Viktring artist circle
The Viktringer Künstlerkreis was a loose group of artists that gathered around the Moro entrepreneurial family based in Viktring ( Carinthia ) in the 19th century . A distinction is made between an older group of artists around Eduard von Moro with Markus Pernhart and a younger group of artists around Eduard's great-niece Sophie von Moro.
The older group of artists from Viktring
Eduard von Moro (1790–1846) came from the Carinthian family of cloth manufacturers von Moro. In addition to the business, he dealt intensively with agriculture and especially painting. His teachers are not clearly known. Considered possible Johann Evangelist Scheffer of Leonhardshoff or training while studying in Vienna . Between 1810 and 1814 the well-known landscape painter Franz Steinfeld visited Viktring several times and introduced landscape painting as an independent genre in Carinthia.
A group of landscape painters formed around Steinfeld in Viktring, which he taught. Sketchbooks from Eduard von Moro that he drew in the open air have survived. His paintings are difficult to identify because he has neither signed nor dated them. Eduard von Moro is more important as a sponsor. He gave Markus Pernhart his first painting lessons, introduced him to landscape painting and financed his further training in Munich. He also made it possible for Josef Possod (1802–1830) to train in Vienna. As a student of Johann Peter Krafft, Possod turned to realistic portraiture. Eduard von Moro also taught his niece Berta von Moro and the two sisters Caroline and Clementine von Rainer-Harbach, both married to Moros. This is how a group of artists came into being around Eduard von Moro in Viktring. His relatives continued this after his death in 1846.
A special friendship developed between Caroline von Moro and Markus Pernhart. She was married to Edward's nephew, Max von Moro , and continued the circle of artists after Edward's death. She promoted the painter Ignaz Preisegger and the young Ludwig Willroider . She herself painted landscapes and industrial architecture under the influence of Pernhart, and from around 1860 onwards increasingly portraits. Her husband, Max von Moro (1817–1899), was director of the Carinthian History Association in addition to his business activities. It was from this historical interest that he commissioned Pernhart to draw down still existing castles and palaces in Carinthia. 198 drawings were created in this way. Caroline's sister Clementine is awarded the greater talent.
From the 1860s onwards, the Viktringer circle was dominated by the brothers Ludwig and Josef Willroider and led to the younger Viktringer circle of artists. They introduced the Munich mood impressionism in Carinthia. Clementine von Rainer-Harbach was one of the first to adopt this style. Berta von Moro (1819–1884), married Baroness von Zois-Edelstein, however, continued to create Biedermeier landscapes in the tradition of her uncle Eduard.
Ignaz Preisegger created mainly Biedermeier portraits, such as a picture of the three daughters of Max von Moros. He also created religious images, for example for the high altar in the St. Rupert's Church in Klagenfurt (today on the south wall). The successful portrait lithographer August Prinzhofer came from St. Veit and later lived in Carinthia from 1854 to 1961.
The younger group of artists in Viktring
In the younger group of artists in Viktring, women in the family took on leading roles. Unlike Eduard, they did not teach pupils, but provided financial support for talented artists and their training. The central figure in the last third of the 19th century was Sophie von Moro (1844–1915), the eldest daughter of Max and Caroline von Moro. She grew up together with her sisters Hermine and Johanna in the artistic circle. From their mother they not only learned to paint, but also the art of promoting art.
The monastery cells of the former monastery were converted into summer quarters for artists and those interested in art. In addition to painting, music and theater were cultivated.
Johanna von Moro used to paint portraits and flowers, her divorced sister Sophie stayed true to landscape and architecture. Ignaz Preisegger introduced Sophie to watercolor painting. It was artistically influenced by Pernhart and Ludwig Willroider, who came to Viktring for the first time in 1873. Four large-format volumes, Architectural Pictures from Carinthia, are considered Sophie's main work . Between 1905 and 1914, in the tradition of Valvasor and Pernhart, she published the topographies in grisaille technique , i.e. as gray watercolors with white highlights. Unlike Pernhart, she did not paint overall views, but excerpts, an innovation that Willroider had brought from Munich to Viktring.
The third sister, Johanna von Morozzo-Moro (1849–1925), married to an Italian general, was often in Viktring, but took lessons in Rome with Szipione Vanutelli (1834–1894), one of the few artists who taught women. Probably under the influence of Willroider and Franz von Defregger , who often stayed in Viktring, she took lessons from Nikolaus Gysis in Munich from 1884 onwards . Her style changed in the direction of contour resolution, important elements are light reflections and shadow zones. She concentrated on portraits, flower and fruit still lifes and exhibited in the Klagenfurt Künstlerhaus.
The two Willroider brothers were an important link between Viktring and the European art world. The older one, Josef, received his training in Munich, where he turned to the romantic, idealistic mood. He settled in Düsseldorf and later in Munich. In addition to numerous trips, he returned to Viktring again and again in the summer, where he mainly drew on Lake Wörthersee. Through his brother Ludwig he came into contact with the open-air painting that came from the Barbizon School . However, he remained more connected to tradition than Ludwig. Thanks to the support of the Moro family, he was able to follow his brother to Munich in 1868, where he learned from the landscape painters Adolf Lier , Eduard Schleich and Karl Ebert . In addition to the Munich mood painting, Dutch painting, especially Jacob van Ruisdael, was of importance to him. Ludwig mediated between the Carinthian and Munich art scene. From 1873 he was in Viktring in the summer. He got his own studio in the park in 1885. In addition to painters such as Anton Gregoritsch and Karl Truppe, poets such as Josef Friedrich Perkonig and composers such as Thomas Koschat also gathered here .
The last artist in the Viktringer Kreis is Karl Truppe (1887–1959), who received his first painting lessons from Sophie von Moro and Ludwig Willroider. Although traveling internationally, he created landscapes of Viktring throughout his career and acquired Anton Gregoritsch's villa. Stylistically, he stands in the tradition of Ludwig Willroider with impressionistic mood painting.
supporting documents
- Karin Leitner-Ruhe: Painting and Sculpture in the 19th Century . In: Christian Brugger, Karin Leitner-Ruhe, Gottfried Biedermann: Modernism in Carinthia . Carinthia Verlag, Klagenfurt 2009, ISBN 978-3-85378-582-9 , pp. 123-166, especially 129-136 and 149-156.