Siegfried Charoux

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Charoux in the studio

Siegfried Charoux (born November 15, 1896 in Vienna , † April 26, 1967 in London ) was an Austrian - British sculptor , painter , draftsman and caricaturist .

Life

Charoux, who was born as the son of the clothes maker Anna Buchta (née Charous) and the technical officer Joseph Kinich, was called Buchta until 1914, then Charous and after his marriage to Margarethe Treibl on December 18, 1926, he took the stage name "Charoux" ( his alias as a cartoonist was "CHAT ROUX").

His right hand was paralyzed by a gunshot wound while taking part in the First World War from 1915 to 1917, but it was completely healed after an operation using a nerve suture.

Charoux, who drew and painted as a child, made his first attempts at sculpting during the war and made acquaintance with the painters Robin Christian Andersen , Eugen Sturm-Skrla and Johann Kodanich , and later with Gustav Schütt and Broncia Koller-Pinell .

After attending an acting school in 1918/19, Siegfried Charoux finally turned to sculpture in 1919. In the same year he began private studies with Josef Heu , from 1922 to 1924 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna with Hans Bitterlich . In the years 1923–1928 Charoux worked as a political cartoonist for the “Arbeiter-Zeitung” and other left and left-wing liberal papers.

From 1926 to 1938 Charoux ran his own studio in Vienna. He made his debut at the Vienna Art Show in 1927 at the Museum of Art and Industry with a draft for a Robert Blum monument that has not survived . As a result, further political sculptures (including a Lenin bust and a design for a Matteotti monument) were created parallel to works with a much calmer formal language that were influenced by Auguste Rodin , Aristide Maillol , Wilhelm Lehmbruck and Georg Kolbe (including “ The Preacher ”,“ Hug ”,“ Male Head ”). In 1935 his first memorial for the poet Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was unveiled at Judenplatz in Vienna , a commissioned work that Charoux won in 1930 against a competition of 82 sculptors and was completed in 1931/32. The memorial was dismantled and melted down after the National Socialists came to power in Austria in 1939.

Grave at the central cemetery

In 1935 Charoux emigrated to London for political reasons. After the outbreak of World War II , he was interned in 1940 as an "enemy alien" on the Isle of Man . A British citizen since 1946, he was made a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Arts (Associate of the Royal Academy; ARA) in 1949 and a full member (RA) in 1956. He also taught at the Royal Academy Sculpture School. Numerous public contracts in Great Britain, but also in Austria, followed. To make amends, Charoux was once again commissioned with the execution of the Lessing memorial, which was only unveiled after his death in 1968 on Morzinplatz in Vienna and has been at its original location on Judenplatz since 1981. Siegfried Charoux died in London in 1967 after a long illness.

Act

Charoux's work, which is rooted in Expressionism , can be divided into two main currents, which equally determine his entire creative period: On the one hand there are dramatic-expressive works (including “The Preacher”, “The Survivor”), and the early political ones Sculptures can be assigned ( Robert Blum , Lenin bust, Matteotti memorial plaque). On the other hand, Charoux creates calmer, more closed sculptures that seem to be influenced by Auguste Rodin , Aristide Maillol , Wilhelm Lehmbruck and Georg Kolbe (especially the numerous female nudes, mother-child depictions and sculptures on the subject of “youth”). Parallels to his contemporary Charles Despiau can be felt in his female nudes . In a large-scale plastic cycle "Civilization", Charoux deals - sometimes sarcastically - with the issues and problems of society (including "The Judge", "The Motorcyclist", "The Dignitary", "The Newspaper Reader", "Authority") . In numerous sculptures he dedicates himself to the subject of “music” (including “The Cellist”, “The Violin Player”, “The Piano Player”, “Trio”, “Quartet”).

