Paul Camenisch

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Paul Camenisch (born November 7, 1893 in Zurich ; † February 13, 1970 in Basel ) was a Swiss architect , draftsman and painter . He was a co-founder of the expressionist artist groups “ Red-Blue ” (also from Red-Blue II ) and “ Gruppe 33 ”.

Life

Paul Camenisch-Hörler (1893–1970) architect, draftsman, painter. Co-founder of the artist group Rot-Blau, as well as the Basel group 33. Grave on the cemetery at Hörnli, Basel
Camenisch's grave, cemetery am Hörnli Basel

Paul Camenisch studied architecture from 1912 to 1916 at the ETH Zurich under Karl Moser . From 1916 to 1919 he was a site manager in East Prussia, Danzig and Berlin. From 1919 to 1923 he worked in various architectural offices. From 1921 to 1924 he painted watercolors with fantastic architectural landscapes . In 1923 he first went to Ascona on the Monte Verità with a federal art grant , in 1924 he moved to the “Villa Loverciano” in Castel San Pietro in Mendrisiotto .

There the friends Hermann Scherer and Albert Müller Camenisch urged painting. So in 1925 he finally turned from architecture to painting. The first naturalistic representations in watercolors and drawings emerged. New Year's Eve 1924/1925 Paul Camenisch founded, Hermann Scherer and Albert Müller, the artists 'association " group Red-Blue ", an artists' association along the lines of " bridge " that brought the major contribution to Swiss Expressionism to which a little later Werner Neuhaus back came to.

In the summer of 1926 he and his future wife Martha Hörler (1900–1985) stayed for the first time for three months with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in Frauenkirch ; further stays followed. In the same year the third and final exhibition of the group of artists “Red-Blue”, organized by the patron and curator Wilhelm Barth (1869–1934), took place in the Kunsthalle Basel. Kirchner acquired the portrait of Hermann Scherer from Camenisch and donated it a little later to the Folkwang Museum in Essen. The painting was shown in the Nazi exhibition " Degenerate Art " in the Haus der Kunst in Munich in 1937 and has since been considered lost.

Camenisch initially oriented himself in color and shape to Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, at the beginning of the 1930s his style moved away from Expressionism.

After the death of Scherer and Müller in 1928, the “Group Red-Blue”, also called “Red-Blue II”, was re-established with Hans Stocker , Coghuf (Ernst Stocker), Otto Staiger , Charles Hindenlang and Max Sulzbachner . In 1933 he married Martha Hörler and in the same year was one of the co-founders of the Basel artists' association " Gruppe 33 "; From 1937 to 1952 he was its president. In 1953 he was excluded from the group for alleged political activities on a cultural trip to Russia .

In addition to his painting, Camenisch dealt intensively with political work, initially in various aid committees such as the establishment of the "Aid Organization for Women and Children in Germany" and in the emigrant aid, supported by his wife who was also a politically active member of the PdA .

After the predominantly political artistic and social isolation, Camenisch succeeded in 1959 in presenting his work in larger solo exhibitions at the Musée de l'Athénée in Geneva and in 1962 in Prague . Camenisch took part in the preparations for a comprehensive retrospective in August / September 1970 in the Kunsthalle Basel. He died on February 13 of the same year. After Camenisch's death, his wife managed his work. Her grave is in the Hörnli cemetery .

literature

  • Emil Szittya: New Trends in Swiss Painting. With illustrations by Camenisch, Coghuf, Hindenlang, Staiger, Stocker, Sulzbachner. Paris 1929?
  • Group 33: Otto Abt, Walter Bodmer, Serge Brignoni, Paul Camenisch, Charles Hindenlang…. Homage to Bénédict Remund, Hans R. Schiess, Max Sulzbachner on the 100th birthday. Galerie Carzaniga + Ueker, Basel 2004. (Publication for the exhibition in the Galerie Carzaniga + Ueker, June 24th to August 7th, 2004.)
  • Ivonne Höfliger (Ed.): Group 33. Editions Galerie zem Specht, Basel 1983, ISBN 3-85696-006-6 .
  • Jürg Düblin: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Paul Camenisch: a difficult relationship. In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 2009. ( E-Periodica )
  • Martin Heller: Paul Camenisch: for the best and deepest life. In: Werk Bauen und Wohnen, 1985. ( E-Periodica )

Web links

Individual evidence


personal data
SURNAME Camenisch, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss architect, draftsman and painter
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1970
Place of death Basel