Teresa Feodorovna Ries

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Teresa Feodorowna Ries (born January 30, 1874 in Moscow ; † July 16, 1956 in Lugano ) was an Austrian sculptor and painter of Russian origin. She was one of the first women sculptors in 19th century Vienna to make a name for herself in male-dominated sculpture.

Life

Ries was born in Moscow to a wealthy Jewish family. She first studied at the Moscow Art Academy . Due to the pretense of an artistic education, she gained admission to the academy and was later showered with school prizes. Because of her cheeky demeanor, she was eventually expelled from the academy.

Her family made it possible for her to move to Vienna in 1895 , where, as a sculptor, she initially looked for a teacher, but as a woman initially only experienced rejection. Only Edmund Heller was ready to become her mentor and teach her as a private student. He taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna , where Ries was not allowed to study as a woman.

The invincible , sculpture in the congress park in Vienna- Ottakring from 1928

At the spring exhibition in the Künstlerhaus in 1896 , her sculpture Witch at the Toilet for Walpurgis Night became a scandal: On the one hand, because she exhibited her sculpture as a woman, which was extremely unusual in the 19th century - women were denied any ability to think plastically in the public discourse . In addition, the subject of the sculpture represented a strong contrast to the cliché of the lovely, docile “Fräuleins”. As an untamed and naked creature, the sculpture attracted admiration and attention from Gustav Klimt and Emperor Franz Joseph I himself , among others . Ries suddenly became famous.

It was also Klimt who invited her to exhibit at the Vienna Secession . Her works were shown at the invitation of Russia and Austria-Hungary at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 and the World Exhibition in Turin in 1911 . The Prince of Liechtenstein made a large suite available to Ries as a working environment next to his picture gallery, which she used at the opening as a retrospective of her ten years of work in Vienna. These and other public appearances earned her the suspicion of critics such as Karl Kraus , who complained that Ries was getting too much attention. To this day she gained greater fame through the creation and documentation of a bust of Mark Twain during his stay in Vienna around 1898. Ries created numerous sculptures out of stone, marble, plaster and bronze and accepted both private and public commissions.

Ries was also involved in founding the eight women artists community.

In 1928 Ries published her memoir under the title Die Sprache des Steins , in 1938 her studio was expropriated in the course of the “ Aryanization ” by the National Socialists and a large part of her works were destroyed as “ degenerate art ”. Nevertheless Ries remained until 1942 in Vienna and then fled first into the Switzerland of Lugano , where she spent her final years.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anka Leśniak: Teresa Feodorowna Ries and The Witch . In: Art and Documentation . No. 21 , 2019, ISSN  2080-413X , p. 143–158 , doi : 10.32020 / ARTandDOC / 21/2019/17 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Andrea Winklbauer: Eine Hexe , website of the Jewish Museum Vienna from January 24, 2017, accessed on March 4, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b Andrea Kirsh: The Forgotten Women Artists of Vienna 1900 , article on artblog.org from June 24, 2012, accessed on March 4, 2017.

Web links

Commons : Teresa Feodorowna Ries  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Ries, Teresa Feodorovna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ries, Theresa Feodorovna; Ries, Teresa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian sculptor and painter
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow
DATE OF DEATH July 16, 1956
Place of death Lugano