Erma Bossi

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Erma Bossi , born Erminia Bosich , (* 9. June 1875 in Pola , Austria-Hungary , now Croatia , † 14 April 1952 in Cesano Boscone in the province of Milan ) was a painter who in Munich the dawn of the Modern at the beginning of the 20th century. Her work was decimated to a large extent by two world wars and the cultural policy of the National Socialists . In 2013, a solo exhibition was dedicated to the artist's work, which had previously been almost undeveloped, in the Murnau Castle Museum . Up to this point, hardly two dozen works by Bossi were known, so that their position in the overall development of modern art was underestimated for a long time. Today one gains a better insight into her work, after previously undiscovered originals and unknown illustration material of her lost pictures could be compiled.

life and work

Artistic beginnings

News of Bossi's biography has been extremely sparse since then. By researching in what is now Trieste in northern Italy , the former Austrian Mediterranean port, important precise data on Bossi's biography could now be found. According to these, she successfully completed her school days at the municipal girls' high school in Trieste, which prepared its students for teaching. In 1889, the local press first mentioned the name Erminia Bosich in connection with attractive handicrafts that her school presented to the public in an exhibition. The following year, Bossi's drawings received praise. In 1892 they were even given the verdict “brilliant”. From around 1900 she called herself Erma Bossi.

When in 1912 it was reported about her artistic beginnings: “The artist developed a rich and agile talent under certain difficulties”, then these obviously began after her first solo exhibition in Trieste in 1897. At the time, the press encouraged her to “continue her art studies, for which she shows an above-average inclination.” At the end of the year Bossi was accepted as a member of the “Trieste Artists' Circle”. This association also included Carlo Wostry , who painted a portrait of Bossi in 1902, which he provided with a remarkable dedication: “The honorable colleague”.

Studied in Munich

"In mid-1904 Erma is in Munich" and studied "according to his own statements with Professors Anton Ažbe and Heinrich Knirr ". Your arrival in the Bavarian capital seems to have been reliably determined, because Ažbe died the following year. Accordingly, Bossi got to know the Slovenes personally. Other study facilities that Bossi attended in Munich are suspected to be the women's academy of the artists' association, but also the phalanx school of Wassily Kandinsky . It remains questionable when Bossi first went to Paris to continue his education there. One of her undated paintings, which she copied from Titian's “Madonna with Rabbit” in the Louvre , poses a riddle in this regard.

Member of the New Artists' Association Munich

Contacts to the painters who founded the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (NKVM) in 1909 existed not only through Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter in previous years. If Alexej Jawlensky thinks he can say in his memoirs: “In 1909 I founded with Kandinsky, Werefkin , Bossy [sic], Erbslöh and Dr. Fischer “the NKVM, he is wrong, but it is easy to see from his statement that he got to know Bossi earlier. This is all the more probable because it has now been proven that Bossi stayed in the same guesthouse in Murnau am Staffelsee in 1908 where Kandinsky, Münter, Werefkin and Jawlensky also lived. In addition, Erbslöh's wife Adeline testified that she had met Bossi before 1909. The report by the chronicler Otto Fischer is also correct in this regard: The NKVM “was founded in January 1909. [...] In the course of the same year, the following joined the association: Paul Baum , Wladimir von Bechtejeff , Erma Bossi, Karl Hofer , Moissey Kogan and Alexander Sacharoff . "

1909, participation in the 1st exhibition of the NKVM

Bossi took part in the first exhibition with six paintings. The painting “Circus” shown at the time has been preserved and is now exhibited on permanent loan in the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich. This is a painting that was revealing for the development of the Munich art scene at the time. It is one of her earliest known Expressionist paintings and shows clear influences from Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec , Georges Seurat and Henri-Gabriel Ibels . Bossi had developed a soft spot for the art of Paul Cézanne in particular , which she obviously shared with her colleague Pietro Marussig from Trieste .

Bossi's pictures also confirm that it was not the Fauves or Henri Matisse himself who influenced the sudden development of expressionist and abstract painting in Munich since 1908/09. Because they refer to the sources from which the Fauves drew, namely the paintings by Vincent van Gogh , Paul Gauguin and his successors, the Nabis . Edvard Munch , who was trained in France and oriented towards Okumura Masanobu , also played a decisive role in the self-discovery of most of the painters who made careers in Schwabing . From today's perspective, Bossi must be counted among them. According to the NKVM exhibition catalog, Bossi lived in Munich in 1909.

1910, participation in the 2nd exhibition of the NKVM

At the second exhibition at the NKVM in 1910, Bossi again contributed six works. A “still life” and a painting with the title “moon night” have been preserved . In the latter picture she practiced tone-on-tone painting , an invention by Louis Anquetin with which he once enriched cloisonism . At the time of the NKVM, Anquetin's way of looking at the world through a single-colored glass in order to transfer the impression gained on the canvas was very popular. Anquetin's style of painting was also very popular with Marianne von Werefkin , Alexej Jawlensky and, in particular, Münter.

