Emil Krausz

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Emil Krausz , also Emil Krauss (born April 17, 1897 in St. Pölten , Austria-Hungary ; died May 19, 1930 in Paris ) was an Austrian painter .

Life

Emil Krausz: Sicilian Landscape, 1926

Emil Krausz spent his childhood in St. Pölten, his brother Franz Krausz was born in 1907, and in 1910 the family moved to Graz . At the age of 15 he began to learn painting at the Landeskunstschule Graz with Alfred von Schrötter . Encouraged in 1913 by a first, and later by a second Styrian state scholarship , he spent six months in the Dachau artists' colony , the popular meeting place for Munich landscape painters , which has become one of the centers of open-air painting since the 19th century , and entered class the following year by Rudolf Jettmar (painting and etching ) at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna . Trips to Istria and Dalmatia followed .

As a participant in the war (1915–1918) he last served as a lieutenant in the local rifle regiment No. 3 at the front. In 1919 he returned to the Vienna Academy and became a master student of Ferdinand Schmutzer ( graphics ). After stays in Germany and the Netherlands, now married, he continued his studies at the Berlin Academy under Alexander Archipenko , where he had rented a studio for a year, but apparently stayed shorter than planned.

From September 1923 and until mid-1929 Emil Krausz lived, apart from several trips, with his wife Elisabeth ("Erzsi"), born Neumann near Palermo in Sicily , first in the fishing village of Aspra, and from 1926 in Santa Flavia . In 1925 he became a member of the Graz Secession , which had been founded two years earlier, and showed six oil paintings and three hand drawings in the collective exhibition Styrian Art Show organized during the Graz Autumn Fair . In the autumn of next year he decided at the last minute to participate in the 3rd annual exhibition of the Graz Secession. From the very beginning, Grete and Fritz Blaskopf (Schwarz Modellhaus in Herrengasse) seem to have played an important role as patrons. Fritz Blaskopf was one of the founding and foundation members of the Secession.

In 1928 the Krausz couple moved to Paris. The fascination and inspiration that Paris exerted on him from the start led to an almost explosive productivity. Elisabeth Krausz wrote in August 1930 that she had never seen her husband “so happy, happy to work and happy” as at that time. He worked almost continuously, always looking for a motif, in the city center and in the suburbs (Meudon, Versailles, Fonteney, Sèvres). Recurring motifs: cityscapes of Paris, buildings, streets, Seine bridges, train stations, railroad landscapes. Short trips seem to have taken him to Rouen (graphic “Rouen”, 1929) and Chartres (landscape near Chartres, oil, 1930). Elisabeth Krausz in November: "We are out all day and don't get to write ..."

Based on the works shown in the 1931 memorial exhibition, at least seven graphics were created between October and December 1929, as well as eleven drawings and an oil painting: “Fonteney”. Often these were also templates for the oil paintings from 1930.

From the spring of 1930 he had an apartment and studio in Bellevue / Meudon, a rural suburb at the time with quick access to central Paris. In April 1930 he wrote to his brother: “I am happy to be able to continue my old Sicilian way of life and find the good air and calm in contrast to Paris to be very beneficial and yet to have contact with its artistic atmosphere is very valuable to me. "

From January to May 1930 he produced two drawings (“Small Garden in Paris”, “Paris”), twenty-six graphics and twenty oil paintings (including: “Montmartre”, “Seine Landscape”, “Justizpalais Paris”, “Samaritaine”, “Little Park near Paris ”“ Old Houses in Paris ”“ View of Paris ”and his favorite motifs, which have been known and preferred since 1924 at the latest:“ Shunting yard ”,“ Shunting yard near Paris ”,“ Montparnasse station ”). Other sketches and drafts are not included.

At the 6th annual exhibition of the Graz Secession, Krausz showed pictures of Sicily and Parisian works. The exhibition later went to Munich and Berlin. He seems to have stayed in Paris, Elisabeth Krausz was in Graz and wrote to Franz Krausz in April 1930: "The exhibition was very interesting, and the moral and necessary financial success was very gratifying, especially the purchase from the city council." the oil paintings: “The boats on the Cala”, 1926, and “Bagheria”, 1929 (whereabouts unknown today).

Emil Krausz died on May 19, 1930 in the Versailles hospital. A week earlier he had suffered from mild angina, combined with severe headaches and insomnia, caused by an abscessed tooth. He was u. a. treated with a sleeping pill ( Somnothyril ) that was not tested at the time . After taking the drug, he developed severe stomach pain and a high fever. He was already unconscious when the ambulance, accompanied by his wife, admitted him to the hospital at noon on May 19, where he died four hours later without having regained consciousness. The autopsy revealed a “rupture of the blood vessels for an unknown cause”. The cause of death, which has never been clarified, gave rise to public speculation, and some newspapers in Paris also took part.

