Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) is one of the most successful artists of the late XIX and early XX 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 which stages and events in the artist's career have made a significant contribution to his national and international success.
short biography
Ferdinand Hodler was born in a family with a small income, in Bern. His father worked as a carpenter, his mother as a cook in prison. Ferdinand was the oldest child in the family. His brothers and sisters were dying of tuberculosis. This disease also took his parents to the grave, first in 1860 his father, and seven years later his mother.
After the death of his father, his mother remarried the artist-decorator Gottlieb Schulbach. Ferdinand's stepfather was the man who aroused 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 1870, Hodler studied craft under the landscape painter Ferdinand Sommer from Veduta in Thun. He creates landscapes modeled on the Geneva alpine artists Francois Diday (1802-1877) and Alexander Calame (1810-1864), which he sells as souvenirs to unassuming tourists.
When the stepfather with his youngest children emigrated to Boston (1871), Ferdinand leaves 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 action is motivated by a 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 a novice artist, as well as the accurate transmission of light and color. In 1874, Hodler wrote a set of ten commandments in which he summarized the basics of his theory of art, and at the end of the year, 21-year-old Hodler first won the Concours Calame competition with Waldinneres [Le Nant de Frontex].
Hodler painted his brother Theophilus Augustus, as well as several portraits of his uncle Friedrich Neykomm and demonstrated his "Self-portrait (student)" at one of his first national exhibitions in Geneva. Work "Student" - by and large, the creation of the artist a generalized image of the young generation inherent in any era.
In 1876, Ferdinand Hodler takes part in the Swiss Art Association's national rotation exhibition (from March to October). In 1877, being the first time in Paris, he visited the Louvre.
Travel Ferdinand
Two years (1878-1879) Ferdinand devoted to travel. These were trips through Lyon, Marseille and Barcelona to Madrid, where Hodler discovered the art of Francisco de Goya. In Prado, they spent eight months painting the Italian Renaissance and the French, Flemish and Spanish 17th century.
His palette cleared up, and Hodler drew open-air landscapes in the Geneva area. In Ferdinand's paintings, written on everyday topics, the manners of the Italian masters, studied by him during his trip to Spain, are reflected. Hodler’s work shows a combination of styles: post-impressionism and symbolism. On his canvases, he portrays people at work in the open air. It is enough to recall the famous "Lumberjack" Ferdinand Hodler, whom he made in various ways. His painting was used to illustrate a Swiss 50-franc banknote.
Returning to Geneva, he entered the University of Geneva to listen to the lectures of natural scientist Karl Vogt (1817-1895) on comparative anatomy and geology.
Studio work
At the beginning of 1881, Hodler moved to a studio on Grand Rue, 35, 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 the joint work on the panorama of Bourbaki by Eduard Katres in Lucerne.
In 1881, Hodler first participated in an international exhibition in London. Schwingerumzug was the first large-format exhibition of paintings by Ferdinand Hodler. At the Geneva Bush Foundation, Hodler not only gives lectures on symbolism, but also takes courses on teaching Egyptian art. To see the “Four Apostles” by Albrecht Dürer, he goes to Munich and visits the Pinacoteca.
Theory of parallelism in the work of the artist
In the 80s, the artist came to the creation of his own theory, which went down in the history of painting as one of the fundamental in the modern style. He called it parallelism. What was the meaning of this theory? To emphasize the cyclical nature, Hodler repeated the figures and landscapes symmetrically. He believed that this emphasizes the expressiveness of the work. Repetition helps to plunge into the plot of the picture, when it is contemplated.
In 1889, the painting “Night” by Ferdinand Hodler appeared, which became the first example of the artist’s parallelism, the first major monumental work. There were 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 picture was removed from the exhibition. The motive 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 of the artist and the presentation of the painting organized by him at the Geneva Electoral Palace, and then a trip to Paris and the Nights exhibition at the Salon of Pierre Puy de Chavannes on the Champ de Mars.
In the same year, Hodler attended the Paris World Expo, where he received his first official award abroad for the second version of Schwingerumzug and celebrated his first international success.
