselberger, Director of the City's Train System [Bundesbahn] and Mr. Kern, an attorney, along with Professor Gerhard G. Dittrich who founded the BBK and was a prominent architect in Nürnberg, had their portraits done by Leo. Paintings, Murals, Sculptures, Sgraffitios, Mosaics, even Wood Carvings
These connections provided opportunities to participate in projects for the beautification of the city scape and his reputation reached into the cities of Fürth, Bayreuth, Würzburg, Schwabach and a number of smaller townships in the vicinity. To provide regular income, Leo painted "for the masses" as proclaimed by wife and business partner Helene.  This included paintings with themes of Alpine landscapes, spring colors and fall colors, with or without bodies of water, with or without snow, themes from surrounding hamlets in Central Franconia, depending on the requisitions by art galleries who sold to clientel by studying the favorites on the current market.  These were considered his 'bread and butter' pieces and were mostly sold painted on canvas, about 15 by 25 inches in size, some larger.

The Final Years
In the 1970s, Leo grew restless. With the recent recession, the couple felt that they needed to consolidate their assets and plan for retirement on a smaller scale, selling the property in the village of Reichelsdorf in search of a place to retire.  With his love of the Alpine region obvious by so many painted themes throughout his career, Leo and Helene opted first for the popular German town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen at the foot of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest Alpine peak, then later for the pictoresque town of Ainring near the Austrian border, just 30 minutes West of Salzburg.  Enjoying a lower cost of living, Leo and Helene spent their last days in Ainring.  Leo passed away in August of 1983, his wife Helene lived until March of 2006.