Anton Gregoritsch

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Anton Gregoritsch , usually called Toni Gregoritsch , (born November 29, 1868 in Ferlach , Carinthia , † April 5, 1923 in Munich , Bavaria ) was an Austrian painter and sculptor .

Oil portrait by the painter Josef Willroider (around 1900), Villach City Museum
Oil portrait by the painter Ludwig Willroider (around 1900), Villach City Museum
Bronze sculpture “The Mourners”, Ferlacher Parkfriedhof

Life

His parents lived in Ferlach. The father was the administrator of the Umfahrer weapons factory and had set up his own business in 1867 as a trader and postmaster in town. Her marriage to the postmaster's daughter Franziska Floriantschitz made the change of profession possible. On November 29, 1868 the family owner Anton was born. After attending secondary school in Klagenfurt, the young Ferlacher came to the military academy in Wiener Neustadt in 1885, where he was one of the best in his class. From 1893 the "cheerful" and "beautiful" officer at the infantry cadet school in Liebenau was "a permanent teacher of freehand drawing, calligraphy, military administration and military business style".

The year 1895 brought the decisive turning point in his life: Gregoritsch was 27 years old when he married the wealthy Rosina von Baechlé on September 17th. She had divorced her first husband, a Banu from Croatia , and lived in Munich. Gregoritsch took his leave as an officer and moved in with his wife. In Munich he trained as a painter. The couple indulged in a feudal lifestyle. From a life picture of Leopoldine Springschitz , which this in the book “Die Landeshauptstadt Klagenfurt. From their past and present ”published, we know that Mr. and Mrs. Gregoritsch regularly spent the summers in the idyllic Villa Rosina in Viktring . Springschitz: “In Viktring they kept an equipage and the rich artist's wife even a companion.” Just as her first marriage had failed, the one with Gregoritsch did not last. They soon went their own way.

As an artist, Anton Gregoritsch devoted himself primarily to portrait painting. His species was the glamorous image. From 1906 the Carinthian also exhibited in the Glaspalast in Munich . His cultivated style won him several public contracts in his homeland. The representative portraits of Governors Zeno Graf von Goess (1897–1909) and Leopold Freiherr von Aichelburg-Labia (1909–1918) come from him . In addition to portraits, he also created landscapes, mostly in small formats. They were shown in the Klagenfurt art exhibitions in the Benedictine school. The painter was then one of the members of the building committee for the Künstlerhaus. Anton Gregoritsch died on April 5, 1923 at the age of 54 in the Diakonisspital in Munich of a kidney disease. His body was brought to Ferlach and buried in the family crypt.

August Veiter wrote about him on April 12th, 1923 in the Kärntner Tagblatt : "... Many of his excellent portraits are also of great value as historical documents for posterity and the name of the Carinthian artist will not fade."

Almost a century has passed since that obituary; the name Gregoritsch is only known to a few. His hometown Ferlach tried hard to keep memories of the painter alive. When the local cemetery, which had existed since 1815, was abandoned in the 1950s and redesigned into a green area, it was given the name Anton-Gregoritsch-Park. The bronze sculpture of the mourners, which Gregoritsch created for the family crypt after the death of his mother, was placed in front of the new park cemetery on the outskirts of the city.

In the dual monarchy, the officers' class proved to be a reservoir for the most varied of artistic talents; time and again, talents emerged from him that enriched cultural life. One was the painting Gregoritsch. Incidentally, behind him is a typical Austrian officer and painter's fate.

Works (selection)

  • The mourners , bronze sculpture in Ferlach, Parkfriedhof
  • Josef Willroider (Villach, City Museum), around 1900, oil on canvas
  • Ludwig Willroider (Villach, City Museum), around 1900, oil on canvas

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kärntner Tagblatt of April 12, 1923.

Web links

Commons : Anton Gregoritsch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Gregoritsch, Anton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gregoritsch, Toni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian painter
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Ferlach
DATE OF DEATH April 5, 1923
Place of death Munich