Jean Jacques Lüscher

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Jean Jacques Lüscher , German  Johann Jakob Lüscher (born September 4, 1884 in Basel , † May 1, 1955 in Riehen ) was a Swiss painter , draftsman and lithographer . His work includes landscape paintings and drawings, portraits and lithographs.

life and work

Jean Jacques Lüscher - or "Schangi", as he was called in Basel - grew up with three siblings in the old courtyard on Basel's Münsterplatz . His father was the banker Rudolf Lüscher (1853–1930), his mother Maria Rosalie nee Burckhardt (1861–1932). The doctor and businessman Martin Burckhardt-His (1823–1903), who lived in Wenkenhof in Riehen, was one of his grandfathers.

After passing the Matura, Lüscher attended the trade school and took lessons from Fritz Schider and Rudolf Löw . He then studied with Heinrich Knirr from spring 1903 to late summer 1904 . There he mainly learned to draw strictly according to the living model. In Munich he made friends with Paul Burckhardt (1880–1961) and during the holidays the two traveled to Avers to draw in Cresta and paint in tempera.

From 1905 Lüscher stayed in Paris for fifteen months . At the same time as Paul Basilius Barth , Numa Donzé , Karl Dick and Lucien Mainssieux, he studied with Jean Paul Laurens in the studio of the Académie Julian . In Paris, Lüscher rented a studio on Rue Campagne Première. His painting style was influenced by Gustave Courbet and Honoré Daumier . In 1907 Lüscher was back in Paris with his friend Numa Donzé. There they were able to rent two large rooms as studios near Place Clichy .

From 1909 to 1912 Lüscher lived in Basel again and lived on Aeschengraben. Basel artists' workshops had set up in the vacant barracks of the Gotthelf school building. Among these were Lüscher, Numa Donzé, Otto Roos , Eduard Niethammer, Karl Pflüger and Karl Dick. There was u. a. the picture orphans and was acquired by the public art collection Basel.

During and after World War I, Lüscher and Otto Roos, Paul Basilius Barth, Numa Donzé, Heinrich Müller and Karl Dick formed the loose Basel artist group of dark-tone painters. This group of artists, known as “Basel's generation of classical painters”, was a revolutionary discovery for those interested in art in Basel. The group achieved their breakthrough in 1907 with a joint exhibition at the Kunsthalle Basel. The artists fostered a friendly exchange with the Basel artist group Das neue Leben, founded in 1918, and with the “ Red-Blue ” artist group and had a decisive influence on the development of Basel painting from the turn of the century until the 1920s. In Switzerland, Lüscher painted portraits of artists, musicians, scientists, politicians and other celebrities in addition to landscapes from the Jura and Ticino, among others. Some of his works emerged from competitions organized by the newly founded Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt .

In 1912 he married Adèle Rosalie Simonius and bought a small country house in Masblanc near Tarascon and St-Rémy. Lüscher captured the landscape there in countless drawings and paintings. The outbreak of World War I forced Lüscher to return to Basel with his wife and daughter, and Löscher did his active duty as a border soldier in Basel . During this time he became seriously ill; after the end of the war he sought healing on the Giens peninsula . He lived there with his family until 1927. When he returned to Riehen, he bought the Wettsteinhaus from his parents. There he created murals for the community hall in Riehen. Since Lüscher was also musically gifted, many musicians were invited to house concerts. In 1930 the group picture The Art Credit Commission was created .

Jean Jacques Lüscher-Simonius (1884–1955), painter, draftsman and lithographer. Adele Lüscher-Simonius (1896–1960) grave in the Hörnli cemetery
Grave in the Hörnli cemetery

Lüscher and his family regularly stayed in Concarneau on the west coast of Brittany from 1931 to 1933 . However, the humid climate caused Lüscher health problems. So in 1945 he decided to buy a plot of land with a simple one-story house in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon . He owned this until 1955. There, too, many of his landscape pictures and drawings were created.

Jean Jacques Lüscher died of a heart attack a few days after Paul Basilius Barth. Lüscher found his final resting place in the Hörnli cemetery .

A son of Lüscher was Martin Lüscher and his brother-in-law was Paul Kammüller . In 1934, 1944 and 1954 the Basler Kunstverein honored Lüscher with a comprehensive exhibition. In 1966, works by Lüscher and Turo Pedretti were shown in a memorial exhibition at the Kunsthalle Basel . A well-founded monograph with a comprehensive catalog of works is still missing today.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stroux.org: pedigree of JJ Lüscher. Retrieved November 10, 2019 .
  2. ^ Wettsteinhaus painting by JJ Lüscher: Wettsteinhaus in Riehen. Retrieved November 10, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Basel Art Credit Collection: Paintings, The Art Credit Commission. Retrieved November 10, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Lüscher, Jean Jacques
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lüscher, Johann Jakob (deS)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter, draftsman and lithographer
DATE OF BIRTH September 4, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1955
Place of death Riehen