Rudolf Alfred Höger (12 February 1877 – 7 November 1930) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

genre art Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...

and

war art Military art is art with a military subject matter, regardless of its style or medium. The battle scene is one of the oldest types of art in developed civilizations, as rulers have always been keen to celebrate their victories and intimidate po ...

Biography

Höger was born in Proßnitz,

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

. Little is known about his life. It seems likely that, during

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 ...

, he was a member of the group for art in the , the empire's press agency for war news, at least from 1914 to 1917. During this time, he created many works which are now in the collection of the

Heeresgeschichtliches Museum The Museum of Military History – Military History Institute (german: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum – Militärhistorisches Institut) in Vienna is the leading museum of the Austrian Armed Forces. It documents the history of Austrian ...

, mostly oil paintings on the Eastern Front and the

Balkan Front The Balkan Front was a military formation of the Bulgarian People's Army, intended for wartime use under the general direction of the Soviet General Staff. If a war was to have broken out between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the bulk of the Bulgar ...

.Heinrich Fuchs, ''Die österreichischen Maler des 19. Jahrhunderts'', Wien 1973, volume 2, page K 66. (The book has, in error: born in 1876 in Vienna, died there in 1928. An appendix corrected it.) He died in Vienna.

Paintings

Höger painted

with nostalgic topics, such as ''Das Hofkonzert'' (The concert at court), a

rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

scene, a late nineteenth-century or early twentieth-century painting of listening to chamber music in the eighteenth century. The artist based its details on possibly older paintings and not a work from direct experience of the period in which the events took place. Also other pictures by his hand represent a time era that already had passed, like ''Fröhliche Sangesrunde mit einer Donaulandschaft'' (Happy round of singers with a landscape on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

), a scene that did not originate in the period being depicted, but some years before, a denial of the artist's own time—a wish to escape from it by retreating into fantasy. Other paintings depict historical scenes, or everyday life scenes from a time not actually in the artist's experience, like ''Hausmusik'' (Music at home), ''Der Vorleser'' (The recitator), ''Picknick in Dürnstein'', ''Fröhliche Gesellschaft in den Wachauer Weinbergen'' (Happy gathering in the vineyards of the Wachau) and ''Im Maien'' (In May). He also painted contemporary scenes at the turn of the 19/20th century; such as ''Beim Heurigen in Grinzing'' (At the Heuriger in Grinzing), ''Markttag'' (A day at the market), '' Gaudeamus Igitur'' and ''Obstmarkt in Venedig'' (Fruit market in Venice). Rudolf Alfred Höger painted landscapes and also chose biblical topics such as ''Susanne und die beiden Alten'' (Susanna and the two elders).

Selected works

File:Rudolf Alfred Höger Beim Heurigen.jpg, ''Beim

Heurigen In eastern Austria, a ''Heuriger'' (; Austrian dialect pronunciation: Heiriga) is a tavern where local winemakers serve their new wine under a special licence in alternate months during the growing season. The ''Heurige'' are renowned for their at ...

in Grinzing''
1900, oil painting, 74 x 105 cm File:Rudolf Alfred Höger Das Hofkonzert.jpg, ''Das Hofkonzert''
1900, oil painting, 82 x 130 cm File:Rudolf Alfred Höger Hausmusik.jpg, ''Hausmusik''
1900, oil painting, 90 x 125 cm File:Rudolf Alfred Höger Der Vorleser.jpg, ''Der Vorleser''
1930, oil painting, 56 x 68 cm File:Rudolf Alfred Höger Markttag.jpg, ''Markttag''
1930, oil painting, 56 x 75 cm

Biography

Paintings

Selected works

References

External links