Friends and colleagues reacted to the news of death with dismay and sadness. Contemporaries agreed that he was at a high point in his artistic development. Wilhelm Thöny, who held him in high regard as an artist and as a person: (He was out of) “... torn from his rapidly rising path. So, in addition to the admiration for such courage and seriousness, we have a feeling of bitter sadness about his fate, which did not allow the completion of his so promising work. "

Elisabeth Krausz, who had been married to Emil Krausz since 1922, left Paris and returned to Graz, where she managed his artistic estate until 1938. During their marriage, she had already established contacts with museums, galleries and art dealers, looked for suitable studio spaces, and organized the procurement of materials. In August the works had arrived in Graz from Paris, where they were to be placed in the commemorative exhibition that took place six months later.

At the end of the year Elisabeth Krausz returned to Paris with her brother to organize the transfer of Emil Krausz to Graz. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Graz .

Awards and honors

posthumously:

  • 1933: Gold Medal of the Graz Secession

Exhibitions

  • 1925: Styrian art show , collective exhibition as part of the Graz autumn fair.
Emil Krausz showed six oil paintings: two Sicilian landscapes (not for sale), two still lifes ( “Still Life I” , “Still Life II” ), “Landscape with a Red House” (not for sale) and “Quarry”. Furthermore, three untitled “hand drawings” were exhibited, one of which was also identified as not for sale.

Posthumous exhibitions

  • 1930: (June), memorial exhibition at the Billiet Pierre-Vorms gallery.
About fifty of his last works were shown. In addition to many colleagues and friends from the “Austrian colony”, the Austrian envoy and staff member of the embassy were present at the opening. Elisabeth Krausz wrote in August 1930 that this exhibition was "successful in every way".
Four works were shown, three of them from Paris (charcoal: “Strasse in Sèvres” and “Bellevue”. Drawing: “Meudon near Paris”) and one drawing from Sicily (“Bagheria”).
  • 1931: (March 22nd to April 22nd), painting exhibition - Sezession Graz, Berlin
  • 1931: (April 25 to May), 7th annual exhibition of the Graz Secession
On the initiative of Wilhelm Thöny and with the support of the state government and the city of Graz, the Graz Secession dedicated this exhibition to Emil Krausz. It was the largest and last presentation of his major work:
1. Hall: 59 graphics from the years 1926–1930, including two nude drawings from 1922 that Archipenko made.
2nd room: 22 paintings from the years 1925–1930, Sicilian landscapes and some oil paintings from the Parisian period.
3rd room: 12 paintings from the years 1924–1929, Sicilian landscapes, including u. a. "The Bay of Termini" (1927).
4th room: 15 paintings from the years 1927–1930, including the last works from Sicily and the oil paintings from 1930 in Paris.
Showcases: 26 drawings from the years 1926–1930 (Sicily and Paris)

Acquisitions by public and private bodies followed. It is possible that during this time three Sicilian landscapes (oil) were bought by the "Commercial Sanatorium (" Merkur ") Eggenberg". The sanatorium no longer exists. To this day it has not been clarified which images were involved and where they remained.

It is certain that the Albertina bought three works: two charcoal and one ink drawing. Coal: “Study of Girls”, for which his wife Elisabeth - as often - was the model, and “Samaritaine Paris”. Indian ink: “Meudon. Study". He signed with "Kraus".

Elisabeth Krausz states that the city of Graz bought another oil painting: “Great Parisian Landscape”, 1930. It may be one of the two pictures in the exhibition entitled “View of Paris” (whereabouts unknown).

On the occasion of the exhibition to mark the 10th anniversary of the Secession in 1933, Emil Krausz was among the exhibited artists, three years after his death, alongside many founding members.

After Austria was annexed to the National Socialist German Reich, Elisabeth Krausz managed to escape from Graz to England at the last moment in 1938. In June 1938 she wrote to Franz Krausz in Tel Aviv about her great concern about the pictures, which “have become completely worthless ... and who knows what will happen to them.” For security reasons, she deposited them with an unknown forwarding agent in Trieste, where she was from were "seized" by the Gestapo.

The whereabouts of these pictures is still unclear. Elisabeth Krausz said she had never wanted to sell it in order to keep it closed for exhibitions. One can assume with some certainty that these were also - and possibly even predominantly - his last important works from Paris. Many Sicilian works had found regular buyers during his lifetime and also after his death. From buyers of u. a. With one exception, nothing is known of the twenty oil paintings made in Paris (“Grosse Pariser Landschaft”, purchased by the City of Graz).

