André Evard

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Jean André Evard (born June 1, 1876 in Renan BE near La Chaux-de-Fonds , Switzerland ; † July 20, 1972 in Le Locle , Switzerland) was a Swiss painter and draftsman. Its special importance lies in the field of constructive art. He is one of the first artists who did not work figuratively. In the course of his life he created hundreds of oil paintings, a large number of drawings and around 2000 to 3000 watercolors and gouaches .

Life

André Evard was born on June 1, 1876 in Renan (Bernese Jura) to Jean-Félix Evard (1849–1879) and Marie Sagne (1852–1921). After the early death of their father, mother and son moved to La-Chaux-de-Fonds, where Marie Evard ran a pastry shop. Initially also working as a pastry chef, André made it possible to study art through an inheritance. He studied from 1905 to 1909 at the École d'Art in La Chaux-de-Fonds and attended courses in decorative arts with Charles L'Eplattenier , a former student of Ferdinand Hodler. L'Eplattenier made La Chaux-de-Fonds a center of Art Nouveau in Switzerland. His interest was particularly in the nature of the Jura and he encouraged his students to: "Study the nature of the Jura - from the fir trees to the tectonics of the limestone cliffs - to analyze their regularities and translate them into abstract ornaments."

André Evard excelled in the goldsmith and enamel art with the finest work, which is why the art critic Jean-Marie Nussbaum also called him the jeweler of painting . Artistically Evard was still strongly influenced by Art Nouveau at that time . His college friends included u. a Le Corbusier , Conrad Meili and Léon Perrin, with whom he decorated and painted private villas. With Le Corbusier, for example, he furnished the interiors of Villa Fallet in La Chaux-de-Fonds .

Around 1900 Evard got in contact with Paul Pettavel , a pastor in La Chaux-de-Fonds, who published a free Sunday newspaper, "La Feuille du dimanche", in which he propagated social reform and pacifist ideas. The fight against alcoholism was also a topic of the weekly newspaper. La Chaux-de-Fonds was then a center of international pacifism. Evard became a member of the pastor's Christian Youth Association and managed the publication of the weekly newspaper for almost 30 years. Through his activities at Pettavel he met Louis Reguin , whose daughter he married in 1928.

From 1907 Evard shifted his artistic interest almost entirely to painting and drawing and in the same year went on a long study trip to Italy, where he studied old masters. Small-format portraits and atmospheric landscapes in particular shaped the works of the following years. He produced his first collages as early as 1908 , which, however, met with strong rejection. Participation in various exhibitions, such as B. 1909 in Munich or 1914 in Neuchâtel, did not lead to any success. A deep creative crisis and a complete reorientation were the result. From 1913 onwards he undertook the first non-representational, cubist and constructive attempts that were ultimately to place him in the front row not only of the Swiss avant-garde. He devoted himself more and more to the principle of the series (an example of this is the series of pictures Roses ), because he was fascinated by the variations of a basic motif and its color variations.

From 1912 until the end of the First World War , André Evard used the name "Louvrier" as a pseudonym.

After his mother's death, he stayed in Paris from 1923 to 1927, during which he again dealt intensively with the old and modern masters and got to know artists such as Georges Braque , Robert Delaunay and Theo van Doesburg , who made him work in vain for the ' de Stijl 'group sought to win. He also came into contact with African sculpture for the first time, which increased his interest in non-European art. Since then, he has attached particular importance to black - for him the aristocrat of colors . Some of his abstract, cubist, and constructive works that emerged during these Parisian years were shown in the Salon des Indépendents and the Salon d'Automne . Although André Evard was now at the center of the avant-garde , he reacted negatively to requests from the art trade and almost never left his work to galleries or collectors. He sought recognition almost exclusively in the context of official institutions.

