The Last Judgment
Wall fresco
Hörnli cemetery, Riehen, Basel-Stadt
His colossal painting The Last Judgment, created in the summer of 1939 from his “Swiss exile” testified to the power of his existential statements: Christ standing in the middle is flanked on the left by the believers and on the right by the unbelievers. He holds his left hand up in a greeting of peace, but looks to the right at the unbelievers. More on this painting
Heinrich Altherr (11 April 1878, in Basel – 27 April 1947, in Zürich) was a Swiss painter. He is best known for his murals in churches and various public buildings.
Heinrich Altherr-Fauser (1878–1947)
Alarm, between 1928 and 1943
German historical mus. Berlin
I have no further description, at this time
Heinrich Altherr
Storm surge, c. 1930
Oil on cardboard
30 × 40 cm
Private collection
Heinrich Altherr
Storm surge, c. 1930
Oil on cardboard
34 × 42 cm
Private collectionHe had his first art lessons from the sculptor Carl Burckhardt. Later, he studied with Fritz Schider and, after failing the entrance exam for More on the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, with Heinrich Knirr at his private school there. A trip to Italy confirmed his preference for dark, northern colors over the bright Mediterranean palette. French Impressionism also had little appeal for him, as he found himself attracted to Expressionism instead. He initially focused on portraits and landscapes.
Altherr, Heinrich
The Dionysian, c.1917
Oil on canvas
257 x 370 cm
Art collection of the Canton of Zurich
In ancient nights, the Dionysian was a famous divine impersonator of the Greek god Dionysus. He, along with the twin "Orphic brothers", suborned the Bacchanalian mystery cults of old Greece and succeeded in gaining a fringe following among mortals. The Dionysian himself claims to have been part of the Eleusinian Mysteries guiding the masses in their rites to return Persephone to the Underworld, but he has been repeatedly known to lie. The Dionysian
Altherr, Heinrich
Niobe, c. 1915-16
Oil on canvas
257 x 177 cm
Art collection of the Canton of Zurich
In Greek mythology, Niobe was a daughter of Tantalus, the wife of Amphion, son of Zeus and Antiope.
Niobe boasted of her fourteen children, seven male and seven female, to Leto who only had two children, the twins Apollo and Artemis. Her speech which caused the indignation of the goddess.
After Niobe's overweening pride in her children, offending Apollo and Artemis, brought about her children's deaths. Using arrows, Artemis killed Niobe's daughters and Apollo killed Niobe's sons. Their father, Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, either killed himself or was killed by Apollo for having sworn revenge. Devastated, Niobe fled back to Mount Sipylus and was turned into stone, and, as she wept unceasingly, waters started to pour from her petrified complexion. Mount Sipylus indeed has a natural rock formation which resembles a female face, and it has been associated with Niobe since ancient times. More on Niobe
Altherr, Heinrich
Orpheus and the Maenads, c. 1915-16
Oil on canvas
257 x 177 cm
Art collection of the Canton of Zurich
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones, with his music, his attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld, and his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine music.
Orpheus took part in this adventure and used his skills to aid his companions travelling as an Argonaut. Chiron told Jason that without the aid of Orpheus, the Argonauts would never be able to pass the Sirens—the same Sirens encountered by Odysseus in Homer's epic poem the Odyssey.
Orpheus had abstained from the love of women, either because things ended badly for him, or because he had sworn to do so. Yet, many felt a desire to be joined with the poet, and many grieved at rejection.
Feeling spurned by Orpheus, the Ciconian women first threw sticks and stones at him as he played, but his music was so beautiful even the rocks and branches refused to hit him. Enraged, the women tore him to pieces during the frenzy of their Bacchic orgies.
His head and lyre, still singing mournful songs, floated down the swift Hebrus to the Mediterranean shore. There, the winds and waves carried them on to the Lesbos shore, where the inhabitants buried his head and a shrine was built in his honour near Antissa. More on Orpheus
Altherr, Heinrich
Laocoon, c. 1916
Oil on canvas
257 x 177 cm
Art collection of the Canton of Zurich
Altherr, Heinrich
Icarus, c. 1915-16
Oil on canvas
257 x 177 cm
Art collection of the Canton of Zurich
In Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the creator of the Labyrinth. Icarus and Daedalus attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that Daedalus constructed from feathers and wax. Daedalus warns Icarus first of complacency and then of hubris, instructing him to fly neither too low nor too high, lest the sea's dampness clog his wings or the sun's heat melt them. Icarus ignores Daedalus’s instructions not to fly too close to the sun. The wax in Icarus’s wings melts. He tumbles out of the sky, falls into the sea, and drowns. Thus sparking the idiom, "don't fly too close to the sun". More on Icarus
He was one of the first members of the Deutscher Künstlerbund. In 1906, he became a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe. During this period, he created frescoes and stained glass windows for churches in Darmstadt, Basel, Karlsruhe, Elberfeld and Zürich. He also made the acquaintance of the architect Karl Moser, who was instrumental in obtaining several large commissions.