Elisabeth Krausz died in London in January 1990.

plant

In the Sicilian period Emil Krausz, who often signed his works Krauss or Kraus , intensively and. a. deals with the works of van Gogh , Cézanne and Renoir . In May 1926 he wrote from Palermo to his eight years younger brother Franz, with whom he had a lifelong close relationship and who provided him with reading material and the latest information on the cultural scene from Vienna: “… I feel more and more like myself Overcome technical difficulties more easily and become freer. ” a. with the French philosopher Henri Bergson (“life can only be understood through intuition”), the Italian humanist and historian Benedetto Croce (“only expression and form make the artist”). He read u. a. Homer'sOdyssey ”, the “ Iliad ”, Plato'sBanquet ”, Goethe'sItalian Journey ”, Heinrich Heine and Jack London .

Many of his important works (oil paintings, graphics, drawings) were created in Sicily. Village and everyday scenes such as B. “Die Netzflickerin”, portraits, still lifes and, above all, landscape paintings, including “The boats at the Cala” (1926) and “The Bay of Termini” (1927). Again and again he devoted himself to one of his favorite motifs: railway landscapes, etc. a. “Train to Messina” (1924), “Railway landscape Torre Muzza” (1925), “Railway embankment near Sta. Flavia ”(1929).

selection

  • 1922: two files , shown in 1931 at the Graz Memorial Exhibition
  • 1925: two paintings for the Graz Chamber of Labor
  • 1924: Train to Messina , oil
  • ???: Still life I , Still life II ("Steierische Kunstschau" 1925)
  • ???: Landscape with a red house ("Steierische Kunstschau", 1925)
  • ???: Quarry ("Steierische Kunstschau", 1925)
  • ???: two Sicilian landscapes ("Steierische Kunstschau", 1925)
  • 1925: Torre Muzza railway landscape , oil
  • undated : Die Netzflickerin , oil (owned by the Deneu family in Palermo in 1970)
  • 1926: The boats at the Cala , oil (bought by the city of Graz)
  • 1927: The Bay of Termini , oil (awarded the Austrian State Prize)
  • 1929: Railway embankment near St. Flavia , Öl, Graz , Neue Galerie
  • 1929: Rouen , graphic
  • 1930: Landscape near Chartres , oil

swell

Letters
The
letters quoted are in the estate of Franz Krausz with Michael Krausz, Tel Aviv. There are a total of 14 letters from the period from 1923 to 1970, all of which were addressed to his brother Franz Krausz, who emigrated to Palestine via Vienna, Berlin, Paris and Barcelona in 1934. Three letters from Emil Krausz have survived (1923, 1926, 1929), Elisabeth Krausz wrote eleven letters (she signed with "Erzsi", the abbreviation of the Hungarian form of Elisabeth). Occasionally these letters contain short personal lines from Emil Krausz, who says he was not a great writer of letters.

Obituaries Paris
The following articles are said to have dealt less with an artistic appreciation than with the sudden death of Krausz. It was speculated that he could have been poisoned. The unexpected death was a “pharmaceutical scandal” that was closely followed in Paris.

  • L'Intrasigeant, May 25, 1930
  • Le Petit Parisien, May 27, 1930
  • La Liberté, May 28, 1930
  • Semaine de Paris, June 27, 1930
  • Art vivant, July 1, 1930.

Obituaries Graz

  • Grazer Tagespost, May 22, 1930. (Could not be researched).
  • Grazer Tagespost, June 10, 1930. Article from “G.Sch.”, Graz (possibly Gustav Scheiger, the long-time secretary of the Secession): “The mysterious death of the painter Krausz. Unfounded suspicions - the untested sleep powder. An obituary ”. The author must have known the Krausz couple well. The full-page article provides information about the course of the illness, reactions to his death, the exhibition at Billiet and honors him as “one of our most hopeful”.
  • Grazer Tagespost, June 28, 1930. Article by Anny Gutmann, Paris: “The painter Emil Krausz. For the memorial exhibition in Paris, Galerie Billiet ”.
  • Grazer Volksblatt , April 17, 1937 (40th birthday of Emil Krausz). Article by Leo Bokh: "The painter Emil Krausz".

