Fritz Hug

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Fritz Hug in 1972

Fritz Hug (born March 19, 1921 in Dornach ; † January 29, 1989 in Speicherschwendi ) was a Swiss painter . In addition to his main work, consisting of numerous oil paintings , he created lithographs , posters , mosaics and murals. Together with his wife Margrit Hug, he also created three picture books on biblical topics, which have been translated into several languages. Hug became known as the " painter of animals ".

Life

Fritz Hug was born on March 19, 1921 in Dornach, the second oldest of five children. He spent his childhood on Java , where his father worked as an engineer for a railway company. Back in Switzerland, he spent the remaining youth in Thalwil . Hug became enthusiastic about the visual arts early on. In 1935/36 he attended the Zurich School of Applied Arts . He broke off an apprenticeship as a gravure retoucher at the Zurich Fachschriften-Verlag at the age of 16. After the recruiting school he began to devote himself seriously to painting in 1940.

First successes as a painter

Hug was able to open his first exhibition at the age of 20 with the support of the Zurich art dealer Léon Bollag in 1941. He showed landscapes, cityscapes, people and interiors. His apprenticeship and traveling years took him to southern France in 1942/43. A second exhibition followed in 1943. He later toured Morocco, Italy and finally Lambaréné (Gabon). There he painted landscapes, animals and people from the environment of the tropical doctor Albert Schweitzer in 1950/51 . Back in Zurich, exhibitions followed in various galleries in Switzerland.

family

After a first marriage to Elli Marie Käslin, Fritz Hug married the journalist and writer Margrit Schürmann in 1951. They had three children. In 1957 the family moved into a house in Zurich, which from then on housed both the family apartment and the artist's studio. In later years Hug opened his own gallery in the same building .

Painter of animals

King Penguin, 1968

In 1964 Hug created a large mural “The Swiss Fauna” for the hunting pavilion at Expo64 . In 1967 he exhibited cityscapes at the Tryon Gallery in London, but at that time he began to concentrate more and more on animal painting.

In the same year the WWF asked Hug to paint around 100 animals threatened with extinction, a work that required both artistic skill and zoological knowledge. Fritz Hug temporarily withdrew to the quiet of a small Zurich village in order to fully devote himself to this new task. This is where the first hundred animal pictures were taken, which Hug showed in September 1970 in the Helmhaus Zurich. This exhibition was followed by more: in 1973 in the “Museum of Science” in Boston and in 1979 again in the Helmhaus Zurich for the anniversary celebration “50 years of Zurich Zoo ”.

In 1968 Hug was awarded the Art and Culture Prize of the City of Lucerne .

Fritz Hug died on January 29, 1989 after a short, serious illness. He found his final resting place in the Fluntern cemetery in Zurich . The preservation of animals and their natural environment was a major concern of his life. He could no longer complete his big project of painting all Swiss bird species for the 700th anniversary of the Swiss Confederation .

Publications

  • Antje Ziehr: Fritz Hug and his world of animals. Harlekin Verlag, Lucerne 1981.
  • Fritz Hug: FH in the Helmhaus Zurich. 50 years of Zurich Zoo . Atelier Fritz Hug, Zurich 1979.
  • Fritz Hug: painter of animals. Papyria publishing house, Affoltern am Albis 1970.
  • Fritz and Margrit Hug: Of every kind of birds and cattle - The animals of the Bible. Papyria publishing house, Affoltern am Albis 1969.
  • Fritz Hug: animal drawings. Eugen Rentsch Verlag, Zurich 1964.
  • Fritz and Margrit Hug: And God saw that it was good. Eugen Rentsch Verlag, Zurich 1962.
  • Fritz and Margaret Hug: The Story of Our Lord. Random House, New York 1961.
  • Fritz and Margrit Hug: On the way of the Lord, a picture Bible for young people. Eugen Rentsch Verlag, Zurich 1960.

Web links

Commons : Fritz Hug  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Hug, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Dornach
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1989
Place of death Storage wastage