Walter Jonas

Walter Jonas around 1964

Walter Hermann Jonas (born March 27, 1910 in Oberursel , Germany ; † June 12, 1979 in Zurich ) was a German-Swiss painter , graphic artist , art critic and the creator of the urbanistic vision Intrapolis .

life and work

youth

Walter Jonas was born on March 27, 1910 in Oberursel am Taunus , Germany, to Israel Salomon Julius and Agnes Schaupp. Jonas had two sisters. The sister, Edith Oppenheim-Jonas (1907-2001), who was three years older , was the creator of the famous Papa Moll figure . Jonas father was offered a position as a patent engineer at Brown, Boveri & Co. in Baden in 1910 . The job offer for the father led the family to move to Switzerland . During the First World War , the father served as a German officer in the field, so the family lived in Alsace from 1916 to 1918 and returned to Baden in 1918. After attending the district school in Baden, Jonas graduated from the cantonal high school in Zurich.

Berlin

From 1929 to 1932 Walter Jonas attended the private art school Reimann in Berlin , an internationally known avant-garde art and applied arts school, and became a master student of Moritz Melzer . He was a teacher of decorative painting and stage design. Melzer belonged together with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner , Fritz Bleyl and Erich Heckel to the artist group Brücke . Influenced by his teacher, Jonas developed a style of painting close to Expressionism. In addition to painting, Jonas also studied architecture and, with Professor Max Deri , art history. Study trips to southern France, Corsica and Spain are also part of the training period at the Reimann School.

Paris

After completing his studies at the Reimann Art School, Walter Jonas moved to Paris in 1932. There he made the acquaintance of Robert Delaunay , Albert Marquet and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and was accepted into the international artist community Porza . During his time in Paris he dealt mainly with the representation of figures and landscapes and participated in first exhibitions. Although Jonas came into contact with Cubism and Surrealism in Paris, Expressionism , albeit an "expressionism of its own", remained the form of expression that determined his artistic work.

Zurich

Due to the precarious political weather in Europe, the family applied for Swiss citizenship in Mellingen, Canton Aargau, which was granted to them in 1933. In 1935 Walter Jonas returned to Zurich, where he kept himself afloat as a drawing teacher at the cantonal high school and with private lessons. Until the outbreak of war, he made trips to Corsica and the Dalmatian coast, to which Jonas, according to Dürrenmatt, had an almost “mystical relationship”.

As a graphic designer, Jonas mainly dealt with classic subject areas. Cycles and book illustrations followed single sheets with figurative subjects. Particularly noteworthy is the Gilgamesh epic made by him in aquatint technique and consisting of 20 large-format sheets . The cycle was characterized by its dense and tense sequence of images, which deal intensively with the motif of life and death. He also illustrated a complete edition by Jeremias Gotthelf and produced picture cycles for works by Horaz, Cervantes, Friedrich Hebbel and etchings for Mozart's Magic Flute . Although well versed in artistic printing techniques, Jonas preferred hand drawings and etchings.

At that time, Jonas Atelier at Kronenstrasse 46 became a meeting place for artists, scientists and writers, and Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Max Frisch are also regular visitors. On the night of January 13-14, 1941, Jonas produced the Book of One Night with Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Werner Y. Müller . According to Dürrenmatt, the etchings by Jonas contained therein are "among his most beautiful." At that time, Jonas had a productive friendship with Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Dürrenmatt even later explained: "From Jonas I learned writing as a profession, [...]."

In 1942 Jonas married Rosa Maria Kemmler (1908–1990), who was a loyal companion to him for forty years.

In 1948 Jonas took part in the 24th Venice Biennale at the invitation of Italian painters . There Jonas was able to present two of his etchings, Aquatint II and Aquatint III . In the following years Jonas traveled to North Africa (1949) and India (1951). The trip to India and the Eastern spiritual world had a lasting influence on him and his work.

Himalaya 1951 Oil on canvas

During those years, Jonas continued to devote himself to painting and developed a colorful and haunting style of painting. The time in India and his later trips to South America are considered formative times for his painterly work. The focus is always on the subject of civilization versus nature. In addition to his landscapes and cityscapes, Jonas was considered a talented portrait painter. The most famous example is the privately owned portrait of the young Dürrenmatt from 1944. Nevertheless, Walter Jonas' painterly work is pluralistic and processes many art movements of the 19th century and therefore cannot be assigned to any particular art direction.