literature

  • Gsodam:  Krausz Emil. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 4, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1969, p. 223.
  • Krausz, Emil . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 21 : Knip – Kruger . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1927, p. 445 .
  • Emil Krausz . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists of the XX. Century. tape 3 : K-P . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1956, p. 313 .
  • Martin Richard Möbius : The painter Emil Kraus. Berlin (typescript. NL Franz Krausz).
  • Trude Aldrian : Chronicle of the Graz Secession. Graz 1973.
  • Günter Eisenhut (Ed.): Franz Krausz. Pioneer of advertising graphics in Israel. Catalog for the exhibition of the Neue Galerie Graz at the Landesmuseum Joanneum from 24.2. - March 28, 2005. Graz 2005, p. 21 ff.
  • Max Eisler : From the art world. The painter Emil Kraus. In: Menorah, Jewish family journal for science, art, and literature. 10th year, issue 11/12, 1932, p. 451 ff.
  • Heinrich Fuchs: The Austrian painters born in 1881–1900. Volume 1, A – L, Vienna 1976, p. 143.

Other mentions

  • Inventory catalog of the Austrian Gallery in the Belvedere. Vienna 1995. Volume 2, p. 262.
  • MA Daneu: Letter of May 9, 1970 from Palermo to the Neue Galerie. (Portfolio Emil Krausz in the artist archive of the Neue Galerie Graz)
  • Catalog Steierische Kunstschau, 1925. Graz
  • Catalog of the 3rd annual exhibition of the Graz Secession in 1926. (Not available. His participation in the exhibition is documented by a letter from Elisabeth Krausz dated October 26, 1926).
  • Catalog of the 6th annual exhibition of the Graz Secession 1930 (not available, see Trude Aldrian, 1973. Chronicle of the Graz Secession, Graz, 4)
  • Catalog of the memorial exhibition / 7. Annual exhibition of the Graz Secession 1931. (This contains a list of all exhibited works with title and year of origin)
  • Catalog Kunsthalle Bern, Austrian Art / Applied Arts Exhibition February-April 1931.
  • Catalog of the jubilee exhibition for the tenth anniversary of the Secession in 1933. (Not available, see Trude Aldrian, 1973. Chronicle of the Graz Secession, Graz, 5)
  • Catalog of the exhibition of the Graz City Museum in 1952 (not available, possibly in connection with the opening of the Künstlerhaus 1952)
  • Elisabeth Krausz: August 19, 1949. Typescript based on her communication. It mentions that "the main plant ... was destroyed by post-war events in Carinthia when it was transported back to Austria". (Portfolio Emil Krausz in the artist archive in the Neue Galerie)
  • Elisabeth Krausz: Letter of January 12, 1970 from London to Franz Krausz, Tel Aviv. Mention that the Gestapo confiscated the pictures in Trieste (original from Michael Krausz, Tel Aviv).
  • Elisabeth Krausz, undated, around 1989, written shortly before her death. Handwritten (short) curriculum vitae of Emil Krausz with a three-page listing of buyers of his pictures. She mentions again that the pictures were confiscated by the Gestapo (original from Michael Krausz, Tel Aviv).
  • Rudolf List : Art and Artists in Styria Ried am Inn 1972, p. 440.
  • Austrian Art, April 1933. In: Monthly magazine for visual and performing arts, architecture and arts and crafts. Issue 4/4. Vintage. Vienna
  • Wilhelm Thöny: April 25, 1931. Opening speech for the Emil Krausz memorial exhibition.
  • 7th annual exhibition of the Graz Secession (typescript. NL Franz Krausz)
  • People's newspaper Vienna. December 19, 1926 (not available)

Web links

Commons : Emil Krausz  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. The artists' associations exhibiting in the Styrian Art Show (1925) were: The Styrian Art Association , the Styrian Art Cooperative , the Styrian Association of Artists and the Graz Secession . It was represented with works by Wilhelm Thöny , Alfred Wickenburg , Erich Hönig , Paul Schmidtbauer , Hanns Wagula and Emil Krausz. The foreword to this exhibition wrote u. a. Karl Garzarolli-Thurnlackh , who owned some drawings by Emil Krausz.
  2. ^ For the 3rd annual exhibition of the Graz Secession (1926) Emil Krausz sent ten landscape pictures from Palermo via Trieste to Graz. Elisabeth Krausz wrote in November 1929 [1926?] To Franz Krausz in Berlin: “We are very happy these days because the reports about the exhibition are extremely gratifying, as we hear from the reports from colleagues and elsewhere. There is even someone interested in a large landscape…. In any case, we can be very satisfied with the success, ... "
  3. Elisabeth Krausz had contact with Grete Blaskopf by letter from London in 1970, who was living in Vienna at the time and was friends with Walter Koschatzky .
  4. sime.com