Irène Zurkinden

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Irène Zurkinden (born December 11, 1909 in Basel ; † December 27, 1987 there ) was a Swiss painter .

Irène Zurkinden: self-portrait. (Paris 1935)
Irène Zurkinden: self-portrait. (1932 Tempera sur papier journal)
Irène Zurkinden (1909–1987) artist, painter, draftsman, lithographer, illustrator
Poster for the exhibition in the Kunsthalle Basel, 1959

Life and accomplishments

Irène Zurkinden spent her childhood in Basel and Münchenstein . The father, who came from Friborg , was a customs officer, the mother Jeanne a dance teacher. The parents' house was very open-minded in matters of music, so that the adolescent who wanted to become a fashion draftsman was able to enroll at the trade school in Basel (today: Basel School of Design ) in 1925 . There she attended drawing courses with Albrecht Mayer (1875–1952), received lessons in color theory from Arnold Fiechter and in graphics from Fritz Baumann (1886–1942). Before graduating in 1929, he mainly made portrait drawings.

In the same year Zurkinden made her first trip to Paris, where she completed further training at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière for a few months . Together with Meret Oppenheim , with whom she had been friends since around 1927/1928, Zurkinden spent several months in the Seine metropolis in 1932. In the years after graduating, Zurkinden increasingly painted scenic cityscapes in a style that was clearly based on Impressionism . During this time she lived alternately in Paris and Basel, where she earned a reputation as a sought-after portrait painter . From 1932 to 1972 she had an annual exhibition in the Marguerite Schulthess Gallery in Basel's Aeschenvorstadt. After Schulthess's death, works by Zurkinden were a permanent part of the Riehentor Gallery in Basel, whose owner Trudl Bruckner was a founding member of Basel ART. In 1980 the Beyeler Gallery on Bäumleingasse in Basel presented the artist in a solo exhibition.

In 1934 Zurkinden met the jazz musician Kurt Fenster, son of a Brazilian circus artist and a German. During the National Socialist dictatorship, Fenster emigrated to Paris. The couple lived in the French metropolis for several years. With the outbreak of the Second World War , Zurkinden returned to Switzerland. The sons Nicolas (Kolka) (* 1937) and Stephan (* 1943) from this relationship grew up with their mother in Basel.

Irène Zurkinden (1909–1987) artist, painter, draftsman, lithographer, illustrator, celebrity field, Friedhof am Hörnli
Grave, cemetery on the Hörnli

From 1942 Zurkinden took part in the exhibitions of " Gruppe 33 ", of which she was accepted as a member in 1943. Surrealist- inspired work emerged in the second half of the 1930s and early 1940s .

After the Second World War, Zurkinden lived alternately in Basel and Paris again and made long trips to Morocco (1948), Spain (1950/1951) and Italy (1952/1953). During these years she designed costumes and sets for the Stadttheater Basel and received an increasing number of illustration orders for books.

The grave of Irène Zurkinden is on the field of honor of the cemetery on Hörnli in Basel.

The Kunstmuseum Basel honored her in 1985 with a comprehensive retrospective of her work.

Awards

  • 1978: Awarded "Ehrespalebärglemer" by the Basler Sperber-Kollegium.
  • 1986: Awarded the Art Prize of the City of Basel .
  • 2014: Naming of a public, tree-lined square in "Irène Zurkinden-Platz" a new traffic junction at the planned Dreispitz high-rise in Basel.

Works (selection)

  • Autoportrait en chapeau de paille , 1929, LM, C. Bernoulli, Basel
  • Portrait of Paul Sacher , undated, private collection
  • Meret à l'orange , 1932–1935, Kunstmuseum Basel
  • Paris Roofs , 1934, Basel-Stadt Public Art Collection
  • Dialogue muet sur le bonheur , 1936, private collection
  • Le cirque du monde , undated, Riehen private collection
  • Interior with a decorated Christmas tree , 1939, Merian-Iselin-Spital, Basel
  • La gare d'Agen (Lot et Garonne) , 1940, private property
  • Ballet lugubre , 1942, private collection
  • Cemetery in Paris , around 1950, private property, Barcelona
  • Rêve: Cocteau mène la danse , 1962, private collection
  • Paris, Gare Montparnasse , 1966, Hotel "Les Trois Rois" collection , Basel
  • Filles maboules sur boules , 1975, private property
  • Park in Paris , 1985, private property

Book illustrations

  • Hans Christian Andersen : The Snow Queen. Fairy tales in seven stories with five color lithographs by Irène Zurkinden. Bern undated (approx. 1950).
  • Colette : The girlfriend. Franz. Original La Seconde (published 1931), translated into German by Waltrud Kappeler and Louis Erlacher. Zurich 1956.
  • Helen Vischer: Gracefully cheerful praise and literary monument for the city of Basel. Zurich 1956.
  • Maud Frère: Lonely heart. French. Original La Grenouille. Translated into German by Marguerite Janson. Zurich 1962.
  • Barbey d'Aurevilly : Le rideau cramoisi. With eleven lithographs by Irène Zurkinden. Lausanne 1970.
  • Hermann Schneider: The man with the horn. Basel undated (approx. 1971).
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : From the memoirs of the Marshall von Bassompierre. With seven pen drawings by Irène Zurkinden. Basel 1974.

literature

Web links

Commons : Irène Zurkinden  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ehrespalebärglemer years 1976-1978: Sperber Kollegium. Retrieved April 1, 2020 .
  2. ↑ The Basel painter Irène Zurkinden was awarded the Basel Art Prize 1986 - 03-12-1986. Accessed April 1, 2020 .
  3. ↑ At the Dreispitz depot. Retrieved April 1, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Zurkinden, Irène
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 1987
Place of death Basel