Two postcards to Münter and Kandinsky document a trip to Italy in September 1910 and their presence in Munich in December. In addition, Münter depicted her in three pencil drawings in a situation that she shows in conversation with Kandinsky at a table in the Russenhaus in Murnau am Staffelsee . Münter realized her sketches of this interior in three paintings that were dated differently. The largest picture, created in 1912, is in the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich, the second in the Murnau Castle Museum and the third in private ownership. Bossi created a "Portrait of Marianne Werefkin" around 1910 , which is equivalent to an homage to the sitter. It is located in the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich. According to the NKVM exhibition catalog, Bossi lived in Munich in 1910. From December 1910 to January 1911, the first exhibition of the artist society Karo-Bube , headed by Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov , took place in Moscow . The most important Russian and French avant-garde artists exhibited there. The NKVM was represented by Bechtejeff, Bossi, Erbslöh, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Alexander Kanoldt , Münter and Werefkin. Bossi showed her paintings “Café Blanche” and “Moulin Rouge” at this exhibition.

1911, participation in the 3rd exhibition of the NKVM

In 1911 she was represented with four pictures at the third exhibition of the NKVM, of which only the title "Under Palms" is known figuratively. As early as 1912, this painting gave rise to linking Bossi's painting with that of Gauguin. It is listed in the catalog with the double name "Barrera-Bossi, Erma, Paris". Consequently, according to the NKVM exhibition catalog, she had now settled in the French capital. There she is said to have worked in Paul Sérusier's studio and took part in the 1915 exhibition at the Salon d'Automne . Contrary to previous opinion, Bossi never married, but added the name of the Italian tenor Carlo Barrera (1865–1938) to her stage name, “her great love” as a sign of her attachment to him.

Relocation from France to Italy

A document has now confirmed that Bossi had had an Italian passport since 1920 and had lived permanently in Milan since 1921. For the years 1926 to 1949 it could be reconstructed that she took part in 26 group exhibitions that took place in Bergamo, Florence, Milan, Trieste and Venice. After the Second World War, she took part in group exhibitions in Belgrade, Hanover, Milan, Munich, New York and Trieste.

