Franz Josef Noflaner

Franz Josef Noflaner (mostly Franz Jos. Or Franz J. Noflaner , born September 9, 1904 in Ortisei in Val Gardena ; † May 13, 1989 in Brixen ) was a South Tyrolean writer , painter and draftsman .

biography

Franz J. Noflaner grew up as the second of six children in a German-speaking family environment. After elementary school, technical training and a sculpting apprenticeship, he worked in his father's business as a carver and restorer. He was enthusiastic about Weimar Classics early on and began writing literary texts himself at the age of 22. The decision to become a writer led to a falling out with his father, whereupon Franz stopped working in the family business and from then on earned a living as a worker and handyman at construction companies and as a restorer. Between the 1930s and 1980s, an extensive literary work with poetry , essays and short prose was created in almost obsessive nocturnal work , from which Noflaner edited four volumes in his own cycle publishing house during his lifetime. After his death, the unpublished estate with numerous manuscripts and typescripts, some of which were ready for printing, was handed over to the documentation center for newer South Tyrolean literature in Bolzano.
In the 1960s, Noflaner learned the medium of painting and drawing in an autodidactic manner , partly as a reflex to his lack of success as a writer . The result is an artistic oeuvre with over 400 works on canvas and drawings on paper, some of which are now in private collections and in family ownership. Noflaner subordinated his lifestyle to his determination as a writer and painter, and in return he accepted the role of an outsider and spiritual adventurer. In his eccentric lack of needs, coupled with an artistic and intellectual immodesty, he was a guide and guide to a small circle of artists and friends from the start.

The literary and artistic work

Despite all the differences between the world of words and the world of Noflander's pictures, there are some obvious parallels. Both the literary and the painterly work thematize the contrasts between the world of reality and that of poetry and imagination . With both of them, Noflaner stands outside the "modern" currents in art and literature of his time.
His texts insist on a decidedly poetic tone, they seek the poetic sound and speak an idiosyncratic and occasionally antiquated language. The preservation of the high poetic form stands alongside the treatment of themes and figures that are often located in a socially neutral or archaic background. It is not uncommon for the respective literary speakers of these texts to enjoy the presentation of ironic , verbose or unshakable thoughts and sentences about life, fate, people, love, the general and materially transient and death.
The painting and drawing also concentrate on a series of thematic motifs and themes: people, nature, mountains, animals are intertwined in synthetic figurations , and they proclaim a unity of natural phenomena and human kingdom. The representation of the mystery of human beings contains a high psychological potential and is integrated into a network of metamorphoses and transformations , they are images of a comprehensive wholeness of life and matter, the unity of human being and nature. Formal echoes of Picasso , Matisse , Art brut or naive painting fit into an archaic, two-dimensional image structure and the imagination of its own reality. Here, too, the poetic pathos formulas can be interpreted as a claim to permanence and timelessness of the central messages. Noflaner's pictures turn out to be thought pictures, they update the conflict between ideality and reality and challenge us to examine the opposites.
The two-volume monograph Poets Words and People Views was published in 2016 . It enables comprehensive access to his unpublished literary, graphic and painterly oeuvre.

Publications

Tied ears of wheat. Prose and poetry. Cycle publishing house Val Gardena 1956.
Crystal and sunlight. Mixed seals. Athesia, Bozen 1957.
Antennas like vibrations. Athesia Bozen 1959.
The voracious street. Simple, tricky and intricate literature. Cycle publishing house Val Gardena 1960.

Exhibitions, selection

1970 Circle for Art and Culture Ortisei (first solo exhibition)
1981 Circle for Art and Culture Ortisei (solo exhibition)
1987–1988 Museum Gallery, Forum Ar / Ge Kunst, Bolzano (solo exhibition)
1990 Circle for Art and Culture Ortisei (solo exhibition)
2012 Wish, look, be amazed. Large retrospective: Part one - Museum Ladin , St. Martin in Thurn, Gadertal; Second part - Circle for Art and Culture, Ortisei

Literature, selection

Markus Vallazza , Franz Noflaner. In: Arunda . Current South Tyrolean cultural magazine: Menschenkinder . Issue No. 1, Schlanders 1976, p. 39 ff.
Roland Kristanell, The Poet Franz Josef Noflaner. In: Swoops. Eine Kulturzeitschrift, No. 31, 9th year, July / September 1990, pp. 4–10.
Franz Josef Noflaner. Film portrait of Rai-Sender Bozen, 1990, by Wolfgang Tomaseth and Roland Kristanell.
Alma Vallazza, »No worker is certain of his burning desires.« Franz Josef Noflaner (1904–1989). In: filadressa. Contexts of South Tyrolean literature. 1st year, 1st issue, December 2001, pp. 42–75.
Markus Klammer (ed.), Franz Josef Noflaner, Poet's Words. Poems, prose, letters. Volume I, with texts by Elmar Locher, Markus Klammer, Verena Zankl. Haymon Verlag 2016, ISBN 978-3-7099-7244-1 .
Markus Klammer (ed.), Franz Josef Noflaner, People Views. Painting and drawings. Volume II, with texts by Markus Landert, Markus Klammer and Katharina Moling. Haymon Verlag 2016, ISBN 978-3-7099-7245-8 .

Individual evidence

↑ Roland Kristanell, The poet Franz Josef Noflaner. In: Swoops. Eine Kulturzeitschrift, No. 31, 9th year, July / September 1990, p. 6.
↑ Alma Vallazza, "No worker is sure of his burning desires." Franz Josef Noflaner (1904–1989). In: filadressa. Contexts of South Tyrolean literature. 1st year, 1st issue, December 2001, p. 73.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Noflaner, Franz Josef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Noflaner, Franz J.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian writer, painter and draftsman (South Tyrol)
DATE OF BIRTH	September 9, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ortisei in Val Gardena
DATE OF DEATH	May 13, 1989
Place of death	Brixen

[1] Roland Kristanell, The poet Franz Josef Noflaner. In: Swoops. Eine Kulturzeitschrift, No. 31, 9th year, July / September 1990, p. 6.

[2] Alma Vallazza, "No worker is sure of his burning desires." Franz Josef Noflaner (1904–1989). In: filadressa. Contexts of South Tyrolean literature. 1st year, 1st issue, December 2001, p. 73.