Swiss painting in the twentieth centruy

Autor(en): Curjel, Hans

Objekttyp: Article

Zeitschrift: The Swiss observer : the journal of the Federation of Swiss Societies in the UK

Band (Jahr): - (1966)

Heft 1496

PDF erstellt am: 24.09.2021

Persistenter Link: http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-692093

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http://www.e-periodica.ch - / ({/ ClK Swiss Obserixr Founded in 1919 by Paul F. Boehringer. The Official Organ of the Swiss Colony in Great Britain /IrfWjory Cownc/Z: r. j. keller (Chairman), Gottfried keller (Vice-Chairman), dr. e. m. bircher, o. f. boehringer, j. eusebio, a. kunz, g. e. sitter. EDITED BY MRS. MARIANN MEIER WITH THE CO-OPERATION OF MEMBERS OF THE SWISS COLONY IN GREAT BRITAIN 7"e/ep/ione: Clerkenwell 2321/2. Published Twice Monthly at 23, Leonard Street, E.C.2. Telegrams: Freprinco, London. Vol. 52 No. 1496 FRIDAY, 11th MARCH 1966 SWISS PAINTING IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY By HANS CURJEL

Although Switzerland is not regarded actually as a admired models, without being slavishly bound by them. country of painters, although it has no art centres com- There developed strong artist personalities, in whom parable to Paris, Munich, Venice or New York, and even Hodler's message combined with that of the European though there are no Swiss art academies or special art masters led to a new idiom with its own distinctive charac- schools available for the rising generation of painters, the ter. A decisive role may have been played here by the present time is, nevertheless, a flourishing period for paint- native rustic element along with the innate Swiss love of ing in Switzerland. In three linguistic regions of the freedom. country — in the German, French and Italian areas •— Thus the generation following Hodler produced a distinct groupings have constituted themselves, and there number of artists whose work put Swiss painting in the is a lively interchange of ideas going on. Also, the fourth European spotlight. At their head stands Cuno Amiet ethnic region — the Rhaeto-Romanic district — has pro- (1868-1961); bold and uninhibited in the elaboration of duced painters of marked individuality. The high artistic luminous colours, intensive in design and psychological level of Swiss painting contributes in an essential interpretation. Next to him are the Grisons Giovanni and way to the cultural image presented by Switzerland in our Augusto Giacometti, of whom Augusto, a magician with time, and Swiss painting stands up well in comparison colour, as early as the 'twenties began with abstract experi- with contemporary European art in general. ments. From the French-speaking part of Switzerland René who created The artistic tradition of Switzerland far back into came Auberjonois, works with a pro- goes found, orientated character and with the with the of the medieval spiritual, inwardly past. It begins painting high aesthetic concentration. member of the the illuminations of the great A same period, magnificent manuscript the Basle artist Heinrich Altherr Manesse MS. from and the continues generation, developed an Zurich, development monumental which continues ele- in the works of the brilliant Konrad Witz, who lived in expressive style freely ments in the work of Hodler. The next Basle and Geneva. This is followed by the masters of the present genera- tion, those born in the 'eighties, and self- Renaissance, Hans Holbein, Niklaus Manuel and Urs produced strong willed figures like Paul Basilius Barth, Hans Graf. In the nineteenth there painters of Berger, century appear Wilhelm Gimmi, Ernst Morgenthaler, Pietro Çhiesa, outstanding European stature, Arnold Böcklin and Maurice Barraud, Fritz Pauli and Ignaz Epper; these Giovanni Segantini. The great instigator of the modern people are distinguished mainly by a high level of painterly flourishing of Swiss painting, however, was Ferdinand culture in the sense of " ". The Hodler, in whose bold idiom there realised peinture younger Max pictorial are Gubler also to this he features of the Swiss character. the land- belongs group, being an outstanding typical He saw artistic talent. scape and the people of Switzerland with new and eyes Aside from this line of development is the seized them in an artistic form in which the Swiss and inspired Otto Meyer-Amden (1885-1933), a visionary of the European are fused. Owing to his artistic force, great and the tenderest lyricism, a of pictures. painting became in a new sense an affair of the whole power composer He is a master of the laws governing the construction of people, which in Hodler's works re-experienced itself and the picture and the polar tension of the picture, and he its country. Swiss painters were influenced by powerfully is in a certain sense a Swiss the of Hodler. that time the entire world painterly prophet, thoroughly example At in his concentrated inner and at the time began to take notice of the work of Swiss artists, power same a young figure of that infinite realm of art, to which belong the of their unconventional themes, the bold design pictorial ones of all times and His line of the essential, the intense chromatic great peoples. develop- concentrating on effects, furthered his friends Paul Bodmer and the the inner the white ment was by plain simplicity of attitude; simple, Hermann Huber. wooden frames replacing the ornamental gold frames Otto Meyer-Amden in his creations touches the symbolized the self-conscious and at the same time modest dream world and the realm of the purely fantastic. Paul directness expressed by the pictures. Klee is the master of these spheres of art. He was the Hodler is the master of the young Swiss painters of son of a musician of German nationality, but he was born his time, not their teacher. They eagerly turned their eyes in Switzerland (at Münchenbuchsee near Berne), in 1879. and spirits to the great school of European painting which He grew up in Switzerland; he spent the last years of his then dominated the scene; Impressionism, as well as fife in Berne, and he died in Muralto-Locarno in 1940. Cézanne, van Gogh, Gauguin and the Norwegian Edvard However, these are not the only reasons why he is to be Munch. Great original talents freely elaborated on the regarded as a Swiss painter. Decisive features of his 51864 THE SWISS OBSERVER 11th March 