Cuno Amiet
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Cuno Amiet (28 March 1868 – 6 July 1961) was a Swiss painter, illustrator, graphic artist and sculptor. As the first Swiss painter to give precedence to colour in composition, he was a pioneer of
modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...
in Switzerland.


Biography

Amiet was born in
Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the Capital (political), capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the n ...
, and was the son of the chancellor of the
canton of Solothurn The canton of Solothurn or canton of Soleure (german: Kanton Solothurn rm, Chantun Soloturn french: Canton de Soleure; it, Canton Soletta) is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn. Hi ...
, Josef Ignaz Amiet (1827–1895). He attended the
Kantonsschule ''Gymnasium'' (and variations of the word) is a term in various European languages for a secondary school that prepares students for higher education at a university. It is comparable to the US English term '' preparatory high school''. Bef ...
Solothurn, where he graduated with the ''
Matura or its translated terms (''Mature'', ''Matur'', , , , , , ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...
'' in 1883. After studies with the painter
Frank Buchser Frank (originally Franz) Buchser (1828–1890) was a Swiss painter. He is noted for his portraits of notable American figures of the post civil war period and for his works with Oriental themes. Life and work Born Franz Buchser on 15 August ...
, he attended the Academy of Fine Arts Munich in 1886–88, where he befriended
Giovanni Giacometti Giovanni Ulrico Giacometti (7 March 1868 – 25 June 1933) was a Swiss painter. He was the father of artists Alberto and Diego Giacometti and architect Bruno Giacometti. Biography He was the fourth in a family of eight children. His father, ...
. In 1888–92, Giacometti and Amiet continued their studies in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, where Amiet studied at the Académie Julian under Adolphe-William Bouguereau,
Tony Robert-Fleury Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911) was a French painter, known primarily for historical scenes. He was also a prominent art teacher, with many famous artists among his students. Biography He was born just outside Paris, and st ...
and
Gabriel Ferrier Gabriel-Joseph-Marie-Augustin Ferrier (29 September 1847 in Nîmes – 6 June 1914 in Paris) was a French portrait painter and orientalist. Biography His father was a pharmacist. He began his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he worke ...
. Dissatisfied with
academic art Academic art, or academicism or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie ...
, Amiet joined the
Pont-Aven School Pont-Aven School (french: École de Pont-Aven, br, Skol Pont Aven) encompasses works of art influenced by the Breton town of Pont-Aven and its surroundings. Originally the term applied to works created in the artists' colony at Pont-Aven, which s ...
in 1892, where he learned from
Émile Bernard Émile Henri Bernard (28 April 1868 – 16 April 1941) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and writer, who had artistic friendships with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Eugène Boch, and at a later time, Paul Cézanne. Most of his nota ...
,
Paul Sérusier Paul Sérusier (9 November 1864 – 7 October 1927) was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the avant-garde Nabis movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism. Education Sérusier was born in Paris. He studied ...
,
Roderic O'Conor Roderic O'Conor (17 October 1860 – 18 March 1940) was an Irish painter who spent much of his later career in Paris and as part of the Pont-Aven movement. O'Conor's work demonstrates Impressionist and Post-Impressionist influence. Early lif ...
and Armand Séguin. In Pont-Aven, he came to prefer the use of pure colour to tonal painting. In 1893, Amiet's lack of funds forced him to return to Switzerland, where he set up a studio in
Hellsau Hellsau is a municipality in the district of Burgdorf, in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. History Hellsau is first mentioned in 1275 as ''Hellesowe''. The earliest trace of a settlement at Hellsau is an early medieval cemetery near the Äbi f ...
. A first exposition at the
Kunsthalle Basel Kunsthalle Basel is a contemporary art gallery in Basel, Switzerland. As Switzerland's oldest and still most active institution for contemporary art, Kunsthalle Basel forms a vital part of Basel's cultural centre and is located next to the city's ...
in 1894 was generally ill-received. In the 1890s, Amiet continued to collaborate with Giacometti and had only modest commercial success, until he was commissioned in 1898 to paint a portrait of
Ferdinand Hodler Ferdinand Hodler (March 14, 1853 – May 19, 1918) was one of the best-known Swiss painters of the nineteenth century. His early works were portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings in a realistic style. Later, he adopted a personal form of ...
, whose work would later exert a great influence on Amiet. His fortunes improved greatly in the 1900s, when he began participating in numerous European expositions and competitions, winning a silver medal in the Exposition Universelle for his work ''Richesse du soir'' (1899). After his 1898 marriage to Anna Luder von Hellsau (d. 1951), Amiet moved to Oschwand, where his house became a meeting place for artists and writers such as
Wilhelm Worringer Wilhelm Robert Worringer (13 January 1881 in Aachen – 29 March 1965 in Munich) was a German art historian known for his theories about abstract art and its relation to avant-garde movements such as German Expressionism. Through his influence o ...
, Adolf Frey,
Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...
, Arthur Weese, and Samuel Singer, and where he taught students such as Werner Miller, Marta Worringer, Hans Morgenthaler, Hanny Bay, ,
Albert Müller Albert Müller (29 November 1897 Basel, Switzerland - 14 December 1926) was a Swiss Expressionist painter, glass artist, draftsman, graphic artist and sculptor. Life Müller was born in Basel in 1897. In 1917, he graduated as a glass painter from ...
, Josef Müller, Walter Sautter,
Werner Neuhaus Werner Neuhaus (1 November 1897, in Burgdorf – 22 August 1934, in Lützelflüh) was a Swiss painter, printmaker and draftsman. He was a founding member of the Swiss Expressionist Rot-Blau group. Biography After serving an apprenticeship in ...
, and Peter Thalmann. In the late 1920s and in the 1930s, Amiet executed numerous wall paintings. A 1931 fire in the Münchner Glaspalast destroyed 50 of his most significant works. Amiet was a member in the Swiss Federal Art Commission (1911–15 and 1931–32), a board member of the
Gottfried Keller Gottfried Keller (19 July 1819 – 15 July 1890) was a Swiss poet and writer of German literature. Best known for his novel '' Green Henry'' (German: ''Der grüne Heinrich'') and his cycle of novellas called ''The People from Seldwyla'' (''Die Leu ...
Foundation (1934–48) and of the ''
Kunstmuseum Bern The Museum of Fine Arts Bern (German: ''Kunstmuseum Bern''), established in 1879 in Bern, is the museum of fine arts of the de facto capital of Switzerland. Its holdings run from the Middle Ages to the present. It houses works by Paul Klee, Pab ...
'' (1935–48). He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the
University of Berne The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a comp ...
in 1919. He died in 1961 in Oschwand.


