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

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

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 ...

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 ...

Biography

Höger was born in Proßnitz,

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

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

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, 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 () in Vienna is the leading museum of the Austrian Armed Forces. It documents the history of Austrian military affairs through a wide range of exhibits comprising, above all ...

, mostly oil paintings on the Eastern Front and the Balkan Front.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 Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a neoclassical compound derived from Greek, consisting of (''nóstos''), a Homeric word meaning "homecomi ...

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

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

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 ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

), 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 The Wachau () is an Austrian valley formed by the Danube River. It is one of the most prominent tourism in Austria, tourist destinations of Lower Austria, located between the towns of Melk and Krems an der Donau, Krems that attracts epicureans ...

) 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 eastern Austria, a ''Heuriger'' (; Austrian dialect pronunciation: Heiriga, Hungarian language, Hungarian: Kurta kocsma) is a tavern where local winemakers serve their new wine under a special licence in alternating months during the growing ...

Grinzing Grinzing () was an independent municipality until 1892 and is today a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna. Wien.gv.at webpage (see below: References). Geography Location Grinzing lies in the northwest of Vienna and, with an ...

), ''Markttag'' (A day at the market), ''

Gaudeamus Igitur "Gaudeamus igitur" (Latin for "So let us rejoice") or just "Gaudeamus", also known as "De brevitate vitae" ("On the Shortness of Life"), is a popular academic commercium song in many European countries, mainly sung or performed at university ...

'' 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, Hungarian: Kurta kocsma) is a tavern where local winemakers serve their new wine under a special licence in alternating months during the growing season. Each state ...

''
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