Robert Genin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Genin: Self-portrait with his wife Martha , pastel, 1913, Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg
Robert Genin: Balinesin II , oil on canvas, 1926, Im Obersteg collection, deposit at the Kunstmuseum Basel

Robert Genin (Russian Роберт Генин , French Robert Guénine ; born August 11, 1884 in Wisokoje bei Klimowitschy , Russian Empire ; died August 16, 1941 in Moscow ) was a painter , graphic artist , illustrator and writer who lived in Russia, Germany, France, lived in Switzerland and the USSR.

His painting style developed rapidly from Art Nouveau (drawings for the Munich magazine "Jugend" ) in 1907–1910 to Symbolism / Neoclassicism in 1911–1914; after the outbreak of war in 1914 he began to paint expressionistically. His expressionism developed over time until he came to lyrical primitivism in the late 1920s.

His comprehensive retrospective exhibition took place from March 27 to June 30, 2019 in the Murnau Castle Museum , which illustrated his work over all periods.

Life

Artistic beginnings

At the “Krasowitschi estate, which his father and grandfather had leased”, “the little Genin began to draw passionately at the age of seven. […] The teacher in the school seems to have encouraged the boy to draw. ”From 1898 to 1900 he attended the drawing school in Vilnius and from 1900 to 1902 the one in Odessa .

Munich - Paris - Munich

In 1902 the budding painter went to Munich and studied at Anton Ažbe's private painting school . Like many of his colleagues from the Ažbe School, Genin left the Ažbe School in 1903 and went to Paris to study further. Here he is said to have been impressed by the art of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes .

He spent the years 1904–1907 traveling in France, Italy and Egypt, where in 1905 he lived with a sister in Cairo . In autumn 1905 Genin moved to the Parisian artist colony La Ruche . In 1907, financial difficulties forced Genin to return to Munich. For the weekly magazine Jugend he created illustrations and caricatures “in June 1907 for the first time”. A total of 40 illustrations by Genin were published in “Jugend”.

In 1907, Genin exhibited seven paintings in the autumn salon in Paris . In Munich by 1911 at the latest, he had contact with Marianne von Werefkin , Alexej Jawlensky , and Wladimir Bechtejeff . He certainly saw the exhibitions of the Neue Künstlervereinigung (NKVM) and the Blue Rider in the Thannhauser Gallery in 1911 . In the autumn of the same year he was one of the members of the artist group Sema along with Paul Klee , Alfred Kubin and others . In 1912 this brought out a portfolio in which Genin is represented.

Thannhauser signed Genin in 1913. In addition, appeared in 1913 in the Dolphin Publishing of Fritz Burger a book " Cézanne and Hodler . Introduction to the Problems of Painting ”, in which Genin's art received the following appreciation:“ Genin's pictures embody a socialist ideal. The happiness of equality and work. The feeling of togetherness and the peace of work result from the equality of action. It is the determination of nature and the happiness of existence lies in its fulfillment. Perhaps Genin is the first to turn the socialist idea into an artistic ideal in this way. […] For Genin, work is neither heroic nor tragic, but law and beauty at the same time. It could be that the near future belongs to these ideas, because they are a sign of the times. ”In 1913 Genin became a founding member of the Munich New Secession , in whose exhibitions he also participated during the First World War.

During the First World War

When the First World War broke out, Genin was not expelled from Germany, but interned in Trudering-Riem near Munich . This is mentioned in his autobiography, as well as in the 1916 and 1918 letters Lily Klee wrote to Werefkin. The fact that in November 1917 the Munich Modern Gallery Thannhauser opened a solo exhibition by Genin speaks for a relatively liberal internment.

After the end of the First World War in the autumn of 1918, Genin moved to Berlin.

Karl Im Obersteg

The most abundant source of Genin's life and work is the correspondence with Karl Im Obersteg and his wife Marianne. Accordingly, in 1919 Genin, following Jawlensky and Werefkin, moved to Ascona. It is assumed that Cuno Amiet made contact with the art collector Im Obersteg, who owned a major transport company in Basel . At this point, at the latest, he also met the dancers Alexander Sacharoff and Clotilde von Derp . In Ascona, on the way to Ronco, he bought a house.

In 1920, an article on Genin appeared in the Thieme-Becker artist lexicon , written by Alfred Karl Mayer . In the same year, several works by Genin found their way into the Im Obersteg collection. On April 9, 1921, Genin's second wife, Margarete Gurth-Genin, gave birth to their son Mario. Genin's first wife Martha wrote to Marianne Im Obersteg in early April 1924 that she was currently living in Riga. When the Museo comunale di Ascona was founded in 1922, Genin donated a picture, as did around 50 other local and foreign artists. It bears the title “Paesaggio d'inverno” . In 1922 Genin rented his house in Ascona to Paul Bachrach-Baree (1863–1943), the father of Charlotte Bara , a student of Isadora Duncan and Sacharoff.