Art critic and mediator

In the 1950s Jonas was also an art critic and columnist and wrote articles on the subject of art for Die Tat , NZZ and Weltwoche , among others . At the same time, Jonas devoted himself to art education and in 1950 wrote How to look at a modern work of art. From 1954, Jonas was hired by Swiss television as an art commentator and designer of programs about art. In the same year, a program by Walter Jonas about the Vincent van Gogh exhibition was broadcast directly from the Kunsthaus Zürich. Series such as B. With brush and pen, famous painters and studio visits to…, but also reports on art news and reports on exhibitions followed and were an integral part of Swiss television in the 1950s.

Intrapolis

Funnel house

Vukovar water tower

Porsche Leipzig customer center

Intrapolis 1963

Inspired by a trip to Brazil (1958), Jonas developed the vision of a new, more humane city form: the Intrapolis . This is directed against the traditional type of urban development and the associated labyrinth formation, dimensioning and overgrowth.

The concept of the intrapolis created by Jonas goes beyond the current term “funnel city” and combines the two terms introversion and polis. Jonas saw the principle of introversion not only as an important component for the balance of a society, but also as a counterpoint to the hectic extraversion of the restless world of his time. In the architectural sense, however, introversion also means that, in contrast to the conventional construction of houses and cities, the actual living space is moved inside, while the traffic routes, stairs and elevators are placed outside the living space.

Jonas saw his concept of the Intrapolis in the construction of funnel cities. The construction of the terraced, inwardly arranged apartments is space-saving and enables good light and visibility. The funnel-shaped building structure means that more undeveloped green space is available to the public. Traffic noise and exhaust gases can also be kept away from the residents by the arrangement of the living spaces.

The horizontal traffic routes are laid out in a ring around the cone, vertical mobility is ensured by external lifts. The center of the cone forms an overgrown green zone. Administration, department stores, cinemas and other public facilities are housed in the funnel base. Below the base is the counter cone, which not only ensures the stability of the funnel, but also provides space for garages, cisterns or storage rooms. The individual residential units can be enlarged or reduced as required. Jonas believed that such a funnel structure would promote the bond between the residents and would also better integrate the older generation into the community.

A funnel should ideally have a diameter of 150 to 230 and a height of around 100 meters. With a funnel opening of around 90 degrees, according to Jonas calculations, around 700 apartments with three rooms each could be accommodated in one unit and thus a cone would be able to hold around 2000 residents. Jonas described three such conical elements as the basic urban unit.

Jonas presented his project to the public in numerous lectures, exhibitions and publications. In 1962, Origo Verlag in Zurich published his programmatic work Das Intrahaus - Vision of a City , to which the renowned Swiss garden architect Ernst Cramer also made a contribution and underlined the farsightedness of the project approach for urban and landscape development of the future. The idea was enthusiastically received by laypeople and experts, but the project of a cone town was never realized. Nevertheless, the conception of the Intrapolis was to keep Jonas busy until his death. The project submitted by Jonas in 1967 for a floating cultural center in Zurich can be seen as a variant of the Intrapolis . The idea of Intrapolis was taken up in 1962 by the authors of the Perry Rhodan series; Funnel constructions are the standard construction method of the fictional Arkonide ethnic group .

Walter Jonas was a founding member of the Groupe International d'Architecture Prospective (GIAP), in which Yona Friedmann and Ionel Schein were also involved. In 1967 he was involved in the creation of a German-speaking section in Zurich together with German and Swiss architects.

Late years

Increasingly affected by his deteriorating health, Jonas largely withdrew from his environment. Walter Jonas died on June 12, 1979 in his studio in Zurich.

During their lifetime the Jonas laid the foundation stone for the establishment of a foundation (Walter and Rosa Maria Jonas Foundation), which was to receive the estate of Walter Jonas and to research Jonas' extensive work.

Walter Jonas' estate is in the manuscript department of the Zurich Central Library . Tapes that Walter Jonas recorded in the 1960s and 1970s and which contain various lectures, radio broadcasts and private talks are on deposit from the Foundation in the Swiss National Sound Archives .

