Albert Welti

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Albert Welti (1862–1912) portrait from 1902
1902, Albert Welti

Albert Welti (born February 18, 1862 in Zurich ; † June 7, 1912 there ) was a Swiss painter and etcher .

Life

Albert Welti was born as the eldest of seven children of Anna Barbara Furrer and Jakob Albert Welti Zurich- Aussersihl . His father ran the Welti-Furrer freight forwarding and cab business , which still exists today. One of his brothers was Carl Adolf Welti-Furrer , who later took over the father's business together with his brother Oswald.

The soldiers of the Bourbaki army billeted with his grandfather Jakob Furrer after the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and the everyday events on the artillery parade in front of the wagon stop were the trigger for his interest in historical scenes and sources for his later main subjects with scenes of horse and rider . Welti attended the Realgymnasium in Zurich and then the commercial department of the industrial school. During this time he received lessons from the copper engraver Johann Konrad Werdmüller . In 1880 he began an apprenticeship as a photographer with his uncle Oswald Welti in Lausanne , which he broke off after a year.

With his father's permission, finally obtained, he studied from 1882 to 1886 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Alexander Strähuber , Nikolaus Gysis and Ludwig von Löfftz . In 1885 he met Arnold Böcklin and worked in his studio for two years from 1888–1891. Böcklin wrote a report for Welti's father, in which he confirmed that his son was artistically gifted and had a significant influence on Welti's painting style. Welti met the East Prussian junker Franz Rose von Doehlau (1852–1912), who supported his work financially in the following years. Franz Rose was the father of Karl von Rose .

Emeline Welti-Wildbolz portrait relief by Karl Hänny (1879–1972)
Emeline Welti-Wildbolz portrait relief by Karl Hänny

From 1887–1888 Welti stayed in Venice , where he made a design for a wall fountain in faience technology and a design for a house facade.

In Munich he got to know Ernst Kreidolf , Carl Theodor Meyer-Basel , Johann Burger , Wilhelm Balmer , Karl Haider , Hermann Hesse and Emyl Keyser . Welti married Emeline Wildbolz in 1894 and lived with her in Höngg near Zurich in his own apartment and studio. In the same year his son Albert was born and in 1903 Ruedi, called Bertel, was born. The sculptor Eduard Zimmermann later created a bust of Bertel . From 1895, at the request of his patron Rose von Doehlau , Welti lived with his family for a long time outside the city of Munich in Pullach and Solln . There was a lot of music played in the house and guests were received. a. the musicians Max Müller, Ernst Breest the singer Richard Schaupp. Peter Halm taught him etching . During this time Welti was a member of the Avenarius group around the publisher of the monthly magazine Der Kunstwart .

This resulted in various etchings and, based on a recipe by Arnold Böcklin, paintings made from tempera paints he had made himself . Welti always painted his pictures on wooden panels and adjusted the size to the format of the Italian old gold frames, which his patron, who promoted Adolfo Wildt in addition to Welti , brought back from Italy. Later he had his frames carved and gilded by Karl Steger from Munich. In 1899 Welti's works were on view at Fritz Gurlitt's in Berlin.

Die Landsgemeinde, painting by Albert Welti (1862–1912), 1910/12, five fields, each 273 × 144 cm, guache on paper on canvas, Kunsthaus Zürich, property of the Swiss Confederation. The original is in the Council of States chamber in Bern.
The Landsgemeinde

A frequent subject of his works are depictions of dream and nightmare scenes. Welti drew from the popular treasure trove of fairy tales, sagas and legends throughout his life. Dreams and even nightmares were inspiration and an inexhaustible fund for him. In 1901, the Swiss Confederation acquired the painting The Artist's Parents from 1899 . Also in 1901 he was commissioned to paint a glass painting, Die Ostschweizerische Textilindustrie (The Textile Industry of Eastern Switzerland) designed between 1902 and 1903 for the Federal Palace in Bern .

Portrait of Albert Welti painted by Wilhelm Balmer, 1912
Portrait of Albert Welti painted by Wilhelm Balmer

When his father died in 1906, he stayed in Innertkirchen and later in Vättis , where numerous nature studies ( pastels ) were made. At the end of 1907 he was commissioned to paint the mural Die Landsgemeinde , which adorns the south wall of the Council of States chamber in the Bundeshaus in Bern, which required a move to Bern. Welti was only able to complete three of the five pictures. Two years after Weltis passed away, his colleague and friend Wilhelm Balmer was able to complete the remaining two pictures based on Weltis and his own sketches.