From the acquaintance between the upper web and Genin 1923 a friendship in which Genin was the role of a protégé approached. From this time on, Genin addressed his patrons - just like Amiet, Jawlensky and the Sacharoffs - with the nickname "Kio" - a ligature of the three first letters of his real name. He, on the other hand, often signed his letters to Im Obersteg and his wife Marianne with "Roro", the doubling of the two first letters of his first name.

Berlin

In 1923 Genin moved into a studio in Berlin at Königin-Augusta-Strasse 51, which Alfred Flechtheim made available to him. From there he informed Im Obersteg about the current prices that his works were able to achieve due to inflation : "A picture costs 9–700 gold marks , a drawing 50–80 (black), a pastel - depending on the design."

Genin's wife informed Im Obersteg at the end of 1923 about a serious illness of her husband's right knee joint. It led to a lifelong, painful, permanent impairment of his walking apparatus. Max Osborn intended to write a monograph on Genin. Genin negotiated with the Vossische Zeitung about an article about a planned trip to Italy. In December 1923 he was in the Auguste Viktoria Clinic in Berlin because of flu and rheumatoid arthritis and was given morphine because of great pain . On April 19, 1924, Genin wrote to Karl and Marianne Im Obersteg that because of his disability and leg pain he had been in hospital for six months and could only go for a walk on two sticks when the weather was good.

In May 1924 Genin recovered with his wife and son in Sasbachwalden in the Black Forest . In August, Genin was prescribed a cure in Acquarossa , whose thermal baths in Ticino's Blenio Valley are famous for mud treatments for rheumatic diseases . In May 1925, he rejected the idea of ​​being treated in Ticino and instead decided to take a spa stay in Termini Imerese in the Province of Palermo in Sicily .

On June 6, 1925, he wrote to Im Obersteg from the Abano spa that he would soon go to Padua , where there are “the best mud baths”. He also informed him that two of his draft drawings for paintings were shown in the magazine “ Der Cross-Section ”. In the meantime he has arranged for the originals to be sent to him rolled up from Berlin.

Trip to Bali

Robert Genin: The Legon Dancer Diablet , 1926. Illustration from the "Far Island"
Robert Genin: Balinesin , 1926. Illustration from the "Far Island"

Genin moved to the South Seas in 1926 , as did Paul Gauguin before , who settled in Tahiti in 1891 and finally retired to the Marquesas island of Hiva Oa in 1901 . Max Pechstein already followed Gauguin's example and visited the Palau Islands in the Pacific Ocean in 1914/15 . Regardless of his leg problems - he described himself as "one-legged" at the time - Genin traveled from Berlin to Bali via Genoa , Port Said , Colombo , Singapore and Java in February 1926 . On the island he experienced the "big holidays" of the locals and worked "there on picture allegations."

Return to Berlin

When he returned to Berlin in autumn, he converted the drafts into paintings. He began to "paint his most beautiful pictures", as he wrote to Im Obersteg. In October 1926 his painting “Balinesin II” was exhibited at the Berlin Secession . He reported to his Basel friend: “ Ms. Corinth said it was one of the most beautiful pictures she had encountered in the last 5 years and even more flattering.” In December 1926, Genin described the iconography of the oil painting as follows: “It depicts a Balinese Legon dancer in the break [dar]: still in the trance state [she is] exhausted and [tense]. The face [is] bright with make-up. "

In his publication from 1928 he reports in more detail about the Balinese who performed their dance "on the second holiday" of the Balinese New Year to the sounds of a gamelong orchestra. His drawings illustrate his description in the book: “All the passions of life became visible. Glowing fanaticism, profound seriousness, pious piety swung in this sudden change in movement. For me, this dance remained the strongest impression and the deepest artistic experience during my stay in Bali. The girl was 13 years old and her name was Diablet. "

Two colorful paintings in the art collection Im Obersteg in the Kunstmuseum Basel are reminiscent of his stay in Bali. They illustrate that Genin was also fascinated by the exoticism of female South Sea beauties.

In 1927 Genin divorced his second wife, Margarete Gurth-Genin. Karl Hofer was one of Genin's friends during his time in Berlin .

