Hans Josephsohn

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Hans Josephsohn (born May 20, 1920 in what was then Königsberg ; died August 20, 2012 in Zurich ) was a Swiss sculptor .

Life

Hans Josephsohn grew up in a Jewish-liberal family in Königsberg and attended elementary school and grammar school there until 1937 . He then studied art in Florence on a scholarship . Due to the anti-Semitic policies of Italy and Germany, Josephsohn had to flee to Switzerland in 1938. In Zurich he became a student of the Swiss sculptor Otto Müller . In 1943 he moved into his own studio and from 1964 showed his works in solo exhibitions. In the same year Josephsohn became a Swiss citizen .

In 1992, a museum, La Congiunta , was dedicated to the artist in Giornico in Canton Ticino . Since then, around thirty of his sculptures have been exhibited in the museum built by Peter Märkli . Josephsohn's work became known to a broader public at the end of the 1990s, and since around 2000 it has been increasingly viewed internationally as a decisive contribution to the visual arts. Josephsohn received the honorary gift of the Zurich Government Council in 1985 and the City of Zurich Art Prize in 2003. At the same time, the Sitterwerk Foundation in St. Gallen opened the "Kesselhaus Josephsohn" with a constantly changing permanent exhibition of his works.

plant

For more than 60 years, the human figure was Josephsohn's artistic theme. His works are very general representations of human existence as physical beings. The direct relationship to the direct counterpart is always maintained.

Josephsohn's sculptural design was always done with plaster . In the soft state he could model it, in the solid state he could carve it again. These work processes can be seen on the surface of his sculptures. The structures are shaped by the way he applied plaster of paris with a spatula or by hand, hacking it with the ax in places or adding chunks of plaster to it. In his studio, plaster models are made, in the Felix Lehner art foundry they are molded and cast as brass casts using the lost wax technique .

The artist lived and worked in Zurich. His estate is administered by the «Kesselhaus Josephsohn», St.Gallen.

Exhibitions (selection)

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

  • 2017: Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Bruton, «Josephsohn - Peter Märkli. A Conjunction »; Art Museum St. Gallen ( Lokremise ), "Body Doubles"
  • 2016: Kunstmuseum Luzern , "Katinka Bock, Hans Josephsohn, Fabian Marti - Why I turned into a nightingale"; Abbaye de Montmajour, Arles, "La Règle Et L'Intuition"
  • 2015: ARTZUID - International Sculpture Route, Amsterdam; Laurent Godin Gallery, Paris, “Substance”; Maccarone Gallery, New York, "All back in the skull together"
  • 2014: Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel, “Spatial Positions 8: Cooperations. Diener & Diener in collaboration with Martin Steinmann and Josef Felix Müller / Peter Märkli and Josephsohn »
  • 2013: Venice Biennale , "Il Palazzo Enciclopedico"
  • 2012: Regent's Park , London, “Frieze Art Fair Sculpture Park 2012”; Venice Architecture Biennale, “Common Ground”; Art and the City: A festival for art in public spaces, Zurich-West
  • 2009: Parasol Unit Fondation for Contemporary Art, London, "Visible Invisible - Against the Security of the Real"
  • 2007: Palais de Tokyo , Paris, "The third Mind"
  • 2003: Mostra Internazionale di Scultura all'Aperto, Vira Gambarogno , Switzerland, "G 2003"

Works in public space (selection)

  • Berlin: Neue Nationalgalerie , half figure, 1990 (installed 2010)
  • Zurich: Kunsthaus (passage to the library), relief, 1950
  • Zurich: Nordheim crematorium , two reliefs
  • Zurich- Wollishofen : student dormitory, large reclining figure , 1964
  • Zurich (IFW building of the ETH Zurich ): Relief, 1975
  • Zurich: Sihlfeld cemetery , relief
  • Zurich: Bleicherweg 21, relief
  • Zurich: Haus zum Rechberg , Liegende , 2004 (installed in 2014)
  • Zurich- Oerlikon : School building in Birch, three large reclining figures , 1995/1995/1997 (installed in 2004)
  • Chur : Large reclining figure , 2005 (installed 2008)
  • Chur: Relief, 1970 (installed 2008)
  • Langenbruck: Schönthal Monastery , half figure, 1988/1989 (installed 2007)

gallery

Movie

  • Jürg Hassler : Josephsohn - stumbling block. Documentary. 1977/2017.
  • Matthias Kälin, Laurin Merz: Josephsohn sculptor. Documentary. 2007.

Web links

Commons : Hans Josephsohn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The sculptor Hans Josephsohn died at the age of 92. Limmattaler Zeitung
  2. ^ Biographical note on Josephsohn on the website of the Sitterwerk.
  3. ↑ On the work of Josephsohn on the website of the Sitterwerk
  4. ↑ Group exhibitions by Josephsohn on the Sitterwerk website.
  5. ↑ Work exhibition on Josephsohn
  6. ↑ Josephsohn sculptor
personal data
SURNAME Josephsohn, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg
DATE OF DEATH 20th August 2012
Place of death Zurich