Alexander Pock

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Defilation of Infantry Regiment No. 4

Alexander Pock (born January 6, 1871 in Znojmo , Austria-Hungary , † November 19, 1950 in Vienna ) was an Austrian military, genre and portrait painter .

Life

Fin de siècle

Pock was the second of seven children of a well-to-do chocolate manufacturer in Znojmo, who liked to draw himself, recognized his son's artistic talent early on and sent him to drawing courses as a child. After graduating from high school in Znaim, Pock moved to Vienna in 1886 and studied at the Vienna Academy under Christian Griepenkerl and Carl Rudolf Huber until 1893 . From the beginning he showed enthusiasm for military motifs, especially for the colorful image of the Austro-Hungarian army . He showed particular talent for horse representations, especially of kuk hussars , kuk dragoons and kuk uhlans . This made the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, aware of him, who promoted the painter throughout his life and provided him with numerous commissions. With his studio in the dome of the Viennese noble palace Equitable , Pock also had the adequate ambience to present his works to clients from the highest and very highest aristocratic circles.

In 1892 Pock joined the Austro-Hungarian Moravian Infantry Regiment No. 99 “George I, King of the Hellenes” as a one-year-old volunteer and was promoted to Cadet Officer's Deputy in 1894. In 1899 he was retired as a lieutenant in the reserve . As a young reserve officer and a graduate of the Vienna Art Academy, he went on several study trips, including studying the Old Masters in Florence , Rome , Naples , Palermo , Munich and Dresden . Back in Vienna, Pock established himself as the first address in the subject of military painting , not least because of his naturalistic and realistic painting style . He was given a high degree of recognition, his clients were primarily aristocratic military, but also the well-off bourgeoisie. Due to his talent for naturalistic horse portraits he became the “personal painter” of the beer mogul family Dreher , which ran extensive stud farms in Hungary . His most important patron and patron, however, remained the heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Pock also taught at the Vienna State Trade School and illustrated school and youth books. Until 1914 Pock also drew and illustrated as an employee of the Meggendorfer-Blätter .

First World War

After the murder of its benefactor in Sarajevo and the outbreak of the First World War , the Austro-Hungarian Army was confronted with total losses of around 1.3 million dead, wounded and prisoners of war at the end of 1914. Now the army command called up the Landsturm , a poorly trained and equipped troop that was actually intended for guarding tasks in the hinterland. Pock was 43 years old when the war broke out and obviously did not expect to have to go to the front. In view of the high number of losses in the first year of the war, however, Pock, who was a reserve officer, was called up as a Landsturm lieutenant at the beginning of 1915. Pock, who was probably familiar with the state of the Landsturm units, now tried in great haste to join the art group of the Austro-Hungarian war press quarter . In 1915, however, all posts there had already been assigned, so that his application for admission was rejected. However, a general whose name was not known intervened for Pock, who through his artistic work had contacts in the highest military circles, which meant he went to war as a war painter and not as a Landsturm lieutenant on February 23, 1915 . He painted in Galicia , Transylvania , on the Krn (Isonzo Front) and in South Tyrol . Pock was a passionate draftsman and carried out his drafts either as hand drawings or as oil sketches, which he immediately executed as a painting in his studio. Until December 1918, Pock was listed in the registry of the war press headquarters.

Interwar period

Alexander Pock's clients were primarily the court and the aristocracy, especially the Bohemian nobility . This clientele, however, largely disappeared after the end of the war, which meant that after 1918 Pock was forced to make mostly portraits for bourgeois society. However, he never lost his fondness for the military genre, as he also painted many motifs of the Austrian Army of the First Republic . After the end of the war, Pock spent a long time in the Spanish Riding School in Vienna , where he made many paintings with the popular motif of the Lipizzaner horses , which sold well even in times of crisis. In 1931 he took a position in the Army Museum (now the Army History Museum ), where he worked on the design of the “Isonzo Front Halls” and made several watercolors for uniform studies.

World War II, death

The annexation of Austria and the Second World War passed Pock's work almost without a trace, only a few officers of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS allowed himself to be portrayed by him. By the end of the war, Pock was 74 years old and had trouble getting fuel. In February 1945, the Palais Equitable was badly damaged in an air raid and had to be evacuated. According to a newspaper report, however, Pock's studio remained "miraculously" undamaged. Pock spent the last years of his life, still working, in his private apartment in Vienna-Mariahilf . His last works were equestrian portraits and a capriole of a rider from the Spanish Riding School (watercolor from 1947). On November 19, 1950, Pock finally died of an embolism in Vienna.