In 1913, he moved to the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, where he had been appointed a Professor. From 1919 to 1921 he served as its Director. He was one of the founders of the Stuttgart Succession [de] in 1923 and served as its first Chairman. His primary subject was composition and he remained there until 1939. He was an active campaigner against superficial fashions in the fine arts and opposed the official styles promoted by National Socialist policy.
Eventually, he ran afoul of those policies and his works were declared to be "Entartete Kunst" (degenerate). In 1938, several of his paintings were confiscated and destroyed. In consideration of his students, he remained at the school until 1939, but the outbreak of war forced him to return to Switzerland.
The murals from 1942–1944 in the cloister of the Basel State Archives , The Light Bringer , The Steadfast (See above), The Annunciator and Wanderer on the Rest , as well as the mural The Last Judgment from 1941 for the quiet hall in the cemetery on the Hörnli (See top), went out of the competitions of the Art Credit Basel City emerges as the winner.
From 1941 to 1946, he created several major mural cycles at the State Archives of Basel [de] and the Friedhof am Hörnli [de]. More on Heinrich Altherr
Altherr, Heinrich
Vision, before 1934
Oil on canvas
152 x 104.5 cm
Art Museum St. Gallen
Heinrich Altherr (Swiss, 1878–1947)
Der Rufer/ The caller
Oil on canvas
94 x 130 cm. (37 x 51.2 in.)
Private collection
Heinrich Altherr (Swiss, 1878–1947)Title:
Die Wanderer/ The hikers
Oil on wood
42 x 56 cm. (16.5 x 22 in.)
Private collection
Heinrich Altherr Basel 1878–1947 Zurich
The castaways, c. 1928
Oil on canvas
200 x 150 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel,
Heinrich Altherr (Swiss, 1878–1947)
Adam und Eva , ca. 1900
Oil on cardboard
54.5 x 58 cm. (21.5 x 22.8 in.)
Private collection
Heinrich Altherr (Swiss, 1878–1947)
The entry of Christ into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday , c. 1918
Oil on canvas
64 x 85 cm. (25.2 x 33.5 in.)
Private collection
Heinrich Altherr (Swiss, 1878–1947)
The good samaritan , 1930–1930
Oil on Cardboard
50.5 x 28 cm. (19.9 x 11 in.)
Private collection
Eventually, he ran afoul of those policies and his works were declared to be "Entartete Kunst" (degenerate). In 1938, several of his paintings were confiscated and destroyed. In consideration of his students, he remained at the school until 1939, but the outbreak of war forced him to return to Switzerland.
Heinrich Altherr
War furies, c. 1941
Oil on cardboard
29.6 × 38.5 cm
Private collection
Judging by the title, in Heinrich Altherr's »War Furies« the cruel creatures float over the city and, with their red trumpets, probably sound the news of bad times. Their dark robes flutter in a cloudy sky, which creates a restless dynamic and arouses anxiety in the viewer. The juxtaposition of the gloom with the bright incarnate of the furies represents a dramatic light-dark contrast, which is heightened by the expressive painting style in the expression. The date of origin in 1941 indicates that that Altherr deals with contemporary topics and human elementary fears in his allegorical imagery and symbolistically charged painting style - in this specific case with the social and political uncertainty and the turmoil of the Second World War. A thematically related painting by the painter was found to be "degenerate" during the Nazi regime and removed from the Stuttgart State Gallery. A variant of the »war fury« is now in the collection of the Böblingen Municipal Gallery. More on this painting
Heinrich Altherr
War furies, c. 1942
Oil on cardboard
29.9 × 39 cm
Private collection
Heinrich Altherr
War furies, c. 1942
Oil on cardboard
29.9 × 39 cm
Private collection
His last work in Germany was a monumental religious mural for the Friedenskirche in Heilbronn, depicting Jesus flanked by unbelievers on one side and the faithful on the other. It was destroyed during a bombing raid in 1944. The Städtische Museen Heilbronn [de] are in possession of sketches and models for the mural, so some record of it remains.
Altherr, Heinrich
The steadfast one, c. 1942-46
Series of frescoes Apocalypse over Basel
Fresco
Basel, State Archives Basel-Stadt, cloister
Heinrich Altherr
The steadfast, c. 1934
Oil on cardboard
29.1 × 31.5 cm
Private collection
The murals from 1942–1944 in the cloister of the Basel State Archives , The Light Bringer , The Steadfast (See above), The Annunciator and Wanderer on the Rest , as well as the mural The Last Judgment from 1941 for the quiet hall in the cemetery on the Hörnli (See top), went out of the competitions of the Art Credit Basel City emerges as the winner.
From 1941 to 1946, he created several major mural cycles at the State Archives of Basel [de] and the Friedhof am Hörnli [de]. More on Heinrich Altherr
No comments:
Post a Comment