Egon Wilden (8 December 1894, in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

– 7 September 1931, in

Ahlen Ahlen (; Westphalian: ''Aulen'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 30 km southeast of Münster. Ahlen is part of the District of Warendorf and is economically the most important town in that district. Ahlen is part of the larger ...

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

) was a German painter and set-designer.

Life

Wilden began his studies at the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová, ...

, but they were interrupted until 1919 by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. One of his most important teachers there was Heinrich Nauen, a proponent of Rhenish Expressionism. His work was influenced by that school and other trends of the time. Watercolours and pastels formed a major part of his oeuvre. He received early recognition as a set-designer around the time of the 1919–20 season at the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf, which developed into one of the most modern theatres in the German-speaking world under the direction of

Louise Dumont Louise Dumont (née Louise Maria Hubertine Heynen; 22 February 1862, in Cologne – 16 May 1932, in Düsseldorf) was a German actress and theater director. Life Louise Maria Hubertine Heynen, born on 22 February 1862 in Cologne near Neumark ...

and Gustav Lindemann. He was later taken on by theatres in Herne, Gera, Hagen, Barmen-Elberfeld and Cologne, producing a total of around two hundred set designs, featuring vivid colours and often vertical emphases, front-facing architectural motifs and perspectives creating several illusory rooms. He left the theatre behind in 1930 to work as an independent artist, though he did marry the actress Hedwig Sparrer. He moved into a studio in an artists' house in Düsseldorf-Stockum in January 1931 but in the summer of that year his health began to deteriorate. He died soon afterwards whilst staying with friends in Ahlen. His work remained largely unknown until 2005, when his niece donated a large collection of his paintings and drawings to the Förderkreis of the Kunstmuseum Ahlen. Since then his works have been the subject of several exhibitions.

Selected works

* ''Flight into Egypt'', 1919 * ''Two figures in a wood'', watercolour, 1920 * ''God's Love'', watercolour (set designs for a production of ''Die Liebe Gottes'' by Hermine von Boetticher), c.1920''Egon Wilden: "Die Liebe Gottes", um 1920''
* ''The Barber of Seville'', set design for the

Theater Hagen Theaterhagen

Theater Hagen is a theatre in Hagen in North Rhine-Westphalia ...

, 1924 * '' Paul Kemp'', portrait in pencil, c. 1925 * ''Elektra'', set design for the Theater Hagen, 1927 * ''Angelina'', set design for the Theater Köln, 1929 * ''Self-portrait in bow tie'', oil on panel, c. 1930, Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung Universität zu Köln * ''The Martyrdom of St Sebastian'' * ''Pieta'' * ''Lichtflut'' (literally ''A Flood of Light'') * ''Strahlen'' (literally ''Radiating'') * ''Trees in Light'' * ''Loneliness'', Aquarell * ''Mourning'', Aquarell * ''Painter in his Studio''

Literature

* Elmar Buck (ed.): ''Egon Wilden. Maler und Bühnenbildner, 1894–1931''. Ausstellungskatalog der Theaterwissenschaftlichen Sammlung der Universität zu Köln, des Theatermuseums Düsseldorf und des Ernst-Osthaus-Museums Hagen, Köln 1994 * Joachim Geil: ''Egon Wilden. Der Maler und die Bühne''. Teiresias-Verlag, Köln 1999, * Burkhard Leismann (ed.), Kinga Luchs, Martina Padberg (Redaktion): ''Egon Wilden. Leben und Werk, 1894–1931''. Förderkreis Kunstmuseum Ahlen e.V., Verlag Hachmannedition, Bremen 2009,

References

External links

*
''Egon Wilden und Hedwig Sparrer''
Foto im Portal ''kunstmarkt.com'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilden, Egon 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists Set designers Artists from Düsseldorf 1894 births 1931 deaths