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In 1970 Horst married my mother Barbara Tuttle, and I became Horst Gottschalk's step son.
In 1972 lived with them for a few months, then nearby until 1974, when I moved to Berkeley.
After that we remained close and I visited often, first in Fairfax and later Bainbridge Island.
Since I had grown up without a father, Horst played an important role in my life, knocking the rough edges off a pretty sketchy young man.
Over the years Horst and I developed a great friendship, and we spent lots time talking about everything under the sun, or more often under the moon.
This included politics, art history, philosphy and while I studied Physics at UC Berkeley, relativity and quantum mechanics, which fascinated him. A favorite tradition became emptying a bottle of Calvados between us every new year's eve.
Knowing that professor Van Hoesen has already begun the academic history and critique has freed me to make this personal memoire less academic but more authentic. So I don't appologize for any lack of scholarship or the intermixing of facts, opinions and suppositions, becuase it is intended to suppliment all the raw material that forms the basis for a complete academic treatment.
I have organized the memoire as a series short vignettes about a single period or subject, usually less than a page.
Anything I remember Horst saying or writing, or anything someone else recalled, I have tried to incorporate here.
I've also tried to identify the people, movements and freinds that influenced Horst in a meaningful way. People like Carl Jung, artists like Kurt Schwitters, the Blauer Reiter and religious traditions like the Tao te Ching etc.
Because Horst was quite knowledgable about these things, I've had to augment my memories with art history, religions, and the history of post war Germany, all with the goal of conveying Horst's personal context and true intent. Finally, now that I am his age, I have tried to interpet all this with some sympathy and wisdom.
- Douglas Tuttle, Glenbrook NV 2015
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