Carl Eugen Keel

Carl Eugen Keel (* 1885 in Altstätten ; † 1961 in Rebstein , Switzerland ) was a Swiss expressionist wood cutter and painter . His linoleum and woodcuts are well known - often views of places, some hand-colored. His watercolors, oil paintings and figures made of wood, stone and chased metal are less well known.

Life

Carl Keel was born the son of locksmith Carl Joseph Keel (1849–1909) and Maria Elisabeth Rohner (1857–1926) and originally trained as a coppersmith . Later he worked as a textile designer for St. Gallen embroidery . The collapse of the embroidery industry after the First World War forced Carl E. Keel, who had eleven children with Emma Bertha Schär, to reorient themselves. He moved to Ticino and cut townscapes, everyday scenes and still lifes in linoleum . Keel lived in Cantine di Gandria in the twenties and was a member of the Ascona artistic community . His wife and some of his children sold the prints in their shop in Gandria.

Today Carl Keel is considered an independent Swiss expressionist. He is the father of the contemporary painter Adam Dario Keel .

Notes on the factory signature

As a rule, Keel signed his works as «C. Keel ”and with the note“ hand print ”or“ original woodcut ”(also abbreviated). The initials "CK" are often found in the woodcut.

Web links

• C. Keel in the Fundaziun Capaulina's online catalog