Important exhibitions

1931: Kunststube am Schöneberger Ufer, Berlin, with the Reimann Art School
1933: Galerie Kleinmann, Paris
1940: Galerie Aktuaryus, Zurich
1941: Galerie Beaux-Arts, Zurich
1943: Galerie Aktuaryus, first exhibition Gilgamesch, Zurich
1948: 24th Venice Biennale, Venice
1948: Galerie Chichio Haller, Zurich, with Zoran Music
1949: Kunsthaus Zurich, Young Zurich Artists , Zurich
1949: Art building Tübingen, Modern Swiss Graphics , Tübingen
1951: Gallery Chichio Haller, India trip , Zurich
1952: Hella Nebelung Gallery, Düsseldorf
1955: Art Museum St.Gallen, Modern Swiss Graphics , St.Gallen
1956: Kunsthaus Zürich, middle-generation painters , Zürich
1958: Museu de Arte Moderna, Sâo Paulo
1959: Helmhaus Zurich, Walter Jonas - pictures from Brazil , Zurich
1965: Palais Marsan, Musée du Louvre, Intrapolis , Paris
1967: Lunds konsthall, Superlund ”,“ Intrapolis , Lund
1980: Wolfsberg Art Salon , Zurich
1985: Seedamm-Kulturzentrum, Walter Jonas retrospective , Pfäffikon

Proof of work

Art Museum St. Gallen; Art collections of the City of Zurich, Museum of the Werner Coninx Foundation, Zurich, Seedamm Cultural Center, Pfäffikon (SZ); Mural, Untersiggenthal school building; Wall frescoes, Zurich-Altstetten.

Publications

The intra house. Vision of a city. Origo-Verlag, Zurich 1962.
Intrapolis - an urban development project. In: Heinrich E. Schmid (Ed.): Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist. Vontobel-Druck, Feldmeilen 1985, pp. 124-130.
Picasso - the eternal child prodigy. In: Heinrich E. Schmid (Ed.): Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist. Vontobel-Druck, Feldmeilen 1985, pp. 152–156.
How do you look at a modern work of art. Amriswil 1950.

literature

24'Biennale Venezia. Catalogo. 1948: Exposizione biennale internazionale d'arte. Semissima, Venezia 1948, p. 165.

Friedrich Dürrenmatt : Memory. In: Heinrich E. Schmid (Ed.): Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist. Vontobel-Druck, Feldmeilen 1985, pp. 16-25.

Alexander Gosztonyi: Walter Jonas - the painter and philosopher. In: Heinrich E. Schmid (Ed.): Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist. Vontobel-Druck, Feldmeilen 1985, pp. 50-69.

Alfred A. Häsler: outsider, insider. Portraits from Switzerland. Huber, Frauenfeld 1983.

Jonas, Walter . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists of the XX. Century. tape 2 : E-J . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1955, p. 561 .

Jonas, Walter. In: Swiss Institute for Art Research (Ed.): Biographical Lexicon of Swiss Art. Volume 1. NZZ, Zurich 1998, pp. 550–551.

Jonas, Walter. In: Association for the publication of the Swiss artist lexicon (ed.): Artist lexicon of Switzerland. XX. Century. Volume 1. Huber, Frauenfeld 1958, pp. 496-497.

623057905 Citation link

Chapter: The Jonas Dream. The square house in the jungle of Brazil , in: Tommy Laeng: Future dreams from yesterday, today, the day after tomorrow , Berlin a. a. (Lit Verlag) 2010. ISBN 978-3-643-10675-9
Carol Nater: Artist profession versus artist existence - sibling opposites. In: Joan Fuchs-Oppenheim & Roy Oppenheim (ed.): Switchbacks and other tricks. The life of Edith Oppenheim-Jonas Inventor of Papa Moll. here + now, Baden 2008, pp. 176–203.
Hannes Schmid: A life full of lust and creativity. In: Joan Fuchs-Oppenheim & Roy Oppenheim (ed.): Switchbacks and other tricks. The life of Edith Oppenheim-Jonas Inventor of Papa Moll. here + now, Baden 2008, pp. 8-105.
Heinrich E. Schmid (Ed.): Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist. Vontobel-Druck, Feldmeilen 1985.
Udo Weilacher: Landscaping for the Intrapolis by Walter Jonas. In: Visionary Gardens. The modern landscapes by Ernst Cramer. Birkhäuser, Basel / Berlin / Boston 2001, ISBN 3-7643-6568-4 , pp. 142–144.
Jonas, Walter . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 78, de Gruyter, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-023183-0 , p. 245.
Justus Dahinden : Urban structures for tomorrow. Analyzes - Theses - Models , Stuttgart (Verlag Gerd Hatje) 1971. ISBN 3-7757-0011-0