When he returned to La-Chaux de-Fonds, he married Milca Reguin in 1928, the daughter of the painter Louis Reguin . The following year was a huge turning point : he lost all of his fortune due to the stock market crash . From then on he lived in modest circumstances until the end of his life. Travel to Paris was no longer possible. The sphere of activity was thus limited to his homeland, which he has never left since then. In addition, his avant-garde works were not in demand with conservative audiences. At first he resignedly discontinued his production, but then changed his style from 1932 to increase the chances of a sale. In addition to other concrete works , the result was a large number of traditionally figurative, almost deserted landscapes and still lifes, which were characterized by strong colors: “La Chaux-de-Fonds is around 1,000 meters above sea level and is therefore one of the highest cities in Europe. From this height Evard was particularly fascinated by the light show that was presented to him during the sunrise and sunset. The steep valley flanks (Côtes du Doubs) are densely forested and partially criss-crossed with ledges. "

Evard took part in various exhibitions, such as the exhibition 'Time Problems in Swiss Painting and Sculpture' from 1936 at the Kunsthaus Zürich . In 1937 he also joined the then newly founded artist group Allianz as member No. 10 , which offered avant-garde artists a platform and in which important representatives of abstract and surrealist art took part. But even here he did not use the advantages of the group, which also met with little public interest in his home country. Since official Swiss art was based on traditional taste, it became almost impossible to get a public contract. So Evard slowly fell into oblivion, who increasingly withdrew into a self-chosen isolation.

His art constantly switched back and forth between a figurative and an abstract style. The numerous landscape pictures and still lifes were characterized by strong colors that express his pantheistic vision of nature. Many sunsets and colorful Jura landscapes emerged. Shortly before his death in 1972, he completed his last work - a triumphantly shining cross. André Evard was largely forgotten to this day.

In 1978, the collector Jürgen A. Messmer acquired a large part of André Evard's estate and has since made the works known through exhibitions in the Kunsthalle Messmer . Since 2007, the Kunsthalle has awarded the International André Evard Prize for Contemporary Concrete and Constructive Art every 2–3 years , which is endowed with 10,000 euros.

plant

After completing his studies, Evard initially painted in line with the French tradition of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Influences from salon painting , impressionism and symbolism are mixed with influences from Van Gogh , but also those from Far Eastern art, whereby the different artist's manuscripts seem to merge into a very unique style. In his color compositions Evard knew how to subject completely opposite colors to an absolute harmony. Extreme freedom of feeling, a wide variety of moods, subtle color modulations and chromatic liveliness characterize his works, since Evard wants to give color its 'spirit'.

Gradually, he finally breaks away from the given, ornamental or symbolic forms and arrives at the structure via the ornament. In works such as 'Crocus', 'Roses', 'Roses noir', 'Chardon', 'Nocturne' or 'Pyramid', for example, an economical three-dimensional, physical or two-dimensional geometric drawing is in the foreground. The pictures from the 1920s are then reminiscent of Wassily Kandinsky , Juan Gris and Georges Braque . Again, however, he seems to unite all influences in his very own style.

The Roses series of works is a prime example of the development from representational to constructive painting . In 1917 he created the 'Trois roses', the first execution of a motif to which he would dedicate himself for over a decade. For the first time the tendency towards variation and an almost obsessive way of working becomes visible: one time it barely noticeably changes only the colors, another time the whole composition. The increasing abstraction of the natural object takes place here exemplarily - via cubism to constructivism . While a certain color fidelity is important to him at the beginning, he gradually abandons this, separates himself from the colors and inserts vertical and horizontal lines into the picture, whereby the depicted object can almost become a pure geometric shape. Evard reduces the objectivity through the spatial and surface tension - but through the choice of color achieves emotional values ​​such as warm and cold, light and dark, playful and strict.

André Evards work is difficult to classify in the categories of art history. He was not committed to any style, but fell back on the past, mixed styles and invented new things. Art Nouveau, Cubism and geometrical-constructive abstractions determine his work. While he was still part of the avant-garde in Paris , he was later drawn back to representational painting.

On the one hand, the play of shapes and colors leads to highly expressive representational landscapes; on the other hand, the clear reduction gives rise to fascinating still lifes with unusual color combinations and completely new object-space relationships. He always dared to break in style, which is what makes his artistic oeuvre so special. He painted abstractly when hardly anyone painted abstractly and returned to representational painting when abstract art dominated.

