Irène Zurkinden (December 11, 1909 – December 27, 1987) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Life and achievements

Irène Zurkinden spent her childhood in Basel and

Münchenstein Münchenstein (Swiss German: ''Minggestai'') is a municipality in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland. Historical records Münchenstein is first mentioned in 1196 as ''Kekingen''. In 1270, it was mentione ...

. Her father was a customs officer from

Fribourg or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...

, her mother Jeanne was a dance instructor. Irène's family was very open-minded and allowed the adolescent who wanted to become a fashion illustrator to enroll at Basel's art school in 1925. There, Irène Zurkinden attended drawing classes with

Albrecht Mayer Albrecht Mayer (born 3 June 1965) is a German classical oboist and conductor. The principal oboist of the Berlin Philharmonic, he is internationally known as a soloist and chamber musician and has made many recordings. Biography Born in Erlang ...

(1875–1952), studied color theory under Arnold Fiechter (1879–1943) and graphic arts under Fritz Baumann (1886–1942). Until she got her degree in 1929, she produced mainly portrait drawings. That year, Irène Zurkinden made her first trip to Paris, where she continued her education for a few months at the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière () is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the A ...

. In 1932, she spent a couple of months in the French capital with

Meret Oppenheim In Egyptian mythology, Meret (also spelled Mert) was a goddess who was strongly associated with rejoicing, such as singing and dancing. In myth Meret was a token wife occasionally given to Hapi, the god of the Nile flood. Her name being a ref ...

, a friend since around 1927/28. In the years following her graduating, Ms. Zurkinden began painting more scenic cityscapes in a style clearly influenced by

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. During this time, she lived alternately in Paris and Basel, where she earned herself a reputation as a popular portrait artist. From 1932 to 1972, the artist had an annual exhibition in the Gallery of Marguerite Schulthess in Basel's Aeschenvorstadt. After Marguerite Schulthess's death, Ms. Zurkinden became a fixture of Basel's Gallery Riehentor, whose owner Trudl Bruckner was a founding member of ART Basel. In 1980, the Beyeler Gallery in Basel's Bäumleingasse presented the artist in a solo exhibition. In 1934, Irène Zurkinden met jazz musician Kurt Fenster, the son of a Brazilian circus artist and a German mother. During the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

dictatorship, Fenster emigrated to Paris. The couple lived for several years in the French capital. At the outbreak of

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...

, Irène Zurkinden returned to Switzerland. Her sons Nicolas (Kolka) (*1937) and Stephan (*1943) from her relationship with Kurt Fenster grew up with their mother in Basel. From 1942, Irène Zurkinden participated in the exhibitions of Group 33. During the second half of the 1930s and the early 1940s, she produced works inspired by surrealism. In 1985, the Kunstmuseum Basel honored her with a comprehensive retrospective of her work. After

, Irène Zurkinden lived in Basel and Paris and made long trips to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

(1948),

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

(1950/51) and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(1952/53). In those years, she designed costumes and sets for the Stadttheater Basel and increasingly worked on book illustrations.

Awards and commemoration

* In 1978 she was honored in her childhood home, receiving the Sperber-Kollegium "Ehrespalebärglemer" award. * In 1986 she was awarded the Basel Cultural Award. * The city of Basel honored the artist in 2014 by naming a tree-lined public square "Irène Zurkinden Square". It is a new traffic junction at the planned Dreispitz high-rise.

Works

* ''Autoportrait en chapeau de paille'', 1929, LM, C. Bernoulli, Basel * ''Porträt

Paul Sacher Paul Sacher (28 April 190626 May 1999) was a Swiss conductor, patron and billionaire businessman. At the time of his death Sacher was majority shareholder of pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche and was considered the third richest person i ...

'', o. J., Privatbesitz * ''Meret à l'orange'', 1932–1935,

Kunstmuseum Basel The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the oldest public art collection in the world and is generally considered to be the most important museum of art in Switzerland. It is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. Its lineage extends ba ...

