Ernst Frick (painter)

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Ernst Frick (born September 21, 1881 in Knonau , † August 23, 1956 in Ascona ) was a Swiss painter .

Life

Ernst Frick was born in his home town of Knonau (Canton Zurich, Switzerland) as the fourth child of a total of nine siblings (eight boys, most recently a girl). This farm belonged to the Frick family as early as the 15th century and is still inhabited and managed by relatives to this day (as of 2015). His mother came from Stein am Rhein , Canton Schaffhausen. When Frick was 14 years old, his father suffered a fatal accident. The two youngest siblings were allowed to stay with their mother; the oldest brother was already standing on his own two feet at that time; the sixth and seventh children were given to different places.

Frick was artistically inclined, but had to learn the profession of a caster. Presumably during his years of traveling, he came into contact with anarchism as a trade unionist . From 1904 to 1906 he temporarily edited the militant magazine Der Weckruf . In 1906, a lung disease prompted Ernst Frick to take a spa stay in Ascona, Canton Ticino, where he met artists, anarchists, bohemians, etc. In 1907 he participated in an attack on the Zurich canton police to liberate an imprisoned Russian anarchist and in 1908 in a deliberate derailment of a tram. Due to a perjury performed for him, the conviction did not take place until 1912, after which Frick had to serve a one-year prison sentence.

He had been living with Frieda Gross , b. Schloffer (1876–1950), from Graz together. However, she was married to his friend Otto Gross (1877–1920), who was also from Graz and a controversial doctor and psychoanalyst influenced by Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche, and had their legitimate son Wolfgang Peter (1907–1946). The connection between him and Frieda Gross was made by mutual agreement of the three parties involved. She had three illegitimate daughters: Eva Verena Schloffer (1910–2005), Cornelia Gross (1918–1995) and Ruth Elisabeth Gross (1920–1963). Around 1920 Frick separated from Frieda Gross, and Margarita Marianne Fellerer (1885–1961) from Linz became his partner. Together they later built a house on Monte Verità , the Cà del Sass . They married in 1941; the connection remained childless.

As far as can be determined, Frick began painting around 1917. He was taught by Arthur Segal in Ascona, who also portrayed him in 1917. Frick painted in charcoal , oil, and watercolor . His preference was for nature and animals, but also for working people. In Ticino , there were an inexhaustible number of motifs in the many pristine valleys and mountains. He was influenced by the artist group Der Blaue Reiter . In 1924 he was a founding member of the artists' association Der Grosse Bär , to which the artist colleagues Albert Kohler , Walter Helbig , Otto Niemeyer-Holstein , Gordon Mallet McCouch , Marianne von Werefkin and Otto van Rees belonged, and which belonged to Ascona, Bern and Zurich and once in Berlin exhibited. After the group The Big Bear was dissolved in 1941 , he continued to work as an artist and joined the newly formed Ascones artist groups.

In Bosco / Gurin , which lies at about 1,500 meters above sea level, only German village in Ticino, was Frick's second home ( "in Bosco / Gurin is one of nature <just> over!" So Fricks own wording). He also knew his way around the surrounding mountains, so that in the event of an early onset of winter he could safely lead a trapped herd of cattle back into the valley.

Around 1928 Frick discovered a Celtic settlement on Balladrum (pronounced: Balladrüm ) above Asconas , the research of which occupied him to the end. Based on this archaeological amateur activity, he dealt with the exploration of a so-called original language. To this end, he meticulously created a card index and dismantled words down to their roots.

Ernst Frick also dealt with cup stones and in this context with monolithic door beams.

Family members and contemporaries describe Ernst Frick as a sensitive character. He loved his daughters and remained closely connected to his siblings throughout his life. In addition to his closeness to nature, much testifies to his strong intellectual activity, which is why he is also mentioned as the most intellectual of all painters in connection with the Ascona / Monte Verità scene at that time. In the permanent exhibition of the Casa Anatta Museum , Monte Verità, a room has been dedicated to his work since 1981.

Ernst Frick's grave is in Ascona's municipal cemetery.

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personal data
SURNAME Frick, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Knonau
DATE OF DEATH 23rd August 1956
Place of death Ascona