Otto Fischbacher

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Otto Fischbacher (born March 12, 1874 in St. Gallen ; † June 28, 1953 ) was a Swiss entrepreneur , textile merchant and art collector who built up an important collection of paintings and drawings by this artist through his close relationship with Giovanni Segantini's work. The works are now on permanent loan from the Otto Fischbacher Giovanni Segantini Foundation in the Segantini Museum in St. Moritz .

Life

Beginnings

Otto Fischbacher was born in St. Gallen in 1874. His grandfather Christian Fischbacher, born in 1803, founded a company in St. Peterzell at the age of 16 that initially did not manufacture any fabrics, but instead sold the overproduction of hand-woven fabrics in Toggenburg . Since the 1830s, Christian Fischbacher had homeworkers weave the textiles from self-purchased yarn in the publishing system . In 1854 the family moved to St. Gallen. Between 1890 and 1914, thanks to the textile industry and the invention of the Schiffli embroidery machine by Isaak Gröbli from Uzwil and the invention of the mechanical production of lace using etching technology developed by Charles Wetter-Rüesch in 1882/83 , St. Gallen developed into a flourishing trading town for embroidery products . Under the son Christian Fischbacher, born in 1845, and the grandson Otto Fischbacher, the initially quite small company developed into a globally active trading company.

The alpinist

Otto Fischbacher married Lily Cécile Kuhn, daughter of the cotton manufacturer Ernst Gustav Kuhn, in 1904. The passionate mountaineer and mountain photographer allowed in 1928 in his enthusiasm for the mountains and a member of the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) to build the near Flüelapass located Grialetschhütte . He climbed the highest peaks in Graubünden and the Matterhorn five times, and in some summers he was out and about with the Zermatt mountain guide Gabriel Zumtaugwald (restaurant “Chez Gaby”) in the Bernese Oberland and the Engadin . He undertook in the early 1930s, together with his daughter Margit Fischbacher extensive, documented in photo albums and travel diaries journey across North Africa , India , Indochina and Indonesia , where in the period from 21 to 25 January 1932 between Surabaya and Singapore the on KPM Plancius crossed in the Java Sea and from which they returned to Switzerland in April of the same year. Since Otto Fischbacher usually spent the Christmas days until New Year's in St. Moritz with his family, he had undoubtedly visited the Segantini Museum, which was inaugurated in September 1908 and officially opened in June 1909.

Otto Fischbacher Giovanni Segantini Foundation

Segantini Museum

The data collected by Otto Fischbacher painting by Giovanni Segantini hung in his office and anteroom of his built in 1872 by Lorenz & Wild in St. Gallen office building on Vadianstrasse and in its 1910 under the supervision of Ernst Kuhn by the local architects Pfleghard and Haefeli built Villa Lueg is Land at Dufourstrasse 121. After the death of the father, the works were inherited by the three children of the collector, who divided them up and placed them in their own living quarters. According to Otto Fischbacher's request, on April 14, 1978, they made the entire collection available to the general public as a public foundation. The holdings of the Otto Fischbacher Giovanni Segantini Foundation are now housed in the Segantini Museum .

The paintings

Fischbacher, who had close ties to the St. Moritz doctor Oscar Bernhard and to Giovanni Segantini's son Gottardo, put together a group of works by Giovanni Segantini between 1920 and 1950 focusing on the Savognin period from 1886 to 1894. The series of works collected by Otto Fischbacher ranges from the rural scenery Il bacio alla croce (The Kiss of the Cross) from 1881/82, which was still influenced by Jean-François Millet , to A messa prima ( early mass ) and the Ave Maria a trasbordo, which marks the transition to Divisionism (Ave Maria during the crossing) from 1886 to Ritorno dal bosco (Return from the forest) from 1890 and Mezzogiorno sulle Alpi (Midday in the Alps) from 1891. In addition, there are the paintings La Lavandaia (The Washerwoman ) from 1887 , Allo sciogliersi delle nevi (When the snow melts) and Vacca bruna all'abbeveratoio (Brown cow at the drinking place) from 1892.