Work

Amiet created more than 4,000 paintings, of which more than 1,000 are self-portraits.Cuno_Amiet:_''self-portrait'',_1922,__Museo_Cantonale_d'Arte
,_Lugano.html" ;"title="Museo Cantonale d'Arte">Cuno Amiet: ''self-portrait'', 1922, Museo Cantonale d'Arte
, Lugano">Museo Cantonale d'Arte">Cuno Amiet: ''self-portrait'', 1922, Museo Cantonale d'Arte
, Lugano]
The great scope of his work of 70 years, and Amiet's predilection for experimentation, make his œuvre appear disparate at first – a constant, though, is the primacy of colour. His numerous
landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compo ...
s depict many winter scenes, gardens and fruit harvests. Ferdinand Hodler remained a constant point of reference, although Amiet's artistic intentions diverged ever further from those of Hodler, whom Amiet could and would not match in his mastery of monumental scale and form. While Amiet took up themes of
expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
, his works retain a sense of harmony of colour grounded in the French tradition. He continued to pursue mainly decorative intentions at the beginning of the 20th century, but his late work of the 1940s and 50s is focused on more abstract concepts of space and light, characterised by dots of colour and a
pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...
brilliance.


References


External links

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Gallery
at SIKART * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amiet, Cuno 1868 births 1961 deaths 19th-century Swiss painters Swiss male painters 20th-century Swiss painters Swiss Roman Catholics Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Pont-Aven painters 20th-century Swiss sculptors 20th-century Swiss male artists Académie Julian alumni People from Solothurn 19th-century Swiss male artists