Anton Bernhardsgrütter

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anton Bernhardsgrütter (born April 12, 1925 in Hohentannen , † December 24, 2015 in Kreuzlingen ; legal resident in Gossau ) was a Swiss painter , draftsman , lithographer and author.

life and work

Bernhardsgrütter was the second oldest son of smallholders and grew up with his six siblings on the remote “Neugrütt” farm near Bischofszell . His mother was Friderike, née Meli, and came from Vilters-Wangs . After his school days in Hohentannen and Bischofszell, his mother wanted to send him to Appenzell to the Capuchins or to a mission school.

However, Bernhardsgrütter decided to become a teacher, also because he hoped it would give him more time to paint and draw. He attended the Kreuzlingen teachers' seminar from 1941 to 1945 and was also used as a seminarist for the cult battle. His seminar director at the time, Willy Schohaus , recognized Bernhardsgrütter's artistic talent and became his sponsor. When Jacques Bächtold had the play Kaballa und Liebe performed in 1942 , Bernhardsgrütter was employed as an extra .

After completing his training and recruiting school , Bernhardsgrütter initially found no employment. It wasn't until 1949 that he was employed as a teacher at the comprehensive school in Halden TG . In 1951 he moved to Kreuzlingen. During the school holidays he traveled to other European countries. In 1952 he married the already known him since school, from Hungary Dating Eva Halász. With her he had a son and a daughter.

Bernhardsgrütter's works were shown for the first time in 1961 at the international exhibition «lay painters» in the Basel industrial museum . In 1966, he received a “lift-up prize” in a federal scholarship competition. Exhibitions in London and Bratislava followed .

In 1973, Bernhardsgrütter decided to give up his job as a teacher and henceforth to work as a freelance artist. Bernhardsgrütter separated from his family and earned his living a. a. with religiously colored reverse glass painting .

In the 1970s, Bernhardsgrütter also began to write the “Panoptic picture books”, which he signed with “lpc”, le pauvre cochon (the poor pig), which, according to his own statements, was not related to himself. Over the years around forty such “Panoptic picture books” have been created.

From 1974, Bernhardsgrütter lived in various places in the canton of Thurgau until he moved in 1979 to his parents' house “Neugrütt”. In 1983 the house burned to the ground and some of his works were destroyed in the process. These included some of his diaries, which he had been compiling continuously since 1973, which Bernhardsgrütter classified as "at least as important" as his pictorial work.

Further exhibitions followed in Thurgau, Bischofszell, Frauenfeld and at the Kunsthaus Zürich .

Bernhardsgrütter was a member of the «Thurgauer Künstlergruppe». In 1989 he received the Culture Prize of the Canton of Thurgau. In 1995 a solo exhibition followed in the "Bernhaus Frauenfeld" and a catalog of works published by the Kunstverein Frauenfeld.

On the occasion of his 90th birthday in 2015, the “Museum Rosenegg” in Kreuzlingen exhibited thirty works by Bernhardsgrütter.

Most recently, Bernhardsgrütter lived in the Kreuzlingen retirement center, where he died at the age of 91.

Bernhardsgrütter's work is not easy to classify: First he became known as a naive painter of folk scenes and natural pieces. In addition, there are sketches of condensed longing dreams, self-reflections and memories. «Stylistically, expressive shaping, caricaturing and satirical distancing, collage and quotation belong in the repertoire of the mature Bernhardgrütter, which he explored both linguistically and visually. Thematically, Bernhardsgrütter gives expression in his Panoptic picture books, the actual center of his work, his chains of associations of memories, testimonies and socially critical comments ”(Dorothea Kaufmann).

Works by Anton Bernhardsgrütter can be found among others. a. in the collection of the museum in the warehouse and in the art museum Thurgau .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gertrud Trindler-Beckert: Easter in the Charterhouse. Retrieved March 17, 2020 .
  2. ↑ St. Galler Tagblatt: Artist Anton Bernhardsgrütter has died. Retrieved March 17, 2020 .
  3. ^ Dorothee Kaufmann: Bernhardsgrütter, Anton. In: Sikart .
  4. ^ Art Museum Thurgau: Anton Bernhardsgrütter. The handmaid of the Lord. Retrieved March 17, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Bernhardsgrütter, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter, draftsman, lithographer and text writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Hohentannen
DATE OF DEATH December 24, 2015
Place of death Kreuzlingen