With the exception of a few experiments, Siegfried Charoux sticks to the figuration: "I don't want to be modern because I don't want to be unfashionable!" (Charoux, 1946)

Watercolors and opaque color paintings dominate the painting's work, which is virtually unknown to this day, in the early and middle creative periods. Towards the end of the 1950s, he experimented more with acrylic. Preferred themes in his painting are still lifes, landscapes (especially Cornwall, Gastein), music and studies of his sculptural work.

In his extensive graphic work, figure studies and monument drafts predominate.

Museum reception

The Langenzersdorf Museum houses his artistic estate.

Awards and honors

Major works

Lessing monument (2nd version) on Judenplatz, Vienna 1st district
Frieze of work at the Zurich court
  • Draft for a Robert Blum monument, 1927 (not preserved)
  • The Preacher , 1930, Siegfried Charoux Museum, Langenzersdorf
  • Frieze of work , 1930/1931, Zürcher-Hof, Vienna (X, Laxenburger Strasse)
  • Male head , around 1933, Siegfried Charoux Museum, Langenzersdorf
  • 1. Lessing monument, 1935, Judenplatz, Vienna 1 (destroyed in 1939)
  • Pietà , 1943, Siegfried Charoux Museum, Langenzersdorf
  • Commemorative bust for Amy Johnson , 1944, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull
  • Youth , 1948, Tate Gallery , London
  • Monumental relief The Islanders for the Festival of Britain 1951, South Bank Exhibition, London (removed in 1952)
  • The Cellist , 1958/1959, Royal Festival Hall London
  • The Motorcyclist , 1957/1962, Shell Building, London (original version in the Siegfried Charoux Museum, Langenzersdorf)
  • The Listeners ( Richard Strauss Monument), 1956/1958, Richard Strauss-Hof, Vienna 3
  • The survivor , 1960, Siegfried Charoux Museum, Langenzersdorf
  • The Judge , 1961, Royal Courts of Justice, London (model in the Siegfried Charoux Museum, Langenzersdorf)
  • 2. Lessing Monument, 1962–1965, Judenplatz, Vienna 1 (unveiled 1968)

literature

  • Robert Waissenberger : Siegfried Charoux. (Portfolio with 32 illustrations: 24 plates, 8 color plates; essay by Robert Waissenberger), Vienna 1968
  • Elisabeth Koller-Glück: Charoux and the "Red Cat". In: Arbeiter-Zeitung, February 13, 1970, p. 12
  • Brochure for the opening of the Charoux Museum on June 12, 1982, 1982
  • Elisabeth Koller-Glück: Siegfried Charoux and the Charoux Museum in Langenzersdorf. In: Neues Museum, No. 2, pp. 7-10, Vienna 1994
  • Elisabeth Koller-Glück: New research around Siegfried Charoux. For the 100th birthday of the Austrian sculptor. In: Lower Austria Culture Reports, Dec. 1996, pp. 10-11
  • Hans Kurt Groß: Charoux, Siegfried. In: General Artist Lexicon . (AKL). Volume XVIII '. KG Saur Verlag, Munich-Leipzig 1998, p. 266
  • Christian Waltl: Siegfried Charoux. A sculptor in exile in England. (Diploma thesis, unpublished), Vienna 1997
  • Gregor-Anatol Bockstefl for the market town of Langenzersdorf: Siegfried Charoux. Sculptor and painter (brochure on the 50th anniversary of the artist's death), Langenzersdorf 2017

Web links

Commons : Siegfried Charoux  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A memorial to Robert Blum. Designs by our colleague Charoux. In:  Arbeiter-Zeitung , Morgenblatt, No. 201/1926, July 23, 1926, p. 8, top left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / aze.
  2. ^ Hans Tietze : Art Show Vienna 1927. Austrian Museum. Charoux "plastic" (Robert Blum) . In: German art and decoration . Volume 61 (1927), XXXI. Year, Darmstadt 1927, ZDB -ID 2575639-4 , pp. 69-77.
personal data
SURNAME Charoux, Siegfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-British sculptor, painter, draftsman and caricaturist
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH April 26, 1967
Place of death London