Karl Geiser

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Karl Geiser (born December 22, 1898 in Bern , † before April 5 (after investigations at the end of March) 1957 in Zurich ) was a Swiss sculptor .

His sculptures are figurative and mostly depict people, the style lies between realism and classicism . Geiser also worked as a draftsman, eraser and photographer. Many of his sculptures were created as art in construction for new administrative and school buildings in the cities of Zurich, Bern and Winterthur .

Life

Geiser's mother died when he was eleven years old. After graduating from the literary high school in Bern in 1917 and the recruiting school in Thun , Geiser moved into his first studio in Bern in October 1918. He received a federal scholarship in 1919 and traveled to Munich and Berlin in April 1920. After a depression and a trip to France, Geiser moved to Zurich in 1922. Interrupted by long stays in Paris (1926/1927 and 1936–1938) and several trips to Rome , Marseille , Genoa and Berlin , Geiser worked and lived in different studios in Zurich, Küsnacht and Zollikon until his death .

From 1923 Geiser had a relationship with Sasha Morgenthaler , Ernst Morgenthaler's wife; From 1925 he had erotic relationships with young men who were often models for him - Geiser himself speaks openly of " boyish love " in letters . In 1929 he was arrested for the first time because of his relationship with an 18-year-old.

At the end of the 1920s Emilio Stanzani worked with Geiser and supported him primarily in enlarging and converting the models in stone.

Geiser's father died in 1930. In the same year almost the entire graphic work was created.

In 1940 Geiser was called up for active service. Two exhibitions took place during the war: in 1941 the Kunsthaus Zürich showed 350 of his drawings; From August to October, the Kunstmuseum Winterthur also hosted a large Geiser exhibition. The wife of the sculptor Peter Moillet , Maria Vanz, was his model. From 1944 Geiser suffered from arthritic complaints. Karl Geiser was found dead in his studio on April 5, 1957. Research showed that he had committed suicide on sleeping pills about two weeks earlier.

He found his final resting place in the Hönggerberg cemetery .

Studio locations

  • Lentulusstrasse 35, Bern (from 1918)
  • Wagnerstrasse, Bern (from 1921)
  • Spielweg 7, Zurich-Letten (from 1922)
  • Rue Croulebarbe 33, Paris (from 1926)
  • Sempersteig 3, Zurich (1927)
  • Seestrasse 109, Zollikon (1927–1940)
  • Paris-Montrouge (from 1938)
  • Badenerstrasse 18, (Zurich?) (From 1940)
  • again at Spielweg 7, Zurich (from 1941)

Artistic work

Striding lion ; edge. Administration building "Walche" in Zurich
Follow-up of the girls' group in Lübeck
First casting by the girls' group from 1937 in Bern

In 1926 Geiser was supported by Georg Reinhart with a scholarship. In the same year he won the competition for sculptures in front of the new Bern high school in Kirchenfeld . He designed two groups of figures - the group of girls and the group of boys - which were finally inaugurated on April 8, 1938. The group of girls , cast in 1937, was previously shown at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. It does not, as the name suggests, consist of three girls, but rather represents two girls and a boy.

Other great works are:

A replica of the group of girls , made by the Pastori art foundry in Geneva, is in a small park on the edge of Burgfeld in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck . The refill, donated by Rodolfo Groth , was originally intended to replace the fountain on the market that was demolished in 1934. After the completion, a decision was made against this prominent location. Another work by Geiser in Lübeck is in the Museum Behnhaus .

Exhibitions

literature

  • Hans Naef: Karl Geiser - Drawings Manesse Verlag Conzett and Huber, Zurich 1959.
  • Walter Hugelshofer :  Geiser, Karl. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 155 ( digitized version ).
  • Jan Morgenthaler: The man with his hand in his eye. The life story of Karl Geiser. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1988.
  • David Streiff: Karl Geiser, photographs. Published by the Swiss Photo Foundation . Limmat Verlag, Zurich 2007.
  • Karl Geiser 1898–1957. Sculptures, drawings, etchings, photographs. Catalog for the exhibition of the same name at the Kunsthaus Zürich from September 2 to October 30, 1988, ed. from the Kunsthaus Zürich and the Swiss Institute for Art Research Zürich SIK. Kunsthaus, Zurich 1988.
  • Exhibition guide for the exhibition: Karl Geiser, photographs of the Swiss Photo Foundation, Fotomuseum Winterthur (March 3 to May 20, 2007.)

Movie

  • Geyser and Goliath. Karl Geiser - sculptor, draftsman, photographer. Film portrait by Alexander J. Seiler . Posted on February 27, 2011 in 3sat.

Web links

Commons : Karl Geiser  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zürcher Illustrierte, 1933: Why I live in Zurich. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Hans Naef: Karl Geiser. Chronology of Geiser's life. In: Du - magazine for culture . Verlag Conzett & Huber, October 1957, p. 1; Page 41 , accessed on May 23, 2019 : "1937 - spring: The girls' group for the Bern high school after twelve years of work poured and placed in front of the Swiss pavilion at the Paris World Exhibition."
  3. ^ Klaus Bernhard: Plastic in Lübeck - Documentation of Art in Public Space (1436–1985). Publications of the Senate of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, Office for Culture, Lübeck 1986 ISBN 3-924214-31-X , No. 40.
personal data
SURNAME Geiser, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH December 22, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Bern
DATE OF DEATH March 1957
Place of death Zurich