* ''Pariser Dächer'', 1934, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel-Stadt * ''Dialogue muet sur le bonheur'', 1936, Privatsammlung * ''Le cirque du monde'', o. J., Privatsammlung

Riehen Riehen (Swiss German: ''Rieche'') is a municipality in the canton of Basel-Stadt in Switzerland. Together with the city of Basel and Bettingen, Riehen is one of three municipalities in the canton. Riehen hosts the Fondation Beyeler (a private ...

* ''Interieur mit geschmücktem Weihnachtsbaum'', 1939, Merian-Iselin-Spital, Basel * ''La gare d'Agen (Lot et Garonne)'', 1940, Privatbesitz * ''Ballet lugubre'', 1942, Privatbesitz * ''Friedhof in Paris'', um 1950, Privatbesitz

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

* ''Rêve: Cocteau mène la danse'', 1962, Privatbesitz * ''Paris,

Gare Montparnasse Gare Montparnasse (; Montparnasse station), officially Paris Montparnasse, is one of the seven large List of Paris railway stations, Paris railway termini, and is located in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, 14th and 15th arrondissement of Paris ...

'', 1966, Sammlung Hotel "Les Trois Rois", Basel * ''Filles maboules sur boules'', 1975, Privatbesitz * ''Park in Paris'', 1985, Privatbesitz

Book illustrations

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

: ''Die Schneekönigin. Märchen in sieben Geschichten mit fünf Farblithografien von Irène Zurkinden.'' Bern o. J. (ca. 1950) *

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known as Colette or Colette Willy, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a Mime artist, mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaki ...

: ''Die Freundin.'' Franz. Original ''La Seconde'' (erschienen 1931), ins Deutsche übertragen von Waltrud Kappeler und Louis Erlacher, mit Illustrationen von Irène Zurkinden, Zürich 1956 * Helen Vischer: ''Anmutig heiteres Lob und literarisches Denkmal für die Stadt Basel.'' Zürich 1956 * Maud Frère: ''Einsames Herz.'' Franz. Original ''La Grenouille'', ins Deutsche übertragen von Marguerite Janson mit Illustrationen von Irène Zurkinden, Zürich 1962 *

Barbey d'Aurevilly Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (2 November 1808 – 23 April 1889) was a French novelist, poet, short story writer, and literary critic. He specialised in mystery tales that explored hidden motivation and hinted at evil without being explicitl ...

: ''Le rideau cramoisi.'' Mit elf Lithografien von Irène Zurkinden, Lausanne 1970 * Hermann Schneider: ''Der Mann mit dem Hifthorn.'' Basel o. J. (ca. 1971) *

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

: ''Aus den Memoiren des Marshalls von Bassompierre.'' Mit sieben Federzeichnungen von Irène Zurkinden, Basel 1974

Literature

* Christian Geelhaar: ''Irène Zurkinden.''

, 1985. * Simone Gojan:
Irène Zurkinden
'' In:

Andreas Kotte Andreas () is a name derived from the Greek noun ἀνήρ ''anēr'', with genitive ἀνδρός ''andros'', which means "man". See the article on Andrew for more information. The Scandinavian name is earliest attested as antreos in a runestone ...

(Hrsg.): ''

Theaterlexikon der Schweiz ''Theaterlexikon der Schweiz'' (TLS) / ''Dictionnaire du théâtre en Suisse'' (DTS) / ''Dizionario Teatrale Svizzero'' (DTS) / ''Lexicon da teater svizzer'' (LTS) is an encyclopedia about theatre in Switzerland Switzerland, officially ...

.'' Band 3, Chronos, Zürich 2005, , p. 2165. * Hans-Joachim Müller: ''Irène Zurkinden.'' Friedrich Reinhardt AG, 2006 .

References

*''This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia page.''

External links

Literatur von und über Irène Zurkinden
im Katalog der

Deutschen Nationalbibliothek The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehensiv ...

Biografie und Bibliografie
bei sikart.ch Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft * Tapan Bhattacharya
Irène Zurkinden
im Historischen Lexikon der Schweiz
Portrait of Irène Zurkinden
photographed by

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zurkinden, Irene 1909 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Swiss painters People from Basel-Landschaft 20th-century Swiss women painters