1966 character and his art are unmistakably Swiss: the inner above all, Max Bill, Richard P. Lohse, Camille Graeser, pictorial plenitude, the fantastic narrative quality, the Hans Fischli and Fritz Glarner who lives in New York, ironic-fantastic element, the psychological-pedagogical among the so-called abstract artists, Leo Leuppi, Oskar bent. Moreover, there are evident in his work hidden Dalvit, Walter Bodmer and, not to be forgotten, the archi- relationships to the primeval grotesque forces that continue tect Le Corbusier, among the surrealists, the early deceased to be given expression in popular customs and masks of Walter Kurt Wiemken, Otto Tschumi, the late Hans Fischer Switzerland. From the fantastic scenes of the Basle and the Lucerne virtuoso Hans Erni who has recently been Carnival to the pictorial ideas of Klee is but a step, by turning toward a new realism, among the motion-vision- which, to be sure, the decisive transformation toward aries, Wilfried Moser, Charles Rollier, Hugo Weber, Rolf artistic creation takes place. Iseli, Lenz Klotz and others. The most recent trends in art are having a great impact Two outstanding Swiss artists of European scale are in Switzerland, and this is shown by the manifold liveliness representing modern figurative painting: Alberto with which many young Swiss painters are expressing Giacometti, the world-famous sculptor who has died themselves. In 1937 a large number of young artists recently and was also one of the most sensitive painters banded together in the " Alliance " and made the decisive of our time, and the Zurich painter Varlin, well known as step from representational to non-representational art. The master of expressive portraits and scenes of contemporary various underlying currents, which have emerged in Euro- life. pean art in the twentieth century, making their appearance : This rich abundance of painting has appeared in towns the abstract, the constructive, which is called " concrete " large and small all over Switzerland, in carefully organised by the artists themselves, the surrealistic, the motion- exhibitions. Also, commissions and purchases by the visionary movements. A distinct Swiss feature can be Cantons, the municipalities and large private concerns are discerned running through these various idioms: earnest- giving artists a chance to establish themselves. It should ness and intensity in grappling with themes, neatness of be pointed out that, in the case of the commissions and execution and a pronounced sense of organic, formal purchases for public buildings and especially for schools, interrelationships. the authorities proceed in a spirit of open-mindedness, A number of strong and imaginative personalities give which gives every type of serious artistic expression a definition and contour to these new trends which are also chance to unfold and to make its appeal to the public at important beyond the frontiers of Switzerland. Especi- large. ally worthy of mention among the concrete artists are, (Pro Pte/veU'a FowHztaz'on.) IT HAPPENED IN THE CANTONS OF VAUD AND TICINO VAUD In the middle of November, the elections took place The Vaudois Council of State elected Councillor in all Vaudois Communes. Voting participation was as Edourad Debétaz as its President for 1966. The budget high as 76% in one or two places. for the present year estimates a deficit of 6.8 million francs, During the last legislative period (1962-65), a total revenue being estimated at nearly 441 mio. Road con- of 270 women were members of Vaudois Commune Coun- struction was a heavy burden last year, and in November, cils, and in the new period, the figure is slightly less. an additional credit of 15.3 mio was asked for. A fortnight Last June, Federal Councillor Tschudi appealed to later, the .Cantonal Parliament granted another 22.8 million the Swiss population for funds to restore the unique francs for the same purpose. The figure for road accidents remnants of Switzerland's first capital, the old Aventicum in the Canton 1965 76 in meant that every minutes there (Avenclies). Over 11,000 men and women contributed, was an accident, every 2h.l9m. somebody was injured, as well as firms and Communes, and Fr.600,000.— have and h. every 61J someone was killed. so far been collected. Of the four million francs which the State is Building projects for which responsible, will be needed to secure the old town only one-fifth will include renovating the laboratory for anorganic chemistry still have to be collected. at Lausanne University, enlarging the testing station of the The firm of Frères s.a. at cele- Technical Institute and the of Vennes. Bourgeois Balaigues rebuilding prison brated its 175th in autumn. 1,407 The and twelve- anniversary delegates new nursing midwifery training centre, a took in international conference at the Caux block, is in part an study storey now operation. centre for Moral rearmament. In November, the first forty-five students were able 1966 the esti- to move into the new students' home in Bellerive, the The budget for of town of Lausanne Canton having made available the administration building mates expenditure of well over 163 million francs and a deficit of The President the of the EXPO. Alfred Corbaz is the new chief of the Frs.328,000.—. of new Com- is cantonal office for vocational training, and the new Direc- mune Council Marcel Corbaz (Workers' Party) The tor of the Vaudois Technical College at Yverdon is the Municipal President is once more Georges-André Chevallaz. shows increase engineer Georges Thalmann. The Church Synod has The Workers' Party an of six seats and the Socialists' three. decided to create a theological seminary for future of Ministers of the Church. The Union Bank of Switzerland took over the oldest In December, a " Centre Dramatique Romand " was private bank in Lausanne, Bugnion et Cie, founded in founded, aiming at stimulating drama and opera. 1803. A new evening school of grammar school standard The Vaudois wine of 1965 is apparently about the has been started with a first batch of 119 students. The same as that of 1963 as far as quality is concerned; the Hotel School in Lausanne is being enlarged. harvest of 29 million litres is above average. The official The International Federation of Women Lawyers verdict is "a pleasant light wine". assembled for their congress in Lausanne last autumn, and