Max von Mühlenen

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Max Rudolf von Mühlenen (born February 10, 1903 in Bern , † October 20, 1971 there , entitled to live in Bern) was a Swiss painter and glass painter . He is one of the most important representatives of abstract painting after the Second World War .

Life

Max von Mühlenen grew up in Bern and completed his school education in 1922 with the Matura . From 1923 to 1924 he attended trade schools in Bern and Zurich . In 1924 he moved to Paris and studied at the Académie Julian with André Lhote (1885–1962). In Paris he became friends with Serge Brignoni . The two lived together in Épinay-sur-Seine . During this time he mainly devoted himself to landscape painting .

After 1926 Max von Mühlenen stayed in the south of France during the summer months . He traveled to Arles , Sanary-sur-Mer , Cagnes and Golfe-Juan. He dealt with the art of Paul Cézanne , Henri Matisse and Maurice Utrillo and was influenced by the École de Paris . In the 1930s, he made his first efforts to paint abstractly and experiment with colors: for example, he did not use a brush and painted with bare hands, fingers or with sponges. He also included random color gradients. During this time he met the artists Tonio Ciolina, Albert Lindegger and Hans Seiler in France , with whom he became friends. In 1931 he founded the avant-garde Swiss artist group Der Step weiter with them .

From 1934 to 1938 Max von Mühlenen lived in Courban in the Côte-d'Or department . In 1938 he returned to Switzerland and lived with his wife Käti Aeschbacher in the Lentulusgut near Stuckishaus near Bern. He met Louis Moilliet (1880–1962) where he learned stained glass, which then became part of his artistic repertoire.

From 1940, Max von Mühlenen ran his own painting school in the Bern granary in the premises of Victor Surbek's former painting school. In 1964 it was affiliated to the School of Applied Arts in Bern. In 1953 Max von Mühlenen was represented at the São Paulo Biennale , and in 1958 at the Venice Biennale . In 1959 he took part in documenta 2 in Kassel . He received the art award of the city of Bern in 1942, 1947 and 1948. Max von Mühlenen was a member of various regional and national art commissions.

plant

Max von Mühlenen painted abstract expressionistically , towards the end of the 1950s his paintings became increasingly monochrome . He dealt intensively with the pure color . His theory of red space also fits in with this : He assigned the color red a spatial property and the color blue an object-related character. Typical examples are his blue and red nudes .

student

Among the students who attended the painting school in Bern from 1940 to 1971 were numerous painters and graphic artists who later became known themselves. Many of them received grants from the city of Bern or, thanks to this reference, had the opportunity to exhibit in the Bern art gallery or other museums. One of the most prominent students was the young Franz Gertsch , who was his student from 1947 to 1950. Other students included Vinzenz Daxelhofer, Franz Eggenschwiler , Knud Jacobsen , Peter Stein, Edmund Wunderlich and Bruno Wurster .

Works in public space (selection)

  • 1938: Noah's Ark , painting on wooden ceiling, Restaurant Dählhölzli , Bern, Dalmaziquai 151a
  • 1945–1950: Theseus cycle , frescos, University of Bern , Hochschulstrasse 4
  • 1947: Sgraffito , Kirchberg BE school building
  • 1949: The Good Samaritan , Sgraffito, Tiefenauspital, Bern, Tiefenaustrasse 126
  • 1953–1964: Stained glass window, Gümligen Reformed Church
  • 1956: Christian symbols, glass windows, funeral hall of the Bremgarten cemetery near Bern
  • 1958: Concrete reliefs, Bettlach Church
  • 1961: Floor design, village square Ins
  • 1962–1963: Stained glass window, Bolligen Church
  • 1963: The torn temple curtain , glass windows, St. Elisabeth Catholic Chapel , Inselspital Bern
  • 1964: The water , glass window, meeting room of Bernische Kraftwerke AG, Bern, Viktoriaplatz 2
  • 1968: Glass window, refreshment room at the Atomic Research Center in Würenlingen
  • 1968: Glass window, Thomas Church , Liebefeld near Bern
  • 1957: Floor design, marble, Bern, Spitalgasse 26
  • 1957: Wall design made of black concrete slabs, Bern, Zieglerstrasse 30

Exhibitions (selection)

Posthumously

Collections

Literature and Sources

  • Max von Mühlenen 1903–1971. Retrospective of the painterly work. Kunsthalle Bern, May 3–9. June 1974. Kunsthalle, Bern 1974 (exhibition catalog).
  • Mark Adrian, Max von Mühlenen: My Bern. 6 pencil compositions by Max von Mühlenen. Edited by the school administration of the city of Bern. Bern 1974.
  • Max von Mühlenen: From the painter's notes. Selected and ed. by Max Altorfer. Benteli, Bern 1982.

Web links

Commons : Max von Mühlenen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Caesar Menz: Switzerland's participation in the Venice and Sao Paulo biennials , in: Journal for Swiss Archeology and Art History, Issue 4, 43/1986
  2. ↑ Markus Dütschler: The Gümligen Church has had an art treasure for 60 years , in Der BUND, online edition September 13, 2014, accessed in November 2017 at: [1]
  3. ↑ Henriette Mentha: Max von Mühlenen, in Sikart
  4. ↑ Der BUND (ed.): The teacher and his student , newspaper Der BUND online edition of April 16, 2010, available at: [2] , with a picture of a painting by Max von Mühlenen
  5. ^ Biography Franz Gertsch, accessed in November 2017 at: [3]
  6. ^ About the person - artist Franz Eggenschwiler, Freiburger Nachrichten, online edition March 25, 2011, available at: [4]
  7. ↑ Thomas Seilnacht: Knud Jacobsen - Monograph , Seilnacht Verlag & Atelier, Bern 2018, ISBN 978-3-9522892-6-6 .
personal data
SURNAME Mühlenen, Max von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mühlenen, Max Rudolf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter and glass painter
DATE OF BIRTH February 10, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Bern
DATE OF DEATH 20th October 1971
Place of death Bern