Ignaz Epper

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Ignaz Epper (born July 6, 1892 in St. Gallen ; † January 12, 1969 in Ascona ; resident in Heldswil and Hohentannen ) was a Swiss wood cutter , painter and graphic artist . Mainly because of his woodcuts and linocuts made in the 1910s and 1920s , Epper is considered one of the most well-known Swiss expressionists .

life and work

Ignaz Epper was the son of the embroidery draftsman Karl Ignaz Epper and grew up in poor circumstances. After graduating from the convent school in St. Gallen, Epper did an apprenticeship as an embroidery maker from 1908 to 1912 and met Sophie Taeuber-Arp , Sebastian Oesch and Theo Glinz at the École des arts décoratifs in St. Gallen .

After the recruiting school , Epper worked as a designer in the St. Gallen company "Selig" and was sent to Berlin by his employer to make fashion drawings there.

Here he decided to pursue a career as an artist and quit his job against the wishes of his parents. Like Adolf Dietrich, Epper was self-taught. From Berlin he traveled with his artist friend Sebastian Oesch to Weimar and Munich for several months . Thanks to the drawings from this period, Epper received a federal art grant in 1913 .

In 1913, Epper began an apprenticeship as a lithographer at the Seitz company in Zurich . During his active military time as a border soldier in World War I , he met his patron and patron Han Coray in Zurich . Epper was able to set up his studio above the premises of his book and art shop on Oberen Mühlgasse in Zurich and to exhibit his early works, including woodcuts and linocuts, in the gallery. In the first years of the First World War, Epper dealt intensively with St. Sebastian . Between 1913 and 1918 he created at least two woodcuts, a lithograph, a few drawings and three oil paintings with this motif.

In 1916 he married the Dutch sculptor Mischa Quarles van Ufford and moved into an apartment on Spiegelgasse, which soon became a meeting place for painters, writers, architects and sculptors. Epper was nicknamed "Hedgehog" by his friends because of his melancholy and closed nature.

In Basel in 1917 he met Paul Ganz , the curator of the Kunstmuseum Basel , and Fritz Eduard Pauli . He traveled regularly with his wife, often accompanied by his friend Pauli and his wife, to the Netherlands , France , Spain , North Africa and Italy . On these extensive journeys, numerous works were created using different techniques.

Epper regularly took part in the GSMBA group exhibitions and also exhibited in Zurich galleries. He was a member of the graphic association “Die Walze” and the “Graphisches Kabinett”.

From 1933 until his death in 1969, Epper lived in the "Casa Epper" in Ascona. In Ascona he also had close contact with his artist friend from his Zurich years, Johann Robert Schürch, who lived there . Epper's productivity decreased noticeably in Ascona and he now increasingly executed his works in oils and watercolors. In the years to come he traveled frequently to Paris, Arosa and Collioure .

Epper illustrated Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz's book , Bergsturz auf Derborence , published in 1935, and in 1937 he and his wife founded the Ascones artists' puppet theater . In the years before his death, Epper dealt with the writings of Carl Gustav Jung and those of the Eranos circle in Ascona.

Eppers works have been exhibited at the Kunstmuseum Olten , Kunstmuseum Winterthur , Kunstmuseum Thurgau , Kunsthalle Bern , Kunsthalle Basel , Kunstmuseum Luzern , Kunsthaus Zug , Kunsthaus Aarau and the Kunsthaus Zürich .

In 1974 the Ascona-based “Fondazione Ignaz e Mischa Epper” was founded and in 1980 the “Museo Epper” was opened.

literature

  • Erwin Brüllmann: Ignaz Epper. In: Thurgauer Jahrbuch , Vol. 40, 1965, pp. 54–64 ( e-periodica.ch )
  • Mischa Epper-Quarles (ed.), Alfred Scheidegger: The woodcuts - visible form of inner pictures. Benteli Verlag Bern, 1975, ISBN 3716500542
  • Hans Trog: The roller. Association of Swiss artists - graphic designers. Warehouse catalog. Zurich.
  • Marianne Nef: The industrial landscapes in painting by Ignaz Epper - with catalog raisonné . Basel, 2010

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Oesch, Albert Sebastian in Sikart
  2. ^ Glinz, Theo in Sikart
  3. ↑ Sabine Felder: The martyrdom of St. Sebastian. Art and culture in Switzerland, accessed on March 9, 2020 .
  4. ^ Epper-Quarles van Ufford, Mischa in Sikart
personal data
SURNAME Epper, Ignaz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss wood cutter, painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH July 6, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Gallen
DATE OF DEATH January 12, 1969
Place of death Ascona