Back in Paris

At the end of 1929, Genin intended to move his “permanent seat from Berlin to Paris” in December. At first he lived in 1930 at Gare Montparnasse . In October 1930 he lived in an "old French pavilion " which he bought at 16 Rue Raffet in Auteuil in the 16th arrondissement . Then he left the city center and settled in Fontenay-aux-Roses at the end of November 1930, about nine kilometers southwest of the center of Paris , rue Guérard 7, telephone no. 1208 Fontenay.

In December 1931 Genin's solo exhibition took place in Paris at the Jacques Bonjean Gallery , which received positive feedback in the articles by André Warnod and André Salmon . In the winter of 1931 he visited his collector Dr. Emil Kade (1892-1965). In the same year, the dentist and patron of the arts Kade signed a contract with Genin, in which he made a commitment to Kade for an annual payment of “at least 60,000 Frs. Six of his best works annually, primarily Dr. To leave Kade ”. In 1931, Dr. Kade 24 works by Genin.

His friend Im Obersteg supported the director of the Kunsthalle Basel , Wilhelm Barth , for a Russian exhibition with Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky , Chagall , Genin, Soutine and others that was to take place in autumn 1933. In a letter to Marianne Im Obersteg in May 1935, Genin mentioned his contact with Pablo Picasso , Henri Matisse and Georges Braque . His partner in Paris was the Czech with an Austrian passport, Genia Ines. In April 1935 Genin was in Ascona for the last time to sell his house.

For the 1930s, it was found that Genin's attitude to art had changed: “During this time, his attitude towards art became radicalized. More and more he saw the artist in a social context as a driving force in building a new world and he felt more connected than ever to his homeland. In his mind Russia was shaped by the ideal of solidarity and creative cooperation between people. "

Back home in Russia

In March 1936 Genin went back to Russia and lived in Moscow in the hope of being able to get involved in the design of the city in the collective of socialism . In the Soviet capital he met the former member of the NKVM Alexander Mogilewskij again and was with his family. First, Genin received the fresco commission for a pavilion for the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (WSChW) . In October 1938 the pavilion was renamed and the fresco was destroyed accordingly. His second major commission was the frescoes for the Palace of the Soviets . The project was interrupted by the German-Soviet war . When the war broke out on June 22, 1941, Genin became more and more depressed. He volunteered for military service, but was turned down because of his leg problems. In August 1941, during a German air raid, he kept a fire station on the roof and was bruised by an explosive bomb. A few days later he took his own life with an overdose of morphine . His works from the workshop are considered lost.

Oeuvre catalog

The widely dispersed estate of Genin is being researched by his circle of friends with the aim of publishing a catalog raisonné or a monograph.

reception

While Genin was a well-known painter during his lifetime, he was largely forgotten after the Second World War . It was not until 1969 that Ralph Jentsch opened his gallery in Esslingen with a solo exhibition of his works. In 2019 a major retrospective entitled Robert Genin (1884-1941) took place in the Murnau Castle Museum . Russian expressionist held in Munich . Works from museums such as the Kunstmuseum Basel , Berlinische Galerie , Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie (Regensburg), Von der Heydt-Museum (Wuppertal), Museum Ludwig (Cologne), Zentrum Paul Klee (Bern) and private collections from Germany, Switzerland and Russia came together.

Web links

Books and folders

  • 1912, the artist association Sema , Munich, brought out a portfolio in which Genin is represented.
  • 1912, figurative compositions. 20 lithographs. Delphin-Verlag, Munich, with an introduction by Walter Riezler .
  • 1915, the woman. 11 war papers, lithographs. Self-published in Munich.
  • 1916, lithographic sketchbook. Self-published in Munich.
  • 1919, From the taverns of Berlin. 16 orig. Etchings by M. Fingesten (8) and R. Genin (8). Berlin, pan press
  • 1919, 30 etchings. Publisher Paul Cassirer, Berlin
  • 1920, people, 8 etchings. Fritz Gurlitt Publishing House, Berlin
  • 1920, circus, 7 etchings. Fritz Gurlitt Publishing House, Berlin
  • 1920, sketches and memories, painter's books. Volume 2, with 80 pen drawings and 5 lithographs. Fritz Gurlitt Verlag, Berlin.
  • 1921, The story of Count Erdmann Promnitz. Text by Jakob Wassermann with etchings by Robert Genin, Drei Masken Verlag, Munich.
  • 1922, Early Verses. Text by Hans Bethge , with an original etching by Robert Genin as a frontispiece, Gyldendalscher Verlag, Berlin.
  • 1923, The angels with the whimsy. Text by Kasimir Edschmid with stone drawings by Robert Genin, Hans Heinrich Tillgner Verlag, Berlin.
  • 1923, The Song of the Earth. Songs based on the Chinese for the symphony by Gustav Mahler . Text by Hans Bethge , etchings by Robert Genin.
  • 1928, the distant island. Recordings of my trip to Bali in words and pictures. Publishing house of the Volksverband der Bücherfreunde , Berlin.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

