Rudolf Czapek

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Rudolf Czapek (born July 2, 1871 in Prague , † August 22, 1935 in Munich ) was an Austro-German painter and art theorist whose book “Basic Problems of Painting” from 1908 was a forerunner to Wassily Kandinsky's famous treatise “About the Spiritual in art ”from 1911/12.

life and work

Rudolf Czapek, son of medical officer Dr. Friedrich Czapek was initially an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy and got to know South America, the South Seas and the Orient on trips abroad. For health reasons he took his leave in 1899 and decided to study philosophy and art history, which took him to Vienna and Zurich. From 1902 he lived in Munich, where he made the acquaintance of the painter Willy von Beckerath . He himself studied painting at the art academy under Heinrich Knirr , and from 1904 under Ludwig von Herterich and Hermann Groeber . In 1903 he married the painter and graphic artist Mechthild Buschmann.

In 1906/07 he attended the “drawing and painting school” of Alexej Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin , where Franziska Countess zu Reventlow , Gabriele Münter and Hugo Troendle could also be found in those years . Czapek must have been particularly fascinated by Werefkin's teaching, as suggested by his book “Basic Problems of Painting”, published in 1908. In it he reflected a lot that he could only have learned from Werefkin at the time, and he anticipated a lot that Kandinsky was to deal with in his book "On the Spiritual in Art", published three years later. It is known through Gabriele Münter that Kandinsky obtained constructive criticism from Werefkin for writing his book. Astonishing similarities and similarities can be found in the comparison of both books. Kandinsky knew and owned Czapek's treatise. Strikingly, however, he does not quote Czapek's work. As eloquent and communicative as Baroness Werefkin was, she was likely to have explained the most difficult artistic questions to her students in great detail, while Jawlensky had taken on the practical part of the lessons in terms of painting. In his painting, Czapek took over from him the view that "painting is primarily flat art."

From 1907 to 1909 Capek worked as a freelance painter and writer in Berlin, where he also studied medieval and East Asian painting. After his stay in Berlin he often changed his place of residence. From 1917 he lived in Deggendorf , 1925 in Würzburg , 1926 in Hamburg, then again in Berlin, in 1934 in the Metten monastery near Deggendorf, and in 1935 in Munich, where he committed suicide. He also dealt with astrology and horoscope interpretation.

Exhibitions

Publications

  • Basic problems of painting. A book for artists and learners . Leipzig 1908
  • The new painting. A culture study . Stuttgart 1909
  • To mental synthesis. Art and religion within a total view . 1916/17
  • Color world and image structure. Contributions to a theory of image composition . 1921
  • Outlines and spatial values. A psychological method of self-teaching in drawing . 1922

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Czapek: Basic problems of painting. A book for artists and learners , Leipzig 1908.
  2. ↑ Wassily Kandinsky: About the Spiritual in Art, especially in Painting , Munich 1912, (2nd edition), (The first edition was published by Piper in Munich at the end of 1911 with the imprint 1912).
  3. ^ Franziska Gräfin zu Reventlow, Collected Works , Munich 1925, p. 376 f.
  4. ↑ Bernd Fäthke : Jawlensky and his companions in a new light , Munich 2004, p. 73 f.
  5. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Werefkin and Jawlensky with their son Andreas in the “Murnauer Zeit” , in exhib. Cat .: 1908–2008, 100 Years Ago, Kandinsky, Münter, Jawlensky, Werefkin in Murnau , Murnau 2008, p. 50.
  6. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Marianne Werefkin , Munich 2001, pp. 95 ff.
  7. ↑ Cf. Gisela Kleine: Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kandinsky, biography of a couple . Frankfurt / M. 1990, p. 330.
  8. ↑ Otto Kellner: Rudolf Czapek . In: Der Cicerone 16, 1924, p. 739.
  9. ↑ According to Vollmer, bibliographically impossible to determine.
  10. ↑ According to Vollmer, bibliographically impossible to determine.
  11. ↑ According to Vollmer, bibliographically impossible to determine.
personal data
SURNAME Czapek, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-German painter and art theorist
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague
DATE OF DEATH August 22, 1935
Place of death Munich