Alfred Wickenburg

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Alfred Wickenburg (born July 26, 1885 in Bad Gleichenberg , † December 25, 1978 in Graz , until 1919 Reichsgraf von Wickenburg ) was an Austrian painter and graphic artist .

Life

Maria Schutz, glass concrete windows by Alfred Wickenburg and Franz Felfer

Alfred Matthias Konstantin Capello Wickenburg came from a Styrian noble family: he was u. a. the great-grandson of Matthias Constantin Capello von Wickenburg . He studied first 1904–05 in Munich at the school of Anton Ažbe , then 1906–1909 with Jean Paul Laurens at the Académie Julian in Paris and finally 1910–1914 in Stuttgart in the painting class of the academy with Christian Landenberger and in the composition class with Adolf Hölzel . In the great Stuttgart exhibition of the Association of Art Friends in the countries on the Rhine in 1914 in the so-called “Expressionist Hall”, which Hölzel had set up on behalf of the Association, he was “the youngest among the builders , Itten , Schlemmer , Stenner and other painters Direction ”(catalog foreword). From 1918 Wickenburg was a freelance artist. 1920–1923 he spent studying in Italy .

From 1923 Wickenburg lived in Graz, where he founded the Graz Secession together with Wilhelm Thöny and others .

He also taught at the same time as an art teacher at the Academic Gymnasium in Graz . After hostility at the beginning of the 30s, he finally established himself as the leading figure of modernism in Styria. 1934–1937 he was professor for landscape and still life painting at the State Art School Graz, from 1937 assistant at the State Fresco School in Graz.

His work was shown four times at the Venice Biennale (1934, 1936, 1950 and 1958) and was also shown in solo and group exhibitions in cities such as Berlin, Paris, New York, Bern, Rome and London.

After the Second World War, the Graz Secession, which was dissolved under National Socialism, was re-established with Wickenburg as president. Wickenburg took over the management of the fresco department at today's Ortweinschule, and he also became a member of the Vienna Secession and the Art Club, in which he was listed on the executive committee from 1949 to 1950 and actively campaigned for younger artists.

The renewed creative power and artistic enthusiasm in Wickenburg's late work can be grasped not only in paintings and drawings, but also in murals and glass windows. Influenced by the color possibilities of glass and light, he increased the luminosity of the colors in his paintings - the tendency towards strong contrasts and form reductions is becoming increasingly clear.

Wickenburg has received numerous honors, including in 1951 he became a member of the jury for the Austrian State Prize, in 1952 Austrian delegate to UNESCO in Venice, in 1957 he was appointed to the Austrian Art Senate and in 1973 he was made an honorary member. In 1972 the artist received the State of Styria's Appreciation Prize for Fine Arts.

Wickenburg died in Graz in 1978 at the age of 93. Until the end of his life he had been artistically active.

Awards

In 1956 he received the Grand Austrian State Prize for Fine Arts . In 1957 he was appointed to the Austrian Art Senate and received the Austrian Art Prize. Finally, in 1969 he was awarded the Austrian Decoration of Honor for Science and Art . He also received the Ring of Honor of the State of Styria . In 1972 he was awarded the Styrian State Prize for Fine Arts .

power

Alongside Wilhelm Thöny, Alfred Wickenburg was the most important representative of Styrian modernism. He received various modern art movements, especially cubism , futurism and pittura metafisica . Typical of him is his concrete, creative cubism, which strived for simplification and harmony of form and color and translated visions into memorable shapes.

Works (selection)

  • Giardino del Lago (private property), oil on canvas, 139 × 111.5 cm
  • Diana and Actaeon (private collection), 1921, oil on canvas, 109 × 160 cm
  • View from the studio window - Florence (Vienna, Austrian National Bank), 1923, oil on canvas, 77.5 × 62.4 cm
  • Rinaldo and Armida (Vienna, Belvedere ), 1923, oil on canvas, 110 × 149.5 cm
  • Märchen (private collection), 1925, oil on canvas, 51 × 66 cm
  • Medea (private collection), 1928, oil on canvas, 317 × 200 cm
  • Das Rätsel (private collection), 1928, oil on canvas, 51 × 66 cm
  • Artists (private collection), 1929, oil on canvas, 156 × 104.5 cm
  • Lady with fur (private property), 1930, oil on canvas, 112 × 75 cm
  • Vision (private property), 1933, oil on canvas, 193 × 176 cm
  • Book still life (Graz, Neue Galerie), 1937, oil on canvas, 57.3 × 66.2 cm
  • Enigma (private collection), 1943, oil on canvas, 64 × 49 cm
  • Stained glass window Revelation of John in the Michael's Chapel in Seggau Castle near Leibnitz
  • Stained glass window in the Holy Trinity Mountain Church on the Tauplitzalm (1963)
  • Wall painting Career of a priest in the grammar school and secondary school in Sachsenbrunn

Exhibitions (selection)

literature

  • Collective exhibition Alfred Wickenburg , exh. Cat. New Gallery of the City of Linz, December 1950 UBW
  • Trude Aldrian: Alfred Wickenburg , Graz 1955 UBW
  • Alfred Wickenburg. Drawings and watercolors: special exhibition , exh. Cat. Graphic Collection Albertina, Vienna November - December 1965 ÖNB
  • Kristian Sotriffer: Alfred Wickenburg. New oil paintings , exhib. Cat.Secession, Vienna April 1971, Vienna 1971 ÖNB
  • Wilfried Skreiner: Alfred Wickenburg. The painter and his work , Graz, Vienna (inter alia) 1972, ISBN 3-222-10692-4
  • Wilfried Skreiner, Alexander Wied (Red.): Alfred Wickenburg on his 90th birthday. Oil paintings 1968–1975 , exh. Cat. New gallery at the Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz 1.7. - 24.8.1975 ÖNB
  • Wilfried Skreiner (Red.): Painting , exh. Cat.Austrian Gallery Belvedere, Vienna October 26, 1976 - February 27, 1977 UBW
  • Alfred Wickenburg. 1885–1978, the late work , exh. Cat. Neue Galerie, Vienna 1978 UBW
  • Otmar Rychlik, Johannes Wickenburg: Alfred Wickenburg, 1885–1978. The artistic work 1910–1945 , Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-85447-690-6
  • Alfred Wickenburg - Variations of Modernism , ed. v. Agnes Husslein-Arco / Eleonora Louis, exh. Cat. Museum der Moderne Salzburg Rupertinum, October 2, 2004 - January 16, 2005, Weitra 2004, ISBN 3-85252-617-5
  • Alfred Wickenburg. Visions in Color and Form , ed. v. Stella Rollig / Kerstin Jesse, exhib. Cat.Belvedere, Vienna 17.3. - July 16, 2017 ISBN 978-3-903114-31-9
  • Lucia Beck: Alfred Wickenburg. Monograph and catalog raisonné , Vienna 2018 ISBN 978-3-85415-576-8

Web links

Commons : Alfred Wickenburg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Exhibition catalog Art Exhibition Stuttgart 1914 , Kgl. Art building, Schloßplatz, May to October, ed. from the Association of Art Friends in the States on the Rhine, Stuttgart 1914, p. 47, cat.-no. 400.
  2. ↑ Appreciation Prize of the State of Styria for the Fine Arts: Prize Winners ( Memento from April 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Exhibition information on kunstaspekte.de (accessed on January 3, 2014).
personal data
SURNAME Wickenburg, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wickenburg, Alfred Matthias Konstantin Capello Reichsgraf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Gleichenberg
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 1978
Place of death Graz