  • 1913, Munich, Moderne Galerie Thannhauser
  • 1917, Munich, Moderne Galerie Thannhauser, 1st floor - paintings, 2nd floor - graphics
  • 1922, Berlin, Alfred Flechtheim, painting
  • 1928, Cologne, Museum of Applied Arts, works from the trip to Bali
  • 1931, Paris, Galerie Jacques Bonjean
  • 1932, Amsterdam , Galerie Kunstzalen A. Vecht
  • 1936, New York , Lilienfeld Galleries

Group exhibitions

literature

  • Alfred Mayer : Genin, Robert . In: Ulrich Thieme (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 13 : Gaab-Gibus . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1920, p. 390 ( Text Archive - Internet Archive ).
  • R. Jentsch: Genin, Robert . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 51, Saur, Munich a. a. 2006, ISBN 3-598-22791-4 , pp. 325 f.
  • E. Schremmer: Robert Genin - a rediscovery. In: Robert Genin 1884-1939. Exhibition catalog Kunstgalerie Esslingen, undated, undated
  • Beate Jahn, Friedemann Berger (ed.): Robert Genin. In: Die Schaffenden, A selection of the years I to III and catalog of the portfolio. Leipzig and Weimar 1984, p. 203 f.
  • Theo Kneubühler: The artists and writers and Ticino (from 1900 to the present). In: Monte Verita, Mountain of Truth. Local anthropology as a contribution to the rediscovery of a modern sacred topography. Exhibition catalog, Ascona 1978, p. 140 ff.
  • Michael Baumgartner, Hans Christoph von Tavel: The collection of Karl and Jürg Im Obersteg. Oberhofen am Thunersee 1995, p. 131 ff.
  • Matthias Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin (1884-1941). In: "You dear Mr. Im Obersteg, you are our Swiss for everything". Correspondence with Cuno Amiet, Robert Genin, Alexej von Jawlensky, Alexander and Clotilde Sacharoff, Marc Chagall, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Wassily Kandinsky in the Im Obersteg Collection. Basel 2011, p. 41 ff.
  • Henriette Mentha: The correspondence with Alexej von Jawlensky (1864-1941). In: ' You dear Herr Im Obersteg, you are our Swiss for everything'. Correspondence with Cuno Amiet, Robrt Genin, Alexej von Jawlensky, Alexander and Clotilde Sacharoff, Marc Chagall, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Wassily Kandinsky in the Im Obersteg collection. Basel 2011, p. 77 ff.
  • Henriette Mentha: The correspondence with Alexander and Chlotilde Sacharoff-von Derp (1886-1963 and 1892-1974). In: ' You dear Herr Im Obersteg, you are our Swiss for everything'. Correspondence with Cuno Amiet, Robrt Genin, Alexej von Jawlensky, Alexander and Clotilde Sacharoff, Marc Chagall, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Wassily Kandinsky in the Im Obersteg collection. Basel 2011, p. 129 ff.
  • Katja Förster, Stefan Frey: “In intimate friendship”. Alexej Jawlensky, Paul and Lily Klee, Marianne Werefkin. Zurich 2013, p. 14 ff.
  • Alexej Rodionov: Robert Genin. In Search of Paradise: Bali, 1926. St. Petersburg 2013.
  • Bernd Fäthke: Genin's flying visit to the Ažbe school. In: exhib. Cat .: Robert Genin 1884-1941, Russian expressionist in Munich. Murnau Castle Museum, 2019, pp. 89 ff, ISBN 978-3-932276-59-0

