Franz Ferch

Franz Ferch (born September 4, 1900 in Rezsőháza ( German  Rudolfsgnad ), Kingdom of Hungary , Austria-Hungary ; † November 20, 1981 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a painter and graphic artist for the Banat Swabian minority in Romania .

Life

The pre-war period

In 1907 the family moved to Periam , where Franz Ferch graduated from primary school. From 1914 he attended the cadet school in Traiskirchen near Vienna . From 1922 to 1923 he studied interior architecture and interior design at the Dresden School of Applied Arts , and then from 1925 to 1927 the fine arts at the Munich Art Academy . When he returned to the Banat , he worked in the Timișoaraer Künstlerhaus, where he exhibited several times. The paintings Die Wacht and The Prayer of the Ancestors , two large-scale historical pictures from the time of settlement of the Banat Swabians , were created under the influence of Munich Neo-Romanticism . The latter is influenced by Stefan Jäger's immigration triptych and represents the foundation of the Bogarosch community. In 1930 the artist received first prize at an exhibition in Timișoara for the painting A Request . As a guest at the Deutsche Akademie , he was able to go on a one-year study trip to Rome in 1934 . He paid for the pre-financing of his patrons with ten paintings made in Rome. It was here that his Roman views: The Trajan's Column , Appian Way , The picturesque Rome , Ponte Vecchio , the Maroni saleswoman , unemployed and Dormant workers . After his trip he settled in Semlac . This is where his hometown pictures were created: The settler , the bread cutter , the plowman , the tennmann , the young farmer and our daily bread . His peasant types are monumental individual figures. With these pictures he achieved his artistic breakthrough. At an exhibition of German artists in Brașov , all the pictures were sold; the artist used the proceeds to purchase a house in Periam. In 1939 he received the Prinz Eugen Prize from the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Foundation of the University of Vienna .

In Timișoara

From 1950 Ferch worked as a teacher at the Lyceum for Fine Arts in Timișoara . His studio was on the top floor of the Banat National Museum there . In the tower of the museum, the portrait of the poet Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn was created on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death, as well as The Hauensteiner , Ferch's commitment to resistance, whereby the Hauensteiners symbolically stand against bondage and violence. The Dósza cycle , influenced by the history of Timișoara , consisting of the three large paintings Dósza before Timişoara , The Nameless and The Execution , was also created during this time . A cycle of the will to freedom and of bitter dying still heroizes in the first picture, but in the last shows only pain and torture. Franz Ferch painted watercolors with landscapes on the Mureș River , pastures and the summer sky with clouds. From 1959 to 1969 he was chairman of the Association for Fine Arts in Timișoara. During this time received the Order of Labor III. Class , the Order Star of the Republic V Class , and the Order for Cultural Merit II Class of the Socialist Republic of Romania. The main themes of his artistic work were local history, heathland, the Banat village and its people.

In Freiburg im Breisgau

In 1979 Ferch moved to Freiburg im Breisgau to live with his daughter, where he spent the last three years. In 1981 he exhibited in the House of Donauschwaben eV in Sindelfingen , where he was also presented with the gift of honor for the Danube Swabian Culture Prize. After his death he was buried in the main cemetery in Freiburg. Some of the painter's paintings can be seen in the Banat Museum in Timișoara, while others are privately owned .

Prices

• 1930 - for the picture A Request 1st Prize at the Banat Art Exhibition in Timișoara
• 1939 Prinz Eugen Prize of the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Foundation of the University of Vienna
• 1948 Prize of the State Committee for Culture and Art for the image reconstruction
• 1959 Order of Labor III. class
• 1965 Order "Star of the Republic", 5th class
• 1969 Order for Cultural Merit II Class of the Socialist Republic of Romania
• 1981 Award of honor of the Danube Swabian Culture Prize

Exhibitions

• 1930 Banat art exhibition in Timișoara
• 1938 Exhibition of German artists in Romania
• 1981 Exhibition in Sindelfingen in the house of the Danube Swabians

Study trips

• 1934 study trip to Rome

literature

• Temeschburg - Temeschburg. A Southeast European city in a changing era. Ed. HOG Timisoara. Karlsruhe 1994, p. 672.
• Franz Heinz : Franz Ferch and his Banat world. Südostdeutsches Kulturwerk, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-88356-054-5 .
• Walter Engel , Franz Heinz: Franz Ferch - man and work. Pictures from the Banat. Westkreuz, Berlin 1991, p. 108.
• Annemarie Podlipny-Hehn : Franz Ferch. Artist monograph. Kriterion, Bucharest 1975, p. 59.

Web links

• Culture portal east-west: biography of Franz Ferch