literature

  • Otto Fischer: The new picture, publication of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München. Munich 1912, p. 29, plates VI, VII, VIII, IX.
  • Rosel Gollek: The Blue Rider in the Lenbachhaus Munich, catalog of the collection in the municipal gallery. Munich 1982, pp. 24-25, p. 309, No. 14-16.
  • Barbara U. Schmidt: Erma Bossi, Between Paris and Murnau. In: The women's garden, pioneers of modernity in Germany, 1900–1914. Exhibition catalog, Sprengel Museum, Hannover 1996, p. 241 ff.
  • Bernd Fäthke: Erma Bossi, an expressionist from the very beginning. WELTKUNST, October 1, 1999, pp. 1891 ff.
  • Annegret Hoberg, Helmut Friedel (eds.): The Blue Rider and the New Image, From the “New Artists' Association Munich” to the “Blue Rider”. Exhibition catalog, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Prestel, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7913-2065-3 .
  • Bernd Fäthke: Bossi, your Munich colleagues and their role models. In: Erma Bossi. A search for clues. Exhibition catalog, Murnau Castle Museum 2013, ISBN 978-3-932276-44-6 , p. 71 ff.
  • Sandra Uhrig (Ed.): Erma Bossi, Searching for traces. Exhibition catalog, Murnau Castle Museum, Murnau 2013, ISBN 978-3-932276-44-6 .
  • Bernd Fäthke: Marianne Werefkin - “the blue rider”. In: Marianne Werefkin, From the Blue Rider to the Great Bear. Exhibition catalog, Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-927877-82-5 , p. 24 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Carla Pellegrini Rocca: A gallery owner on the trail of an elusive artist, Carla Pellegrini Rocca on her research on Erma Bossi. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 59.
  2. ↑ Sandra Uhrig (Ed.): Erma Bossi, A search for traces. In: exhib. Cat .: Murnau Castle Museum, July 25th to November 3rd, 2013.
  3. ↑ Carla Pellegrini Rocca: A gallery owner on the trail of an elusive artist, Carla Pellegrini Rocca on her research on Erma Bossi. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 56 ff.
  4. ↑ She invented her date of birth. in FAZ of September 2, 2013, page 27.
  5. ↑ Nancy from Breka-Ficovic: Erma Bossi - A search of Croatia and Italy via Germany to France and back. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 24.
  6. ^ Sergio Vatta: Trieste artist in Munich. The training of a painter. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 34.
  7. ^ Fischer: Das neue Bild, publication by the Neue Künstlervereinigung München . 1912, p. 29.
  8. ^ Sergio Vatta: Trieste artist in Munich. The training of a painter. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 37 f.
  9. ↑ Nancy from Breka-Ficovic: Erma Bossi - A search of Croatia and Italy via Germany to France and back. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 24.
  10. ↑ Carla Pellegrini Rocca: A gallery owner on the trail of an elusive artist, Carla Pellegrini Rocca on her research on Erma Bossi. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 60.
  11. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Jawlensky and his companions in a new light. Munich 2004, p. 76.
  12. ^ Franziska Uhlig: Biographies. In: exhib. Cat .: The Blue Rider and the New Image, From the “New Artists' Association Munich” to the “Blue Rider”. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich 1999, p. 369.
  13. ↑ Sandra Uhrig (Ed.): Erma Bossi, A search for traces. In: exhib. Cat .: Murnau Castle Museum, July 25 to November 3, 2013. P. 116 f.
  14. ↑ Alexej Jawlensky: Memories In: Clemens Weiler (Ed.), Alexej Jawlensky: Heads-Face-Meditations. Hanau 1970, p. 114.
  15. ↑ Sandra Uhrig: Foreword and thanks. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 15.
  16. ↑ Sandra Uhrig: Foreword and thanks. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 19, note 6.
  17. ↑ Otto Fischer: The new picture. Publication of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München, Munich 1912, p. 22.
  18. ↑ a b exh. Cat .: The Blue Rider and the New Image, From the “New Artists' Association Munich” to the “Blue Rider” . 1999, p. 356.
  19. ↑ Gollek: Der Blaue Reiter and the New Artists Association of Munich 1982, p. 24
  20. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Bossi, their Munich colleagues and their role models. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 46 ff.
  21. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Bossi, their Munich colleagues and their role models. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 86 ff.
  22. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Bossi, their Munich colleagues and their role models. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 98 f.
  23. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Munch, Munich and elsewhere. Picture quotations, Weltkunst, No. 19, October 1, 1997, pp. 1986 ff.
  24. ↑ Exhib. Cat .: The Blue Rider and the New Image, From the “New Artists' Association Munich” to the “Blue Rider”. 1999, cat. 52; already at Fischer: Das neue Bild, published by the Neue Künstlervereinigung München. 1912, panel VI.
  25. ↑ Exhib. Cat .: The Blue Rider and the New Image, From the “New Artists' Association Munich” to the “Blue Rider”. 1999, cat. 51; already at Fischer: Das neue Bild, published by the Neue Künstlervereinigung München. 1912, plate VIII.
  26. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Louis Anquetin and tone-on-tone painting. Weltkunst, No. 22, November 15, 1996, p. 2977 ff.
  27. ↑ Reinhold Heller: Interiors: Experience, Memory and Synthesis in Gabriele Münter's Art. In: exhib. Cat .: Gabriele Münter 1877–1962, retrospective. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich 1992, p. 52 f, ills. 8, 9 and 10.
  28. ↑ Gollek: Der Blaue Reiter and the New Artists Association of Munich in 1982, No. 397, pp 379th.
  29. ↑ Brigitte Salmen, Annegret Hoberg: Around 1908 - Kandinsky, Münter, Jawlensky and Werefkin in Murnau. In: exhib. Cat .: 1908–2008, 100 years ago, Kandinsky, Münter, Jawlensky, Werefkin in Murnau. Murnau 2008, p. 32, fig. 23.
  30. ↑ Gollek: Der Blaue Reiter and the New Artists Association of Munich. 1982, No. 16 p. 24.
  31. ↑ Exhib. Cat .: The Blue Rider and the New Image, From the “New Artists' Association Munich” to the “Blue Rider”. 1999, p. 358.
  32. ^ Gleb G. Pospelow: Modern Russian painting, The artist group Karo-Bube. Dresden 1985.
  33. ↑ Valentine Macardé: Le renouveau de l'art russe picturale 1863-1914. Lausanne 1971, p. 314.
  34. ↑ Exhib. Cat .: The Blue Rider and the New Image, From the “New Artists' Association Munich” to the “Blue Rider”. 1999, p. 363; already at Fischer: Das neue Bild, published by the Neue Künstlervereinigung München. 1912, plate IX.
  35. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Bossi, their Munich colleagues and their role models. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 91.
  36. ↑ Rosel Gollek: The Blue Rider in the Lenbachhaus, Munich 1974, p 272nd
  37. ↑ Exhib. Cat .: The Blue Rider and the New Image, From the “New Artists' Association Munich” to the “Blue Rider”. 1999, p. 362.
  38. ^ Schmidt: Erma Bossi, Between Paris and Murnau. 1996, p. 242.
  39. ↑ Carla Pellegrini Rocca: A gallery owner on the trail of an elusive artist, Carla Pellegrini Rocca on her research on Erma Bossi. In exh. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 62.
  40. ↑ Nancy from Breka-Ficovic: Erma Bossi - A search of Croatia and Italy via Germany to France and back. In exh. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 26, Fig. 3 and p. 29.
  41. ↑ Carla Pellegrini Rocca: A gallery owner on the trail of an elusive artist, Carla Pellegrini Rocca on her research on Erma Bossi. In: exhib. Cat .: Erma Bossi, A Search for Traces. Murnau Castle Museum 2013, p. 63 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Bossi, Erma
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bosich, Erminia (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION expressionist painter
DATE OF BIRTH June 9, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Pula
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1952
Place of death Cesano Boscone , Province of Milan