Hans von Matt (Artist)

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Hans von Matt (born May 7, 1899 in Stans ; † November 8, 1985 there ; entitled to live in Stans) was a Swiss painter , sculptor , art writer and cultural politician from Central Switzerland .

Life

Hans von Matt was the son of the bookseller, editor, Landammann and National Councilor Hans von Matt and Marie von Matt-Odermatt. In 1918, after dropping out of high school, he entered the class of Joseph von Moos at the Lucerne School of Applied Arts and in 1919 attended the École des Beaux-Arts with David Estoppey and James Vibert in Geneva . This was followed by studies at the art academy in Munich from 1921 to 1923 . He then stayed in Florence and Paris and took courses with André Lhote . In Florence he was greatly impressed by the art of Sandro Botticelli and maintained contacts with the artists Kurt Seligmann and Alberto Giacometti . From 1921 Hans von Matt worked in Stans, from 1927 in his own studio, as a painter and later as a sculptor. In 1935 he married the artist Annemarie von Matt b. Gunz, who became his model for several portraits of women.

From 1939 onwards, Hans von Matt wrote works on local history and folklore topics, as well as monographs on central Swiss personalities. In 1927 he became a member of the Swiss Werkbund , from 1937 a member and from 1958 vice-president of the Kunstgesellschaft Luzern. From 1941 to 1953 he was a member of the Federal Art Commission , of which he was vice-president from 1949 to 1953. He was the founder and from 1944 to 1953 a board member of the Swiss St. Luke Society for the Promotion of Church Art. 1947–1957 he was President of the Art and Nature Conservation Commission of the Canton of Nidwalden and from 1947–1974 a member of the Nidwalden Historical Association and museum curator.

Appreciation

Hans von Matt's career began in Geneva and Munich, initially in an expressionist direction. Influenced by the cubist foundations of André Lhote in Paris and Karl Geiser , von Matt developed clear and compact forms. His figures of girls and saints show gentle facial expressions and soft body shapes. The human bodies that were designed in this way until 1961 appear proportionally excessively long.

His vocation for contemporary religious sculpture brought him many commissions for churches and tombs all over northern Switzerland. With increasing age he shifted his work increasingly into smaller bronze and terracotta figures . From 1961 Hans von Matt began to deal with the abstractions of Jean Arp , Henri Laurens and Henry Moore . His figures no longer appeared in a closed form, but were defined by openings and curved lines.

exhibition

Awards

Works (selection)

Art in a sacred environment

  • 1958–1962: Birth and Death of Christ , St. Florin, Vaduz
  • 1946: Brother Klaus , Halter-Ming tomb, Sihlfeld cemetery , Zurich
  • 1949: Madonna in the parish church in Dornach, reliquary of St. Anastasius in the college of St. Fidelis, Stans
  • 1950: Madonna and Child in the parish church of St. Josef , Köniz

Profane works

Fonts

  • The painter Hans Emmenegger. An artist portrait . Historical Association Nidwalden, Stans 1987, p. 82 .
  • with Hans Beat Wieland : Hans Beat Wieland. Life and work 1867–1945 . 2nd Edition. ABC, Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-85504-049-4 , p. 152 .
  • Hikes with Meinrad Inglin . Benziger, Einsiedeln / Zurich / Cologne 1978, ISBN 3-545-36306-6 , p. 50 .
  • The Insurmountable Great Council of Stans . Insurmountable Great Council of Stans, Stans 1967, p. 63 .
  • Annemarie von Matt 1905–1967 . Hans von Matt, Stans 1969, p. 79 .
  • Dr. Paul Hilber. Conservator 1890–1949. Lecture . Kunstgesellschaft Luzern, Luzern 1960, p. 33 .
  • with Jakob Wyrsch: Anton Flüeler, 1898–1960. On the occasion of the memorial exhibition in the Kunsthaus . Kunstgesellschaft Luzern, Luzern 1961, p. 48 .

literature

  • Jakob Wyrsch, Meinrad Inglin: The sculptor Hans von Matt. A monograph published for the sculptor's 50th birthday by friends of his art . NZN-Verlag, Zurich 1949, p. 29 .
  • Anton Müller, Martin Kunz: Hans von Matt . Lucerne Art Museum, Lucerne 1979.

Web links

Commons : Hans von Matt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sandi Paucic: Matt, Hans von. In: Sikart , accessed on May 13, 2018
  2. ↑ Two church sculptures by Hans von Matt. In: The work. Architecture and art. Issue 8, Vol. 38, 1951, p. 248 f. (PDF; 2.0 MB; saved in the E-Periodica of ETH Zurich )
personal data
SURNAME Matt, Hans von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter, sculptor and writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 7, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Stans
DATE OF DEATH November 8, 1985
Place of death Stans