Johann Jakob Hauswirth

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Paper cut of an alpine procession (1867)

Johann Jakob Hauswirth (* July 1809 in Saanen ; † March 29, 1871 in L'Etivaz ) was a Swiss day laborer , woodcutter , charcoal burner and master of folk paper cutting .

Life

Johann Jakob Hauswirth was born as the son of Benedikt Hauswirth and Margrit Luzia. Jaggi was born in Saanen in July 1809. He lived in the border area of ​​the Bernese Oberland and the Vaudois Pays d'Enhaut . There he hired himself as a servant on a daily wage on farms in the area and worked as a woodcutter and charcoal burner . He was also a self-taught scissors cutter. Hauswirth is one of the most important representatives of Swiss folk art and is known and appreciated for his works beyond Switzerland.

Everyday life in the Alps, alpine journeys, flower arrangements and village festivals are shown on the paper cutouts. He used the same motifs as popular painters, embroiderers or notch cutters. The ascent to the Alps is a recurring motif, which he mostly depicts as a symmetrical fold. In addition to black glossy paper, Hauswirth also used all kinds of colored paper. He sold, gave away and exchanged his works in the Pays d'Enhaut to villagers and employers.

The discovery of Hauswirth's work is thanks to Théodore Delachaux . He spent some time in the Pays d'Enhaut at the beginning of the 20th century. His brother Constant Delachaux (1875–1952) also worked there as a doctor and co-founded a spa hotel in Château-d'Oex, built in 1907 . The brothers bought works by Hauswirth, mostly from private owners, in order to build up their own collections.

“As a true artist, he fused thought, material and technology in perfect harmony. This is precisely where the secret of all great art is to be found. "

- Théodore Delachaux :

Exhibitions

  • 1919: paper cutouts. Decorative Arts Museum of the City of Zurich, Zurich
  • 1941: Swiss folk art. Kunsthalle Basel, Basel
  • 1960: Trade Museum, Winterthur
  • 1962: Appenzell peasant painting and paper cuttings by Johann Jakob Hauswirth. National Museum, Copenhagen
  • 1983: JJ Hauswirth et l'art du découpage. Allaman
  • 1985: Cut Paper. Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York
  • 2009: J.-J. Hauswirth. Artiste paysan, découpeur de génie. Musée du Vieux Pays-d'Enhaut, Château-d'Œx

Literature and texts

  • Théodore Delachaux: Un artiste paysan du Pays d'Enhaut. Jean-Jacob Hauswirth, 1808–1871. In Switzerland. Folklore Archives, Volume 20, 1916 (French)
  • Titus Burckhardt : Swiss folk art. Urs Graf, Basel 1941.
  • Christian Rubi: Paper cuttings from a hundred years. Johann Jakob Hauswirth, Louis Saugy and Christian Schwizgebel. Huber, Bern 1959.
  • Werner Jaggi: The silhouette collection of the Bernisches Historisches Museum. Yearbook of the Bernese Hist. Museums, 1961/1962.
  • Christoph Bernoulli : To a silhouette by Johann Jakob Hauswirth. In: Journal for Swiss Archeology and Art History, Vol. 22, 1962, pp. 136–138 ( digitized version ).
  • Charles Apothéloz: Masterpieces of Paper Cutting . JJ Hauswirth - L. Saugy. Huber, Frauenfeld 1978.
  • Swiss paper cuttings. From tradition to modernity. Mondo, Vevey 2007.
  • Claude Allegri: Les découpages du Pays-d'Enhaut et du Saanenland. Musée du Vieux Pays-d'Enhaut, Château-d'Œx, 2009

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Théodore Delachaux: Jean-Jacques Hauswirth (1808–1871) , You: cultural monthly, Volume 7, 1947
personal data
SURNAME Hauswirth, Johann Jakob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hauswirth, Jean-Jacques
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss, artist, paper cutting
DATE OF BIRTH July 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH Saanen
DATE OF DEATH March 29, 1871
Place of death L'Etivaz