Ferdinand Gehr

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Ferdinand Gehr (born January 6, 1896 in Niederglatt SG, municipality of Oberuzwil ; † July 10, 1996 in Altstätten SG ) was a Swiss painter . He is considered the most important sacred painter in Switzerland in the 20th century.

Frescoes by Ferdinand Gehr

Life and work

He became known for his sacred pictorial subjects. He tried to express his Christian self-image in contemporary art. In addition, he designed monumental wall paintings and numerous church windows.

Gehr's largest cycle of stained glass paintings (178 narrow windows with saints, which he assigns to the Beatitudes of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew) was created from 1953 to 1955 for the newly built Roman Catholic Church of St. Felix and Regula in Zurich-Hard by Fritz Metzger . In 1965 Gehr's Window on the Sorrowful Rosary in the newly renovated Kreuzkapelle in Appenzell received some criticism. You can see Gehr's church window z. B. also in the 1969 built St. Anna chapel in Oberterzen (Roman Catholic parish of Mols-Murg-Quarten, Quarten parish, canton of St. Gallen). There are four smaller, square, colorful windows that face the mountain, while the large window behind the altar offers a view of the Churfirsten mountain range .

Gehr was initially controversial, but is now counted among the great, internationally recognized church painters of the 20th century. In 1954, Bishop Franziskus von Streng demanded that Gehr's apse painting be hidden before the consecration of St. Anton's Church in Wettingen . This work was first covered with a curtain and then destroyed. And in 1957, his well-known work in the Oberwil church (Canton Zug) had to be covered due to protests from the population. Gehr became known, among other things, with his altar painting in the church of the Propstei Sankt Gerold (Grosses Walsertal, Vorarlberg).

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St. Mary's Church in Olten Choir wall painting (fresco)

Gehr first worked as an embroidery draftsman and textileist, then attended the arts and crafts school and lived as a painting student in Florence and Paris. He spent the other years of his life in Altstätten SG. Gehr felt particularly connected throughout his life to Jean Arp , who also visited him in Altstätten in the 1950s.

Altarpiece in the provost house of Sankt Gerold

Gehr's work is shaped by his religious themes, although he is also known for watercolors of flowers, depictions of Eros, nudes and landscapes. In his early creative years, Gehr oriented himself towards Henri Matisse . Later, a style reduced to clear forms and characterized by daring color compositions became typical for him. Paul Cézanne's influence can be seen in both sacred art and his landscapes . Painting was a religious inspiration for Gehr. The numerous, colorful woodcuts from which the mystic can often be felt are popular. Overall, the imposing work spanned almost seven decades, because Gehr was active and engaged as an artist until a year before his death - that is, until he was 99.

Ferdinand Gehr was the uncle and mentor of Roswitha Doerig .

Stained glass window Antoniuskapelle, Wettingen AG, 1956
Grave designed by the artist himself for Mathilde and Ferdinand Gehr in the cemetery in Altstätten

Exhibitions

From November 2016 to February 2017, the exhibition Ferdinand Gehr - Building on Art is dedicated to the artist in the Kunstmuseum Olten .

literature

  • Franz Zelger: Ferdinand Gehr - innovator of sacred painting. In: Das Münster 3/05
  • Franz Zelger: Ferdinand Gehr 1896–1996. Offizin-Verlag, 2001, large illustrated book
  • Various authors: Ferdinand Gehr 1896–1996 , exhibition catalog 2001 for the retrospective Kunstverein / Kunstmuseum St.Gallen.
  • Ferdinand Gehr / woodcuts - catalog raisonné of woodcuts. P u. P Gallery Zug, 1976.
  • Ferdinand Gehr, Altstätten SG. A monograph. NZN Buchverlag, Zurich 1959.
  • Guido Magnaguagno: Ferdinand Gehr. "Late work" . For the exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich, 1994.
  • Damian Brülisauer: Ferdinand Gehr. In: Rheintaler heads. History of the Rhine Valley Association, 2004, pp. 166–172.
  • Dorothee Messmer and Katja Herlach (eds.): Ferdinand Gehr - Building on Art. Kunstmuseum Olten, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich 2016, ISBN 978-3-85881-533-0 .
  • Kurt Eggenschwiler: Ferdinand Gehr's choir mural in the Marienkirche Olten. In: Oltner Neujahrsblätter, Vol. 62, 2004, pp. 41–43.

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand Gehr  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

  • St. Michael stained glass window, Bettmeralp VS, 1978

  • St. Michael stained glass window, Bettmeralp VS, 1978

  • St. Michael stained glass window, Bettmeralp VS, 1978

  • St. Michael stained glass window, Bettmeralp VS, 1978

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Mack: Religious and uncomfortable. NZZ am Sonntag, December 18, 2016, p. 71
  2. ↑ The church windows of St. Felix and Regula on felixundregula.ch
  3. ↑ Roswitha Doerig , Hermann Bischofberger: The painter Ferdinand Gehr and Appenzell Innerrhoden In: Innerrhoder Geschichtsfreund , Vol. 39, 1998, pp. 128-135
  4. ^ Ferdinand Gehr - Building on art on kunstmuseumolten.ch
personal data
SURNAME Gehr, Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Niederglatt SG
DATE OF DEATH July 10, 1996
Place of death Altstätten SG