Work and style

Above all, Pock was a naturalist and, together with Ludwig Koch, a proven expert and undisputed authority in the field of military painting during his lifetime . There is practically no publication about the Austro-Hungarian Army that does without illustrations from the works of Alexander Pock. Pock was a painter of problem-free, almost composition-free naturalism, his work shows a positivistic, but by and large value-neutral portrayal. He did not indulge in bold pictorial compositions, but held things as they were presented to him, so one can consider him an important chronicler of his time. Critics often found this accuracy bordering on pedantry to be unpleasant. Pock hardly turned to impressionism . His pictures were almost always the end result of a series of preparatory work such as drawings and oil sketches. His brushstroke is calm, academic, rarely energetic; the color is rich and luminous, which suits the rich colors of the uniforms of the old Austrian army. His preferred medium was canvas, often also cardboard due to the war. The application of paint in Pock's paintings is rather thin, rarely impasto .

reception

Pock's works, the reproduction of the most diverse facets of the Austro-Hungarian Army, especially his uniform studies , are characterized by a high level of authenticity and attention to detail, which makes him very popular with uniform and flag lovers. The drawings and paintings pocks are one liked to use and reliable source for military and art historian . Today Pock's works can be found predominantly in private ownership, but also in numerous Austrian museums, above all in the Vienna Museum of Military History and the Vienna Museum . In 2012, the Vienna Museum of Military History organized the special exhibition Alexander Pock - Military Painting as a Profession , which not only emphasized his role as a military painter, but also made numerous sketches and drawings publicly available for the first time.

Works (excerpt)

  • Equestrian portrait of Franz Schirmer . Oil on canvas, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
  • Parade of the infantry regiment Hoch- und Deutschmeister Nr.4 before Archduke Eugene of Austria in the Prater in Vienna . Oil on canvas, around 1896, 74 × 100 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
  • Riding Uhlans . Oil on cardboard, 1904, 68.5 × 102 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
  • Pack animal guides on the Carinthian front . Oil on panel, 1916, 32 × 38 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
  • Post at the Krn . Watercolor on paper, 1916, 31 × 20 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
  • Insight into an officer's shelter on the Krn . Watercolor on paper, 1916, 21.2 × 25.8 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
  • Shelters on the Krn . Oil on canvas, 1916, 50 × 63 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
  • Portrait of Captain Johann Sedlar with horse . Oil on canvas, 1934, 34.5 × 32 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
  • Troop parade near Vienna . Oil on wood, 1930, 38.5 × 49.5 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
  • March to St. Stephen's Cathedral . Oil on cardboard, 45 × 31.5 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
  • Portrait of Emmerich Hadfy von Livno as General of the German Wehrmacht . Oil on canvas, 1942, 74 × 58 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.

literature

Web links

Commons : Alexander Pock  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter F. Kalina: Alexander Pock. Military painting as a profession. In: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Ed.), Catalog for the exhibition of the same name, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-902551-31-3 , pp. 10-13.
  2. ↑ Pock, Alexander . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 27 : Piermaria – Ramsdell . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1933, p. 170 .
  3. ^ Anton Wagner: The First World War. A look back (= Troop Service Pocket Books. Volume 7, Vienna 1981), pp. 25, 42.
  4. ↑ Walter Reichel: "Press work is propaganda work" - Media Administration 1914-1918: The War Press Quarter (KPQ) . Communications from the Austrian State Archives (MÖStA), special volume 13, Studienverlag, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-7065-5582-1 , p. 183.
  5. ^ Austrian State Archives, War Archives , Army High Command, War Press Headquarters, Box 37, Konvolut 42, fol. 355, cit. at: Walter Kalina: Alexander Pock. Military painting as a profession. In: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Ed.), Catalog for the exhibition of the same name, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-902551-31-3 , pp. 19-21.
  6. ↑ Martin Schabenstiel: Alexander Pock. An Austrian military painter and tin figure draftsman. In: Association news of the society of friends and collectors of cultural and historical figures. 12, Vienna 1993, p. 10.
  7. ^ Wiener Zeitung , November 22, 1850, p. 18
  8. ↑ Walter Kalina: Alexander Pock. Military painting as a profession. In: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Ed.), Catalog for the exhibition of the same name, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-902551-31-3 , p. 26.
  9. ↑ Martin Schabenstiel: Alexander Pock. An Austrian military painter and tin figure draftsman. In: Association news of the society of friends and collectors of cultural and historical figures. 12, Vienna 1993, p. 10.
  10. ↑ Walter Kalina: Alexander Pock. Military painting as a profession. In: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Ed.), Catalog for the exhibition of the same name, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-902551-31-3 , p. 26 f.
  11. ^ Special exhibition "Alexander Pock - Military Painting as a Profession" on mein district.at, accessed on March 14, 2013.
  12. ↑ Military painting as a profession Wien Museum / Heeresgeschichtliches Museum on alumni.at, accessed on March 14, 2013
  13. ↑ Alexander Pock - Military painting as a profession on webmuseen.de, accessed on March 14, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Pock, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian genre painter
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Znojmo
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1950
Place of death Vienna