In Paris, he adjoins the Rosicrucians, and in the “Salon of the Pink 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, brought international recognition, were the works of Ferdinand Hodler: "The Chosen One" (1893-1894), "Runaway Women" (1895), "Eurythmy" (1895). In these paintings, Hodler does not show the relationship between art and God, which the Rosicrucians sought, 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 enlightened grief faces.
Towards 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 "Eurhythmy".
Design work
Hodler participated in tenders in 1896, and won the competition to decorate the exterior of the Palace of Fine Arts at the Swiss National Exhibition. The execution of 27 canvases with military figures in historical costumes (1895/96) caused controversy in the press.
The following year, Ferdinand Hodler wins the contest for the design of an armory in the Landesmuseum in Zurich: “Swiss Retreat from the Battle of Marignano” (1896-1900), and receives the first prize for work in the amount of 3,000 Swiss francs. In addition, he works on sketches for the legend of "William Tell" - originally intended for the external facade of the National Museum, and makes two poster designs for the Zurich Kunstgesellschaft, which he later developed into "Dream" and "Poetry".
Portrait painting
Ferdinand Hodler introduced the techniques of decorative-plane painting into the portrait. He loved to portray people in isolation outside of time and space. His characters are characteristics of their specific occupations or conditions. He captured a moment that did not require interpretation, but possessed an amazing appeal. The spatial characteristics and the color of the canvas itself attracted attention.
More than a hundred self-portraits were painted by an artist throughout his life. This demonstrates the important role of introspection in the work of Hodler and allows us to trace his artistic evolution.
Exhibitions of paintings by Hodler
At the Vienna Secession exhibition, Karl Reininghouse, an Austrian philanthropist and collector, acquired several paintings by Hodler, and in one night turned the artist into a millionaire. After 1900, German art institutions became increasingly interested in Hodler. Deutscher Künstlerbund provided the artist with space at the 1905 Berlin exhibition. This was followed by further secession exhibitions in Munich and Berlin. German art associations and art trade learned about Hodler and organized several group and personal exhibitions of the artist’s works from 1907 to 1914. The exhibitions featured famous paintings by Ferdinand Hodler "Day" and "Night", which are symbolism and parallelism, rhythm and symmetry in its purest form.
Exhibition discussions by the German press have 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 - infinity splashes in bright skies.
The round dance gesture - the sound "d" - of the earth, home, defense force, the basics of humanity.
Blue dresses - for a hug body - in the music of the chorus of synchronized movements.
The rhythm of eurythmy is the pulsation of the world - the spirit without the horizon in aspirations.
"E-Eurythmy" by Ulex von Lou
Contemporary Hodler reviews speak of an artist of our time. Critics of modern art felt a penchant for ornamentation, formal repetition, clear contours and a choice of colors. The monumental painting by Ferdinand Hodler, which was characterized by large areas and clear contours and impressed with their distance effect, aroused great interest in Germany. The highlight of his reputation as an artist of monumental style were orders for large-scale murals for the University of Friedrich Schiller in Jena in 1907, as well as for the City Hall in Hanover in 1911.
In 1911, Hodler made many sketches and sketches for the large painting "Emotion". He manages to create images that are close to his creative temperament. The picture of Ferdinand Hodler Emotion in the photo below in the article.
Collectors, such as Gertrude's sister and brother and Joseph Muller, Willy Russ-Young and Arthur Hanlozer, 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 a model of symbolism and modernity, a pioneer of expressionism and, last but not least, an update of monumental painting, Hodler was an important catalyst for many Viennese modernist artists such as Gustav Klimt and Koloman Moser, as well as Oscar Kokoszka and Egon Schiele.
The museum features three major themes from Hodler:
- Landscapes, ranging from plein air painting and ending with abstraction;
- portraits with an emphasis on female portraits, self-portraits, intrusive works that accompany Hodler's dying sweetheart Valentina Goda-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, drafts and drafts exceeds the 2000 figure.