Fritz Kunz

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Johann Fritz (Friedrich) Kunz (born April 30, 1868 in Einsiedeln ; † May 4, 1947 in Zug , resident in Dornach ) was a Swiss painter , church painter , draftsman and mosaicist .

life and work

Fritz Kunz. Church works. Choir 1906–1907 Langhaus 1922–1923, in the Röm.-Kath. Church of Our Lady, Weinbergstrasse 34, Zurich
Church of Our Lady Zurich

Fritz Kunz was the son of Emil Kunz, who came from Dornach. As a decorative painter and altar builder, he had a workshop in Einsiedeln, where Kunz completed his apprenticeship from 1882 to 1885. He then attended the Zurich School of Applied Arts for one year and the Royal School of Applied Arts in Munich for three semesters .

When he returned, Kunz worked in his father's workshop from 1888 to 1891. When his father died in 1890, he decided to become a painter. He found his sponsor in Albert Kuhn . Kunz attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1891 to 1898 and was taught by Gabriel Hackl , Alexander von Liezen-Mayer and Carl von Marr , among others . During the summer months Kunz worked in various churches in Switzerland. In 1895 Kunz received his first important commission for a ceiling painting in the Catholic Church in Arth , which shows the influence of the neo-baroque painting style cultivated in Munich .

After that, Kunz lived and worked with interruptions from 1898 to 1903 in Rome and took part in numerous exhibitions. He spent the summers from 1902 to 1905 in the artist village Anticoli Corrado founded by Ernst Stückelberg . From 1900 to 1905 he created numerous landscape paintings, which were initially influenced by Arnold Böcklin and Art Nouveau .

From 1905 to 1919 Kunz lived in Munich and was a member of the Luitpold Group . In 1908 he married Emilie, née Epprecht. Their son was Leo Kunz (1912–1978).

Catholic Church of St. Antonius, Zurich

Kunz was the first to give church painting in Switzerland a monumental character and architectural structure. He is considered the most important and most productive church painter in Catholic German-speaking Switzerland between Melchior Deschwanden (1811–1881) and Ferdinand Gehr (1896–1996). Kunz had developed the principles of Byzantine art , the Beuron art school and Ferdinand Hodler's and elements of Impressionism independently and organically.

The 200 square meter large painting in the Antonskirche in Zurich Hottingen , created in 1921, still has features that refer to Beuron, but is at the same time shaped by the Italian style of the early Renaissance, which Kunz mainly used in the 1920s. Towards the end of his artistic career, Kunz distanced himself from the renewal of church art.

His estate includes oil paintings, large-format designs in chalk as well as smaller color designs for altar, wall and ceiling paintings and for glass paintings, as well as study sheets, sketchbooks and work photographs. These are kept in the Museum Burg in Zug. In 1990 a large Kunz exhibition took place in Zug.

literature

  • Rolf. E. Keller: Fritz Kunz as a book illustrator. In: Librarium: Journal of the Swiss Bibliophile Society = revue de la Société Suisse des Bibliophiles, Vol. 62, Issue 2, 2019, pp. 122-138.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry in the matriculation register for Fritz Kunz. Academy of Fine Arts Munich, accessed on July 27, 2020 .
  2. ^ Josef Lustenberger: Leo Kunz. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . November 6, 2008 , accessed July 28, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Kunz, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kunz, Johann Fritz; Kunz, Johann Friedrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter, church painter, draftsman and Mozaist
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Einsiedeln
DATE OF DEATH May 4, 1947
Place of death train