Works online

  • Decorative project for living room . La Chaux-de-Fonds 1908.
  • Picture review: André Evard

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1936: Time problems in Swiss painting and sculpture , Kunsthaus Zürich , Zürich, Switzerland
  • 1981: 1936 - a confrontation , Kunsthaus Aarau, Switzerland
  • 1981: Constructive Art in Switzerland 1915-1945 , Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
  • 1993: Kunstmuseum Olten Olten, Switzerland
  • 2005: André Evard. De l´Art nouveau al´abstraction , Musée des beaux-arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
  • 2009: Homage to André Evard , Kunsthalle Messmer , Riegel am Kaiserstuhl , Germany
  • 2012: Le Corbusier & André Evard. From Art Nouveau to Modernism , Messmer Art Gallery, Riegel am Kaiserstuhl, Germany
  • 2016 André Evard: Giving the color its spirit. 1876 ​​to 1972 , Galerie Michael Schultz, Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 André Evard: Colors of Nature , Messmer Gallery, Riegel am Kaiserstuhl, Germany
  • 2019 10 years of the Kunsthalle Messmer: a life for art , Kunsthalle Messmer, Riegel am Kaiserstuhl, Germany

literature

  • Pierre Du Bois: Les mythologies de la Belle Époque: La Chaux-de-Fonds, André Evard et l'Art Nouveau . Edition Willy Suter, Lausanne 1975 (French).
  • Galerie M (Ed.): André Evard 1876–1972 . Galerie M, Emmendingen 2003.
  • Helen Bieri Thomson: Le style sapin: Une expérience Art nouveau à La Chaux-de-Fonds . Somogy éditions d'art, Paris June 10, 2006 (French).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roman Hollenstein: Magical fir trees. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. June 28, 2006, accessed August 4, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c Katharina Sagel: Galerie Messmer shows André Evard with "Colors of Nature". In: www.regiotrends.de. July 22, 2018, accessed July 15, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Paul Pettavel. In: hls-dhs-dss.ch. Historical Lexicon of Switzerland , accessed on August 5, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Fund André Evard. In: http://cdf-bibliotheques.ne.ch/ . Bibliothèque de la Ville La Chaux-de-Fonds, accessed on August 5, 2019 .
  5. ^ André Evard, peintre surréaliste suisse. In: www.galeriedesannonciades.ch. Retrieved August 5, 2019 .
  6. ↑ For the 5th time, the kunsthalle messmer is awarding one of the world's most important art prizes in the field of concrete, constructive art. In: www.regionimblick.de. Retrieved August 6, 2019 .
  7. ^ André Evard: Decorative project for living room, 1908. In: http://www.artnouveau-net.eu/ . Retrieved August 5, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Photo review: André Evard. In: www.youtube.de. Kunsthalle Messmer, November 8, 2018, accessed on July 16, 2019 .
  9. ^ Kunsthaus Zürich (ed.): Time problems in Swiss painting and sculpture: Exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich, June 13-22. July 1936 . Kunsthaus Zurich , Zurich 1936.
  10. ↑ a b Guido Magnaguagno: The Thirties. (PDF, 4.52 Mb) In: www.e-periodica.ch. Retrieved August 4, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Anelise Zwez: "Exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Olten. Painting as a transformation of reality. Works by André Evard. In:" Aargauer Zeitung "from November 15, 1993
  12. ^ André Evard. De l'Art nouveau al'abstraction. In: kunstaspekte.art. Retrieved July 16, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Michael Haberer: New star in the art landscape. The Messmer Foundation's art hall opened yesterday with an exhibition of works by the painter André Evard. In: www.badische-zeitung.de. June 20, 2009. Retrieved July 16, 2019 .
  14. ^ Le Corbusier & André Evard. From Art Nouveau to Modernism. In: www.kunsthallemessmer.de. Retrieved July 16, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Giving the color its spirit. From 1876 to 1972. In: www.schultzberlin.com. Retrieved July 16, 2019 .
  16. ^ André Evard: Colors of Nature. In: www.galerie-messmer.de. Retrieved July 16, 2019 .
  17. ↑ 10 years of the Kunsthalle Messmer: A life for art. In: www.kunsthallemessmer.de. Retrieved July 16, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Evard, André
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Evard, Jean André (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH June 1, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Renan BE at La Chaux-de-Fonds , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 1972
Place of death Le Locle , Switzerland