  • Giovanni Segantini: A messa prima (early mass) , 1884–86

  • Giovanni Segantini: Ave Maria a trasbordo (Ave Maria on the crossing) , 1886

  • Giovanni Segantini: Ritorno dal bosco (Return from the forest) , 1890

  • Giovanni Segantini: Mezzogiorno sulle Alpi (Midday in the Alps) , 1891

drawings

The drawing inventory of the Otto Fischbacher Giovanni Segantini Foundation consists of three drawings and is led by the Autoritratto (self-portrait) from 1893. It was acquired by Fischbacher as early as 1920. In the drawing, the front view of the head on a gold-colored background reflects on the depictions of Christ in the Eastern Church and is therefore less to be seen as a realistic image of the artist than as a program image. The icon , located between the prophet and the magician, bears the dedication: "Mons fG Prange". The second drawing from the Ritorno all'ovile collection (Return to the Sheepfold ) from 1891/92 shows a subject of everyday rural life, implemented in dynamic and swirling lines and white highlights on the back of the sheep. The outside is symbolized by the gnarled tree and the inside by the light streaming out of the open stable door.

  • Giovanni Segantini: Autoritratto (Self-Portrait) , 1893

  • Giovanni Segantini: Ritorno all'ovile (Return to the Sheepfold ) , 1891/92

  • Giovanni Segantini: L'angelo della vita (The Angel of Life) , 1894–96

The 1894–96 drawing for L'angelo della vita (The Angel of Life) , which is directly related to the 276 × 217 cm painting of the same name from 1894 in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Milan. The drawing of a secularized Madonna and Child, painted in red and brown Conté chalk, is identical to the oil painting except for the main character's hair fluttering in the wind and bears the dedication: "Al mio amico William Ritter / Il suo Segantini Spirituale". William Ritter, who also published under his pseudonym Marcel Montandon, was the author of one of the first Segantini monographs, which was published in 1897 under the title "Giovanni Segantini" in issue 20 of the journal Die Graphische Künste as a special edition in the publishing house of the Society for Reproductive Art in Vienna has been.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roland Wäspe: "Così penso e sento la pittura". The paintings of the Otto Fischbacher Giovanni Segantini Foundation . In: Beat Stutzer, Roland Wäspe (eds.): Giovanni Segantini . Verlag Gerd Hatje, Ostfildern 1999, p. 110 f.
  2. ↑ Marcel Mayer: Fischbacher, Otto. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz ., Accessed on May 2, 2014
  3. ↑ Rebuilding projects Sylvetta and Grialetschhütte  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , sac-stgallen.ch, (PDF), accessed on February 10, 2011@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.sac-stgallen.ch  
  4. ↑ Illustration of the foundation board on the front view of the Grialetschhütte , f.hikr.org, accessed on February 12, 2011
  5. ^ Restaurant Chez Gaby, Gabriel Zumtaugwald , www.moneyhouse.ch, accessed on February 11, 2011
  6. ↑ Comitatio Segantini St. Moritz (ed.): Giovanni Segantini and the Segantini Museum in St. Moritz . Inside: From the history of the Segantini Museum . Engadin Press AG, Samedan 1968, unpaginated.
  7. ↑ a b Roland Wäspe: "Così penso e sento la pittura". The paintings of the Otto Fischbacher Giovanni Segantini Foundation . In: Beat Stutzer, Roland Wäspe (eds.): Giovanni Segantini , Ostfildern 1999, p. 110
  8. ↑ Roland Wäspe: "Così penso e sento la pittura". The paintings of the Otto Fischbacher Giovanni Segantini Foundation . In: Beat Stutzer, Roland Wäspe (eds.), P. 111
  9. ↑ a b Roland Wäspe in: Beat Stutzer, Roland Wäspe (eds.), P. 115
  10. ↑ Die Graphischen Künste, Issue 20, 1897  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , diglit.ub.uni-heidelberg.de, accessed on February 9, 2011@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / diglit.ub.uni-heidelberg.de  
personal data
SURNAME Fischbacher, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss entrepreneur, merchant and collector
DATE OF BIRTH March 12, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Gallen
DATE OF DEATH June 28, 1953
Place of death St. Gallen