Franz Karl Basler-Kopp

FK Basler-Kopp: The black spider

FK Basler-Kopp: The Schimmelreiter

Franz Karl Basler-Kopp (born February 17, 1879 in Basel ; † April 1, 1937 in Lucerne ) was a German painter and draftsman who lived in Switzerland . In addition to works with biblical and historical scenes, symbolic representations of stations in life and from literature , he also created an extensive work of fairy tales and legends .

In addition to being a “fairy tale painter”, he was best known for his drawings for the three-volume work Schweizersagen by Arnold Büchli (1926, 1928 and 1931) as well as for the illustration and book decorations for several books, some of which were created for literary and musical instruction in schools, such as the reading and theater book Osterhas, Sankt Nicolas, Weihnachts und Neujahr by Eduard Fischer (1926) and the fairy tale book Am Märchenbrunnen by Helene Kopp.

Life

Franz Karl Basler was born into a farming family in southern Baden . Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Lucerne, where Basler grew up in poor conditions. He later compensated for his scarce schooling at six years of primary school with intensive reading of a wide range of literature, from which he almost always drew the motives for his artistic work. While he was still at school, his right hand largely lost its functionality as a result of an infection. Basler became left-handed .

From 1893 to 1898 he attended the glass painting department at the Lucerne School of Applied Arts . However, he felt more drawn to painting on canvas and paper, which he devoted himself to during all of his free time. After completing the apprenticeship, Basler stopped going to schools and didn't seek contact with colleagues. He remained a withdrawn loner all his life. In 1905 he married Julia Kopp, the daughter of the rector of the city schools in Lucerne. In her he found a companion who took the closest part in his struggle for life and especially during the long, late years of a serious illness.

In 1912 and 1914 he traveled twice to Munich for study visits . On the occasion of the first trip he took part in an exhibition in Munich, after which he received an invitation to publish some pictures from Ferdinand Avenarius , the head of the “Kunstwart” . It was at the same time the beginning of a friendship that lasted until Avenarius' death in 1923, and during which the two exchanged views on the cultivation of art and the relationship between art and people and their mutual estrangement.

From 1910 to 1919 Basler participated annually, albeit with only a few works, first in national art exhibitions, then in those at the Kunsthaus Zürich . As a result, however, he almost completely withdrew from the exhibition. It was not until 1931, encouraged by his circle of friends and organized by the Lucerne Art Museum , that he went public again with 70 paintings and drawings in the old War and Peace Museum .

Basler had only a few regular buyers for his paintings. One of them is the ETH professor Adolf Tobler , who bought a series of pictures for his villa on the Zürichberg, today's listed Art Nouveau villa Tobler. In 1922 and 1923 he also made two trips to Germany possible for him, which in addition to Dresden and Hamburg both took him to the North Sea , where Avenarius made his house on Sylt available to him. These two journeys were reflected in many Nordic motifs, including in foreign countries - homecoming .

His artistic freedom meant everything to Basler, regardless of existential issues. He declined an offer from the Münchner Fliegende Blätter to take on the position of a fairy tale artist with them. For the publishing house Sauerländer he worked regularly for several years. His illustrations for the three-volume work Schweizersagen by Arnold Büchli, a work that also left traces in his painting, for example in witch holsters , became particularly well known .

As an artist, Basler was a late-born romantic , who was driven to continue those artistic elements that found their great fulfillment in Spitzweg , Welti , Böcklin , a narrator and illustrator who created a fairy tale and legend work of his own, trusting the visual Power of folk poetry.

In his last years he lived, unconcerned by the artistic zeitgeist, from which his own work became more and more alienated, only turned to his art and his friends and dealing with questions of art maintenance and led a true hermit life. Franz Karl Basler-Kopp, suffering from a serious illness for a long time, committed suicide on April 1st, 1937.

Works

• The witch's holster , chalk on paper, Lucerne Art Museum
• Strangers - Homecoming , oil on copper, Lucerne Art Museum
• The black spider , chalk on paper, Kunstmuseum Luzern
• In front of the city gate , pastel on cardboard, Lucerne Art Museum

literature

• Kunstwart 1916 , issue 29, p. 96.
• Kunstwart 1921 , issue 11, p. 311.

Web links

Commons : Franz Karl Basler-Kopp  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Franz Karl Basler-Kopp (1879–1937) with material on life and work
• Biography and picture descriptions in the online collection of the Kunstmuseum Luzern
• Angelica Tschachtli: Basler-Kopp, Franz Karl. In: Sikart