Ferdinand Hodler: short biography, career as an artist, famous works

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) is one of the most successful artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who in the eyes of his contemporaries was one of the most important and famous artists. About 100 large format paintings and more than 40 drawings illustrate the milestones and events in the artist's career that have contributed significantly to his national and international success.

Short biography

Ferdinand Hodler was born into a poor family in Bern. His father worked as a carpenter, his mother worked as a cook in prison. Ferdinand was the eldest child in the family. His brothers and sisters were dying of tuberculosis. This disease took his parents to the grave, first in 1860 his father, and seven years later his mother.

After his father's death, his mother remarried the decorative artist Gottlieb Schulbach. Ferdinand's stepfather was the man who awakened in the child an interest in painting. Working in an art workshop, he taught the boy to draw. At the age of thirteen, Ferdinand decides to take an internship with other artists.

Internship with famous artists

From 1868 to 1870Hodler learns the trade from the landscape painter Ferdinand Sommer from Veduta in Thun. He creates landscapes inspired by the Genevan Alpine artists François Didai (1802-1877) and Alexandre Calame (1810-1864), which he sells as souvenirs to unpretentious tourists.

When his stepfather emigrated to Boston with his younger children (1871), Ferdinand left his mentor, a landscape painter, to become a student of Barthelemy Menn. Not having enough money, he overcomes part of the way to Geneva on foot. His act is motivated by the desire to master new techniques.

Study in Geneva

From 1873 to 1878, Ferdinand Hodler studied in Geneva at the School of Fine Arts with Barthelemy Menn, a student of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867). Menn drew attention to the drawing of the novice artist, as well as to the accurate reproduction of light and color. In 1874, Hodler wrote a set of ten commandments in which he summarized the foundations of his art theory, and at the end of the year, the 21-year-old Hodler won the Concours Calame for the first time with Waldinneres [Le Nant de Frontex].

Hodler painted his brother Theophilus Augustus, as well as several portraits of his uncle Friedrich Neukomm, and exhibited his "Self Portrait (Student)" at one of his first national exhibitions in Geneva. The work "Student" - by and large, the creation by the artist of a generalized image of the younger generation, inherent in any era.

In 1876, Ferdinand Hodler takes part innational exhibition rotation of the Swiss Art Association (March to October). In 1877, visiting the Louvre for the first time in Paris.

Ferdinand's Travels

Ferdinand spent two years (1878-1879) traveling. These were trips through Lyon, Marseille and Barcelona to Madrid, where Hodler discovered the art of Francisco de Goya. The Prado spent eight months painting the Italian Renaissance and the French, Flemish and Spanish 17th century.

His palette cleared up and Hodler painted plein air landscapes around Geneva. In the paintings of Ferdinand, written on everyday topics, the manners of Italian masters, which he studied during a trip to Spain, affect. In the works of Hodler, a combination of styles is manifested: post-impressionism and symbolism. On his canvases, he depicts people at work in the open air. Suffice it to recall the famous "Woodcutter" by Ferdinand Hodler, which he made in various versions. His painting was used to illustrate the Swiss 50-franc note.

Back in Geneva, he entered the University of Geneva to attend lectures by the naturalist Karl Vogt (1817-1895) on comparative anatomy and geology.

Studio work

In early 1881, Hodler moved to a studio at 35 Grand Rue in Geneva, where he worked until 1902. During these years, he takes part in the First International Exhibition in London, exhibiting two landscapes. Participates in joint work on the Bourbaki panorama by Eduard Katres in Lucerne.

In 1881Hodler took part in an international exhibition in London for the first time. Schwingerumzug was the first large-format exhibition of paintings by Ferdinand Hodler. At the Geneva Boucher Foundation, Hodler not only lectures on symbolism, but also takes courses in Egyptian art. To see the "Four Apostles" by Albrecht Dürer, he goes to Munich and visits the Pinakothek.

The theory of parallelism in the artist's work

In the 80s, the artist comes to create his own theory, which went down in the history of painting as one of the fundamental art nouveau. He called it parallelism. What was the meaning of this theory? To emphasize the cyclicity in nature, Hodler repeated figures and landscapes symmetrically. He believed that this emphasizes the expressiveness of the work. Repetitions help to immerse yourself in the plot of the picture, while contemplating it.

In 1889, the painting "Night" by Ferdinand Hodler appeared, which became the first example of the artist's parallelism, the first major monumental work. It contained repetitions of form and color, thanks to which Hodler emphasized the symbolism and content of the canvas. However, at the "Autumn Salon" of the Geneva exhibition at the Rath Museum, the painting was removed from the exhibition. The motif is an obscene figurative representation of the plot of The Night by Ferdinand Hodler. At that time, not everyone appreciated this monumental work.

This was followed by a public protest by the artist and a presentation of the painting organized by him in the Geneva Electoral Palace, and then a tripto Paris and the exhibition "Nights" at the Salon of Pierre Pouvy de Chavannes on the Champ de Mars.

