1853-1918 Swiss Ferdinand Hodler Galleries Hodler was born in Berne and grew up in poverty. His father, Jean Hodler, made a meager living as a carpenter; his mother, Marguerite (n??e Neukomm), was from a peasant family. By the time Hodler was eight years old, he had lost his father and two younger brothers to tuberculosis. His mother remarried to a decorative painter, but in 1867 she too died of tuberculosis. Before he was ten, Hodler received training in decorative painting from his stepfather, and was subsequently sent to Thun to apprentice with a local painter, Ferdinand Sommer. Hodler's earliest works were conventional landscapes, which he sold in shops and to tourists. In 1871, at the age of 18, he traveled on foot to Geneva to start a career as a painter. The works of Hodler's early maturity consisted of landscapes, figure compositions and portraits, treated with a vigorous realism. He made a trip to Basel in 1875, where he studied the paintings of Hans Holbein??especially Dead Christ in the Tomb, which influenced Hodler's many treatments of the theme of death. In the last decade of the 19th century his work evolved to combine influences from several genres including symbolism and art nouveau. He developed a style which he called Parallelism, characterized by groupings of figures symmetrically arranged in poses suggesting ritual or dance. In 1884 Hodler met Augustine Dupin (1852?C1909), who became his companion and model for the next several years. Their son, Hector Hodler, was born in 1887. In 1889 Hodler married Bertha Stucki; they were divorced in 1891. Hodler's work in his final phase took on an expressionist aspect with strongly coloured and geometrical figures. Landscapes were pared down to essentials, sometimes consisting of a jagged wedge of land between water and sky. However, the most famous of Hodler's paintings portray scenes in which characters are engaged in everyday activities, such as the famous woodcutter (Der Holzfaller, Mus??e d'Orsay, Paris). This picture went on to appear on the back of the 50 Swiss Franc bank note issued by the Swiss National Bank. In 1898, Hodler married Berthe Jacques. In 1914 he condemned the German atrocities conducted using artillery at Rheims. In retaliation for this, German art museums excluded Hodler's work. In 1908 he met Valentine Gode-Darel, who became his mistress. She was diagnosed with cancer in 1913, and the many hours Hodler spent by her bedside resulted in a remarkable series of paintings documenting her disintegration. Her death in January 1915 affected Hodler greatly. He occupied himself with work; a series of about 20 introspective self-portraits date from 1916. By late 1917 his declining health led him to thoughts of suicide. He died on May 19, 1918 in Geneva leaving behind a number of unfinished works portraying the city.  Related Paintings of Ferdinand Hodler :. | Apple tree in Blossom | Sonnenuntergang am Genfersee von Caux aus | Portrat der Berthe Jacques, Frau des Kunstlers | Genfersee mit Mont-Blanc im Morgenrot | Surprised by the Storm |
Related Artists:
GIOTTINO (Giotto di Stefano)
Italian painter, Florentine school (b. 1320/30, Firenze, d. after 1369, Firenze)
Hendrick Avercamp
1585-1634 Dutch Hendrick Avercamp Galleries Hendrick Avercamp (bapt. January 27, 1585, Amsterdam - buried May 15, 1634, Kampen (Overijssel)) was a Dutch painter. Avercamp studied in Amsterdam with the Danish-born portrait painter Pieter Isaacks (1569-1625), and perhaps also with David Vinckbooms. In 1608 he moved from Amsterdam to Kampen in the province of Overijssel. Avercamp was deaf and was known as "de Stomme van Kampen" (the mute of Kampen). As one of the first landscape painters of the 17th-century Dutch school, he specialized in painting the Netherlands in winter. Avercamp's paintings are colorful and lively, with carefully crafted images of the people in the landscape. Avercamp's work enjoyed great popularity and he sold his drawings, many of which were tinted with water-color, as finished pictures to be pasted into the albums of collectors. Queen Elizabeth II has an outstanding collection of his works at Windsor Castle, England.
Jan Jansz. Treck
(1606, Amsterdam, 25 September 1652 ) was a still-life painter during the Dutch Golden Age. Treck used economy in the number of his objects. In 1623 Treck was trained for half a year by Jan den Uyl, who had married his sister Geertruid in 1619. His style also shows influence by Pieter Claesz and Willem Heda. In 1643 and 1644 Treck was trained by Abraham Jansz for 4 guilders a week, but forgot to pay for his apprenticeship. He also had to pay for a window that was made to get more light, while working. His earliest known signed and dated work is from 1641, after the death of Den Uyl. A work has surfaced with both signatures, implying that Treck perhaps finished Den Uyl's paintings after his death. Treck also had helped his brother-in-law to sell his house (on Singel) in 1639. After the death of his friend Abraham, Treck bought his equipment, paint and easel. In 1640 he supplied the art dealer Hendrick Uylenburgh with money. After Treck's death his brother, sister and his niece and nephews inherited a small house in an alley from Singel to Spuistraat, furniture, clothes, stocks, coins, jewelry, prints and paintings. In 1661 Simon Luttichuys was asked to repaint a vanitas done by Treck. Treck influenced Pieter van Anraedt and Willem Kalf.