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Swantje Kuhfuss-Wickenheiser, The Reimann School in Berlin and London 1902-1943. A Jewish company for international art and design education up to destruction by the Hitler regime, Aachen 2009, ISBN 978-3-86858-475-2 , pp. 294 f., 538; "Color and Form", Berlin 1930 issue 7/8 p. 110; "Color and Form" 1931 H. 11/12 cover picture
^ Nater, Carol: Artist profession versus artist existence - sibling opposites , in: switchbacks and other feats. The life of Edith Oppenheim-Jonas Inventor of Papa Moll, ed. by Joan Fuchs-Oppenheim and Roy Oppenheim, Baden: hier + now, 2008, p. 177.
^ Dürrenmatt, Friedrich: Memory , in: Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist, ed. by Heinrich E. Schmid, Feldmeilen: Vontobel-Druck, 1985, p. 20.
↑ Gosztonyi, Alexander: Walter Jonas - the painter and philosopher , in: Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist, ed. by Heinrich E. Schmid, Feldmeilen: Vontobel-Druck, 1985, p. 62.
^ ^A ^b Dürrenmatt, Friedrich: Memory , in: Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist, ed. by Heinrich E. Schmid, Feldmeilen: Vontobel-Druck, 1985, p. 22.
↑ Jonas, Walter: The Intra House. Vision of a city , Zurich: Origo-Verlag, 1962, p. 13ff.
^ Jonas, Walter: Intrapolis - an urban development project, in: Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist , ed. by Heinrich E. Schmid, Feldmeilen: Vontobel-Druck, 1985, p. 125.
^ Jonas, Walter: Intrapolis - an urban development project , in: Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist, ed. by Heinrich E. Schmid, Feldmeilen: Vontobel-Druck, 1985, p. 128. and Jonas, Walter: Das Intra-Haus. Vision of a City, Zurich: Origo-Verlag, 1962, p. 24.

personal data
SURNAME	Jonas, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Jonas, Walter Hermann (full name); Intrapolis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss painter
DATE OF BIRTH	March 27, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH	Oberursel
DATE OF DEATH	June 12, 1979
Place of death	Zurich

[1] Swantje Kuhfuss-Wickenheiser, The Reimann School in Berlin and London 1902-1943. A Jewish company for international art and design education up to destruction by the Hitler regime, Aachen 2009, ISBN 978-3-86858-475-2 , pp. 294 f., 538; "Color and Form", Berlin 1930 issue 7/8 p. 110; "Color and Form" 1931 H. 11/12 cover picture

[2] Nater, Carol: Artist profession versus artist existence - sibling opposites , in: switchbacks and other feats. The life of Edith Oppenheim-Jonas Inventor of Papa Moll, ed. by Joan Fuchs-Oppenheim and Roy Oppenheim, Baden: hier + now, 2008, p. 177.

[3] Dürrenmatt, Friedrich: Memory , in: Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist, ed. by Heinrich E. Schmid, Feldmeilen: Vontobel-Druck, 1985, p. 20.

[4] Gosztonyi, Alexander: Walter Jonas - the painter and philosopher , in: Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist, ed. by Heinrich E. Schmid, Feldmeilen: Vontobel-Druck, 1985, p. 62.

[Dürrenmatt22-5] A ^b Dürrenmatt, Friedrich: Memory , in: Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist, ed. by Heinrich E. Schmid, Feldmeilen: Vontobel-Druck, 1985, p. 22.

[6] Jonas, Walter: The Intra House. Vision of a city , Zurich: Origo-Verlag, 1962, p. 13ff.

[7] Jonas, Walter: Intrapolis - an urban development project, in: Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist , ed. by Heinrich E. Schmid, Feldmeilen: Vontobel-Druck, 1985, p. 125.

[8] Jonas, Walter: Intrapolis - an urban development project , in: Walter Jonas. Painter, thinker, urbanist, ed. by Heinrich E. Schmid, Feldmeilen: Vontobel-Druck, 1985, p. 128. and Jonas, Walter: Das Intra-Haus. Vision of a City, Zurich: Origo-Verlag, 1962, p. 24.