The same year, Hodler took part in the Paris World Expo where he received his first official award abroad for the second version of the Schwingerumzug and celebrated his first international success.

In Paris, he joins the Rosicrucians, and in the "Salon of the Rosy Cross" exhibits his painting "Disappointed", written in 1892. In it, the artist confirms his break with naturalism.

Rhythmic harmony in Hodler's paintings

The following works that brought international recognition were the works of Ferdinand Hodler: "The Chosen One" (1893-1894), "Fleeing Women" (1895), "Eurythmy" (1895). In these paintings, Hodler shows not the relationship between art and God, which the Rosicrucians aspired to, but the pantheistic unity between nature and man, which corresponded to his artistic and life-philosophical ideal.

The characters and landscapes of his paintings began to depict fate, for example, the yellow and pale green colors of the surrounding landscape, which depicts a procession of old men in white robes with faces enlightened by sorrow.

By the end of 1895, several works were written for the unfinished "Female Eurythmy". At the 7th International Art Exhibition in Munich, Hodler was awarded the 1st Class Gold Medal for Night and Eurythmy.

Design work

Hodler participating in 1896in tenders, and wins the competition to decorate the exterior of the Palace of Fine Arts at the Swiss National Exhibition. The execution of 27 paintings with military figures in historical costumes (1895/96) caused controversy in the press.

The following year, Ferdinand Hodler wins the competition for the decoration of the armory at the Landesmuseum in Zurich: "The Retreat of the Swiss from the Battle of Marignano" (1896-1900), and receives the first prize for his work in the amount of 3,000 Swiss francs. In addition, he is working on sketches for the legend of "William Tell" - originally intended for the exterior facade of the National Museum, and making two poster designs for the Zurich Kunstgesellschaft, which he later developed into "Dream" and "Poetry".

Portrait painting

Ferdinand Hodler brought the techniques of decorative plane painting to the portrait. He liked to portray people in isolation outside of time and space. His heroes are the characteristics of their particular occupations or states. He captured a moment that did not require interpretation, but had an amazing appeal. Attention was drawn to the spatial characteristics and the very color of the canvas.

More than a hundred self-portraits were painted during the life of the artist. This demonstrates the important role of introspection in Hodler's work and allows us to trace his artistic evolution.

Exhibitions of paintings by Hodler

At the exhibition of the Vienna Secession, Karl Reininghaus, an Austrian philanthropist and collector, acquired severalpaintings by Hodler, and overnight turned the artist into a millionaire. After 1900, German art institutions became increasingly interested in Hodler. Deutscher Künstlerbund housed the artist at the 1905 Berlin Exhibition. This was followed by further secession exhibitions in Munich and Berlin. German art associations and the art trade heard about Hodler and organized several group and solo exhibitions of the artist's work between 1907 and 1914. The exhibitions feature famous paintings by Ferdinand Hodler "Day" and "Night", which are symbolism and parallelism, rhythm and symmetry in its purest form.

The exhibition discussions of the German press made Hodler's art known to the general public. The artist received orders from German art dealers and collectors, German museums acquired his paintings.

Blue with yellow and beyond the horizon - bright skies splashing infinity.

Gesture of a round dance - the sound "d" - earth, home, protection forces, fundamentals of humanity.

Blue dresses - for body embrace - in the music of the choir of synchronized movements.

The rhythm of eurythmy - the pulsation of the world - the spirit without boundaries of the horizon in aspirations.

"D-Eurythmy" by Ulex von Lu

Modern reviews of Hodler talk about the artist of our time. Critics of modern art have sensed a penchant for ornamentation, formal repetition, crisp outlines, and choice of colors. Monumental painting of FerdinandHodler, which was characterized by large areas and clear contours and impressed them with the effect of distance, aroused great interest in Germany. The highlight of his reputation as a painter of the monumental style was commissions for large-scale frescoes for the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena in 1907, as well as for the city hall in Hannover in 1911.

In 1911, Hodler made many sketches and sketches for a large painting "Emotion". He manages to create images that are close to his creative temperament. Painting by Ferdinand Hodler Emotion in the photo below in the article.

Collectors such as sister and brother Gertrude and Josef Müller, Willy Russ-Young and Arthur Hahnloser supported Hodler with their purchases and orders.

Leopold Museum in Austria

Since Hodler's resounding success at the Secession Exhibition in 1904, the Leopold Museum presents the most comprehensive retrospective to date of Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) in Austria. As an exponent of Symbolism and Art Nouveau, a pioneer of Expressionism and, not least, a renewal of monumental painting, Hodler was an important catalyst for many Viennese Modernist artists such as Gustav Klimt and Koloman Moser, as well as Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele.

The museum features three main Hodler themes:

• landscapes ranging from plein air painting to abstraction;
• portraits focusing on female portraits, self-portraits, haunting works that accompany Hodler's dying lover ValentinaGoda-Darel;
• his significant symbolic figurative compositions.

Ferdinand Hodler died in 1918 at the age of 65. In museums and collectors, the number of his paintings, sketches, sketches and drafts exceeds 2000.