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 41.
  2. ^ Exhibition catalog of the Murnau Castle Museum: Robert Genin (1884–1941). Russian expressionist in Munich , ed. by Alexej Rodionov and Sandra Uhrig, 2019
  3. ^ Schremmer: Robert Genin - a rediscovery. undated, undated
  4. ^ Jahn / Berger: Robert Genin. 1984, p. 203.
  5. ^ A b c Baumgartner / von Tavel: The collection of Karl and Jürg Im Obersteg. 1995, p. 131.
  6. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Before Expressionism. Anton Ažbe and painting in Munich and Paris. Wiesbaden 1988, p. 9 f.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f Jahn / Berger: Robert Genin. 1984, p. 204.
  8. ↑ Robert Genin: The distant island, notes from my trip to Bali in words and pictures. Berlin 1928, p. 10.
  9. ↑ a b Förster / Frey: “In intimate friendship”, Alexej Jawlensky, Paul and Lily Klee, Marianne Werefkin. 2013, p. 58.
  10. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 75. Note 45.
  11. ↑ Burger: Cezanne and Hodler. 1913.
  12. ^ A b Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 47.
  13. ↑ collection-im-obersteg.ch
  14. ↑ a b c d e Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 42.
  15. ↑ Mentha: The correspondence with Alexej von Jawlensky. 2011, p. 77.
  16. ↑ Mentha: The correspondence with Alexander and Chlotilde Sacharoff-von Derp. 2011, p. 131.
  17. ↑ Irene Dütsch: Alfred Mayer - a patron in the area of ​​the "Blue Rider". Behind the scenes of Munich bohemian. Yearbook of the Historical Association Murnau, Murnau 2005, p. 80 f. and Fig. 7
  18. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 50.
  19. ^ A b c Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 58.
  20. ^ Kneubühler: The artists and writers and Ticino. 1978, p. 157 f.
  21. ^ A b Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 51.
  22. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 124, note 26.
  23. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 52.
  24. ^ A b Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 53.
  25. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 56.
  26. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 59.
  27. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 60.
  28. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 61.
  29. ↑ Leonie von Rüxleben: Life data 1881-1955. In: Max Pechstein, His painterly work. Exhibition catalog, Brücke-Museum, Berlin 1996, p. 16 f.
  30. ^ A b c Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 64.
  31. ↑ a b Rodionov, Alexej. Robert Genin. In search of paradise: Bali, 1926. St-Petersburg, 2013, 96 pp.
  32. ^ A b Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 65.
  33. ^ A b Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 66.
  34. ↑ Robert Genin: The Distant Island. Recordings of my trip to Bali in words and pictures. Berlin 1928, p. 230 ff.
  35. ^ Collection Im Obersteg in the Kunstmuseum Basel
  36. ^ Baumgartner / von Tavel: The collection of Karl and Jürg Im Obersteg. 1995, p. 134, figs. 81 and 82.
  37. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 66 f.
  38. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 69.
  39. ^ A b Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 70.
  40. ↑ a b c d e Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 46.
  41. ^ Warnod, André. De la Ruche à Java… and back. In: Comoedia , November 28, 1931, p. 3.
  42. ^ Salmon, André. Les Arts. In: Gringoire , December 4, 1931, p. 7. (French)
  43. ^ Salmon, André. Deux peintres: Guenine et Kisling. In: Bravo , January 1, 1932, p. 46.
  44. ↑ Im Obersteg had five pictures of Genin at that time, cf. Mentha: The correspondence with Alexej von Jawlensky. 2011, p. 125, note 53.
  45. ↑ Mentha: The correspondence with Alexej von Jawlensky. 2011, pp. 81 and 96.
  46. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 73.
  47. ^ Genin in the Im Obersteg collection
  48. ↑ Otto Fischer: The new picture. Publication of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München, Munich 1912, pp. 41, 45 and 47.
  49. ↑ a b Yearbook of Marc Chagall Museum in Vitebsk, 2011 (in Russian) Родионов, Алексей. Художник Роберт Генин (1884–1941). Творчество и судьба // Бюллетень Музея Марка Шагала, 2011, №19-20, с. 137-156.
  50. ^ Exhibition catalog Kunstgalerie Esslingen, n.d., n.s.
  51. ↑ https://schlossmuseum-murnau.de/de/sonderausstellung-robert-genin-ein-russischer-expressionist-in-muenchen
  52. ^ Barbara Schäfer: Sonderbund exhibition 1912 - reconstruction in exh. Cat .: 1912, Mission of the Modern Age, The Show of the Century of the Sonderbund. P. 588, No. 404 and 405.
  53. ↑ robertgenin.org
  54. ^ Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky and Angelica Jawlensky (eds.): Alexej von Jawlensky. In: Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings. Volume 2, Munich 1992, p. 540.
  55. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 62.
  56. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: The Great Bear. In: Marianne Werefkin. From the Blue Rider to the Big Bear. Exhibition catalog. Municipal Gallery Bietigheim-Bissingen 2014, p. 212 ff.
  57. ^ Kneubühler: The artists and writers and Ticino. 1978, p. 158.
  58. ^ Fischer: The correspondence with Robert Genin. 2011, p. 68.
personal data
SURNAME Genin, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Генин, Роберт; Guénine, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Painter, graphic artist, illustrator and writer
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Vizokoye near Klimovichy in the Mogilev region
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 1941
Place of death Moscow