Ernst Arnold Frey

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ernst Arnold Frey (born November 27, 1893 in Zurich , † August 17, 1971 in Mendrisio ; citizen of Oberehrendingen ) was a Swiss painter and poet . He belonged to the Zurich avant-garde .

Life

From 1909 to 1912 Frey completed an apprenticeship as a decoration and flat painter with Christian Schmidt, at the same time he was a trainee at the Zurich School of Applied Arts , where he took part in the lessons of Julius de Praetere and Emil Schulze, among others . After his apprenticeship, which had also included dealing with moulage technology , Ernst Frey worked for two years in his learned profession.

In 1914 Frey began to study painting at the Académie Julian , which he broke off due to the outbreak of the First World War . After returning to Zurich, Frey devoted himself to self-taught studies and worked as a freelance artist and poet. He moved in Zurich's artistic circles, was a guest at Cabaret Voltaire and became acquainted with Walter Serner , who printed a poem by Frey in the monthly magazine for literature and art Sirius , which he published . In the period from 1914 to 1924 Frey was under contract with Galerie Neupert in Zurich. In 1917 he painted a portrait of Ernst Keller (1891–1968), which is now owned by the City of Zurich.

After the First World War, Frey stayed in Italy in Florence , Siena and San Gimignano . He had an order from the Armin Honegger legacy of the Kunsthaus Zürich to make copies according to old masters, including a detailed copy from Barna da Siena's crucifixion cycle in the parish church of San Gimignano. The painting The Mourning Women under the Cross (131 × 150 cm) is now in the depot of the Kunsthaus Zürich.

In 1924 he married Lucie Emmelina Bernhard (1894–1971), daughter of Oscar Bernhard and Lili Bernhard-Imhoof, in St. Moritz . In the same year, the newly wed couple moved to Geneva . Their son Peter Ulrich was born in 1925 and their daughter Regula Christina was born two years later. In 1926 and 1928 Frey stayed in the south of France .

Street sign for Via Ernst Frey in Ligornetto , Ticino

On November 23, 1928, Frey's brother-in-law, Anton Klucker, was shot in connection with the glass strike in Zurich. In 1930 he divorced his wife and Frey moved to the south of France. There he lived first in Cassis , in Ida Brown's house, and later in La Ciotat . In 1933 Frey was in charge of the painting work at the Hotel Les Roches blanches in Cassis. 1940 died Freys son from his first marriage, Peter Ulrich of polio in Kantonsspital Graubünden and Frey married the following year in La Ciotat the Scottish Isabel Brown (1884-1974), called Ida.

In 1945 Frey returned to Geneva, Switzerland. From 1946 until his death he resided in Ligornetto in the canton of Ticino , where a street was named after him in his honor.

Create

Ernst Frey painted naturalistically in the style of the New Objectivity . His main topics included still life , the arranged, staged and reflections. With the mirror he achieved the refraction and all-round view of an object. Often a bottle was the object depicted, or a special shape made of ceramic or porcelain. His painting is reminiscent of Giorgio Morandi and Giorgio de Chirico , Frey's landscapes are cool and distant, the human figure is absent. Often it represented rather inconspicuous architectural conditions: train stations, tracks, sheds, silos, farmsteads. Frey drew on the sketch pad in the great outdoors, but mostly painted his landscapes on the easel in a studio .

After 1930, the influence of Paul Cézanne on his painting became noticeable. The light and colors of the midi are decisive for his landscapes in soft ocher and green tones. A large number of pictures were taken of the sea, buildings and the southern vegetation.

From 1911 to 1930 Frey regularly took part in the exhibitions of the Zürcher Kunstverein in the Kunsthaus Zürich . From 1917, 1919, 1928 and 1931 he took part in national exhibitions. From 1919 Frey was a member of the Society of Swiss Painters and Sculptors and took part in their exhibitions until 1933.

After returning to Switzerland, Frey withdrew to paint and write for himself. His lyric poetry, the Decay cycle , is thought to have been lost. A poem is printed in the work The painter Ugo Cleis , published in 1954 .

Works

In addition to private collections, works by Ernst Arnold Frey can be found in the following public collections:

literature

  • Ernst Frey. Il profumo del moderno. Gli anni dal 1916 al 1919. Ediz. illustrata di Casa d'arte Miler Editoria e Comunicazione, November 1, 2018, ISBN 978-88-99654-12-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annemarie Schmidt: Chronicle. In: christian-schmidt.ch .
  2. ↑ Sirius. Monthly for literature and art , issue 1 (1915/16).
  3. ↑ Kurt Thaler: Ernst Keller. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . August 9, 2007. Retrieved June 28, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Y 101,111 , State Archives Zurich .
  5. ↑ Alexandre Nikolaïevitch Benois: The House of Ida Brown, Cassis, 1932. In: mutualart.com .
  6. ^ Website of L'hôtel Les Roches Blanches .
  7. ^ The painter Ugo Cleis. Olten 1954.
  8. ^ Website of the Museo d'Arte Mendrisio .
  9. ^ Directory of the artists in the art collection of the Canton of Zurich .
  10. ^ Website of the City of Zurich.
personal data
SURNAME Frey, Ernst Arnold
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Frey, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter and poet
DATE OF BIRTH November 27, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 1971
Place of death Mendrisio