Welti also designed postage stamps for the Swiss Federal Post Office , for example the 1906 Tellknabe with crossbow for a stamp series from 1907. The design shows the son of Wilhelm Tell with a crossbow and apple, pierced by an arrow for values ​​below 10 ct. Welti received several national commissions and is one of the most important painters of the turn of the century.

In 1906 his father died, in 1908 he returned to Switzerland, where he lived in Bern, and in 1911 his wife died unexpectedly. 1912 Welti was from the University of Zurich the honorary doctorate awarded. His friend Wilhelm Balmer portrayed Welti a few days before his death. When Welti felt that he was going to die, he traveled to his mother in Zurich and died on June 7th around noon. His grave was in the Schosshaldenfriedhof in Bern. Hermann Hesse later lived with his family in Welti's country house in Ostermundigen .

In 1916 an article by Hermann Hesse appeared in the Schweizer Illustrierte , in which he described the memories he had about Welti. In 2011, for Welti's 150th birthday, a large solo exhibition with 45 pastel landscapes took place at the Kunsthaus Zürich .

Welti is the father of the writer and painter Albert Jakob Welti , uncle of Arthur Welti , great- uncle of Philippe Welti and great-great- uncle of Sophie Hunger .

Works (selection)

  • The Tobelhof in Höngg, 1895

  • House of Dreams, 1897

  • Family portrait, 1903

  • Excerpt from the Penates, 1905

  • Nebelreiter, 1896

  • Walpurgis Night, 1897

  • Tellknabe, 1906

literature

  • Hermann Ganz: Albert Welti's letters . In: Wissen und Leben , Vol. 23, 1920, pp. 146–154. ( Digitized version )
  • Irma Schurter-Goeringer: Albert Welti . In: Switzerland: Swiss illustrated magazine , Vol. 7, 1903, pp. 489–493. ( Digitized version )
  • Welti folder. Edited by the Kunstwart, Munich, with Georg D. W. Callwey in the Kunstwart-Verlage o. J.
  • From Welti's life. Fifty sheets of his art for a picture of his life by Leopold Weber. Edited by the Kunstwart, Munich, with Georg D. W. Callwey in the Kunstwart-Verlage o. J.
  • Philippe Welti, Gaudenz Welti: Albert Welti, 1862–1912. Swiss painter and Zurich guild. A portrait of the life of the most famous Swiss painter and draftsman around 1900 In: New Year's Gazette for Bächtelistag 2012. Zunft zur Waag. Zurich 2012, ISBN 978-3-033-03314-6 .
  • Albert J. Welti: picture of the father, Albert Welti in the memory of his son Albert Jakob Welti . Artemis Verlag, Zurich, 1962.

Web links

Commons : Albert Welti  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Stamps by Albert Wälti  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Tina Grütter, et al .: From Anker to Zünd - The Art of the Young Federal State 1848–1900 . Ed .: Christian Klemm. Scheidegger & Spiess / Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich 1998, ISBN 3-906574-00-8 , p. 421 .
  2. ^ Academy of Fine Arts Munich: Matriculation book, Albert Welti. Retrieved November 1, 2019 .
  3. ^ Draft for a wall fountain in Venice
  4. ^ Draft for a house facade in Venice
  5. ^ Grete Hess: Munich. Retrieved November 1, 2019 .
  6. ^ Wall painting "The Textile Industry"
  7. ↑ Tina Grütter: Life. In: Sikart
  8. ^ Reinhard Stutz: Freimarken 1907-1914. The motives, a topic in the people and parliament. (PDF; 2.27 MB).
  9. ↑ Ulrich Fehlmann: Dispute about Walter: The polemics about the stamp issue of 1907. In: Schweizerische Bodensee-Zeitung. 1–2 / 2013, pp. 50–64 (PDF; 4.67 MB).
  10. ^ Portrait of Welti, painted by Wilhelm Balmer
  11. ^ Swiss art: Obituary by Wilhelm Balmer, August 1, 1912. Accessed November 3, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Hermann Hesse. In: Hartmut Steinicke: German poets of the 20th century. Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co KG, 1994, p. 177, accessed on October 12, 2015.
  13. ↑ 1916 article on Welti
  14. ↑ Paulina Szczesniak: 2011, solo exhibition. Retrieved November 3, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Welti, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter and etcher
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH June 7, 1912
Place of death Bern