Michel Fingesten
Michel Fingesten (born April 18, 1884 in Buczkowitz , Galicia , Austria-Hungary ; died October 8, 1943 in Cerisano , Calabria ) was a painter and graphic artist . Fingesten was one of the most prolific bookplate graphic artists of the 20th century .
Life
Fingesten was born as the son of the weaver Leone Finkelstein, an Austrian of Jewish descent, and of Franziska Lion, a Jew from Trieste , which was then under Austrian rule.
At the age of 16 he began studying at the Art Academy in Vienna, where Oskar Kokoschka was studying at the same time . From 1902 to 1906 he made a trip to America, from there to Australia. In 1907 he returned to Europe, ie to Palermo. From Palermo he crossed the entire Italian peninsula and traveled to Germany via Trieste. Fingesten then stayed temporarily in Munich, where he undertook studies in Franz von Stuck's studio. During this time he was mainly concerned with small-format graphics and drawing caricatures. Then he went to Berlin. From 1913 he concentrated on the technique of etching . In 1916 his son, the sculptor Peter Fingesten (1916–1987), was born. In 1922 he was busy with the sets for the silent films The Shoes of a Beautiful Woman and Don Juan of the Vera Films . Since his place of birth fell to Poland at the end of the war , it is unclear whether and which nationality, if not Polish, Fingesten had from then on.
In 1935 he returned to Italy to visit his family in Trieste. Because of the increasingly tightening racial policy of the National Socialists, he stayed in Italy and settled in Milan. During this time he engraved around 500 bookplates, a. a. 1936 for d'Annunzio . He was arrested on October 9, 1940 and interned as a foreigner in the camps of Civitella del Tronto and Ferramonti di Tarsia near Cosenza . He was accused by the fascists of his degenerate art ( arte degenerata ). Fingesten was only able to leave the camp after the Allies had liberated southern Italy.
After his liberation from the concentration camp, he met the pastor of Bisignano, Don Giuseppe Savaglia, who commissioned him to paint the picture after a santino , a small figurine of saints. Fingesten completed the picture within a week. This picture is important not only because it was the painter's last work, but because at the end of his life he returned to painting, which he had given up for years in favor of his bookplates .
Fingesten died on October 8, 1943 of an infection as a result of a surgical operation.
literature
- Norbert Nechwatal: Michel Fingesten 1884-1943. The graphic work. Coburg 1984.
- Ernst Deeken: Bookplate by Michel Fingesten . Attempt of a preliminary list of works. Verlag Claus Wittal, Wiesbaden 2000, ISBN 3-922835-38-4 .
- Michel fingering bookplate art . A comprehensive collection with many graphics and drawings still unknown today. Berlin and Milan 1913–1943. Antiquarian Book Catalog. Hamburg, Antiquariat Halkyone 2004.
Web links
- Prints by Michel Fingesten in the holdings of the Jewish Museum Berlin
- Literature by and about Michel Fingesten in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Fingesten, Artist And Professor, Is Dead . In: The New York Times , September 11, 1987. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fingesten, Michel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Globetrotter, painter and graphic artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 18, 1884 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Buczkowice |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 8, 1943 |
| Place of death | Cerisano |