Rudolf Ringger

Rudolf Ringger at the age of 60

Johann Rudolf Ringger (born January 17, 1841 in Niederglatt , † September 20, 1908 in Küsnacht ) was a Swiss painter , engraver and teacher.

Life

Rudolf Ringger was born as the son of the farmer Rudolf Ringger (* 1814) in Niederglatt, Zurich. After attending secondary school in neighboring Niederhasli, his teacher CE Müller found him an apprenticeship with the landscape engraver Caspar Huber (* 1825) in Zurich in the spring of 1856. During his three-year apprenticeship, Ringger attended courses in ornament drawing from the architect Julius Stadler (1855–1892) and figure drawing from Johann Conrad Werdmüller (1819–1892).

Ringger's first independent works were created in Niederglatt. He drew views of the Canton of Zurich, the Bernese Oberland and Lake Lucerne for various publishers . His plan to publish an “Album from Lake Zurich” prompted him to settle in Küsnacht in 1860 . The album was self-published in 1862, and later it was taken over by the book and art dealer Krüsi in Basel. It contains 21 views of villages on both sides of Lake Zurich as well as views of the city of Zurich in the format 12.5 × 18.5 cm and has become one of Ringger's most popular works.

Thalwil panorama

At the same time, Ringger worked on “Panorama seen from the tower of the Thalwil church ” and “Panorama seen from the high watch of the Lägern ”. The latter is " virtuoso, finely engraved, incorruptibly precise and in the sequence of the rooms from the foreground to the farthest background of an admirable continuity and coherence ."

Since the blossoming lithography and a little later photography pushed back the elaborate gravure printing , Ringger applied to be a drawing teacher at the vocational school recently founded in Küsnacht. In order to be better prepared for the task, he took courses at the Royal Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from October 1862 to March 1864 .

After his return in August 1864, Ringger taught as a drawing teacher at the cantonal teachers' seminar , from 1865 he also taught calligraphy in addition to drawing . Ringger was the last teacher to be elected for life at the seminary. Ringger also taught at the boys' secondary school in Zurich and at the Labhard Institute in Männedorf.

On April 21, 1868 Ringger married Emilie Hofmann, the daughter of the Küsnacht postman. The couple had six children: 1869 Emilie Martha, 1871 Alwina Emilie, 1873 Reinhard Ernst, 1875 Heinrich Paul, 1879 Regula Frieda, 1884 Karolina Ida. Hedwig died in 1888 on the day she was born. Emilie and Heinrich died at a young age due to illness and accident. For Reinhard Ernst, who wanted to become a baker, he had a house built on Weinmanngasse in 1901, at that time still on the outskirts of the village. In 1893 Ringger renounced Niederglatt's citizenship and became a citizen of Küsnacht.

Rudolf-Ringger-Weg in Küsnacht

As a teacher, Ringger dealt intensively with didactic and methodological issues. His lessons were based on a strictly methodical plan at every level. He made high demands on his students; he demanded an exact presentation and clean execution down to the last detail. He repeatedly exhibited student work, for example at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878 and at the National Exhibition in Zurich in 1883 . In 1881 he received first prize for a teaching aid in freehand drawing for the elementary school in Romance Switzerland.

Together with Max Häuselmann (1822–1891), a drawing teacher from Biel, Ringger published the “Pocket Book for Colored Ornament” at Orell Füssli and, in addition to teaching, continued to draw for magazines and postcard publishers. Rudolf Ringger died on September 20, 1908 after a two-day illness, probably as a result of a pulmonary embolism. A path was named in Küsnacht in his memory.

Pictures (selection)

• 

  Church and
  seminary Küsnacht

• 

  Wulp castle hill
  near Küsnacht

• 

  Gasthof «Krone» in Forch near Küsnacht

• 

  View of Rapperswil

• 

  Zollikon , around 1860

literature

• Küsnachter Jahrheft 1991 , contribution by Fritz Hermann

Web links

Commons : Rudolf Ringger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ringger, Johann Rudolf. In: Sikart