Wilhelm Trübner
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Wilhelm Trübner (February 3, 1851 – December 21, 1917) was a German realist
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 ...
of the circle of
Wilhelm Leibl Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl (October 23, 1844 – December 4, 1900) was a German realist painter of portraits and scenes of peasant life. Biography Leibl was born in Cologne, where his father was the director of the Cathedral choir. He was a ...
.


Biography

Trübner was born in
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
. He was the third son of a silver- and goldsmith, Johann Georg Trübner, and his wife Anna Maria.Bahns et al. 1994, p. 73. In 1867 he began training as a goldsmith in Hanau, and met
classicist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
painter
Anselm Feuerbach Anselm Feuerbach (12 September 1829 – 4 January 1880) was a German Painting, painter. He was the leading neoclassicism, neoclassical painter of the German 19th-century school. Biography Early life Feuerbach was born at Speyer, the son of ...
who encouraged him to study painting. In that year he began studies at the Kunstschule in
Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...
under Karl Friedrich Schick. He was influenced by artists he met in Karlsruhe, such as
Hans Canon Hans Canon was the pseudonym of Johann Baptist Strašiřipka (also rendered as Johann Baptist Straschiripka or Hans Purschka-Straschiripka) (15 March 1829, Vienna 12 September 1885, Vienna), an Austrian history and portrait painter. Life His fa ...
and Feodor Dietz.Ruhmer, E. (2003, January 01). "Trübner, (Heinrich) Wilhelm". Grove Art Online. In 1869 he began studying at the Kunstacademie in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, where he was greatly impressed by an international exhibition of paintings by Leibl and
Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...
. Courbet visited Munich in 1869, not only exhibiting his work but demonstrating his
alla prima Wet-on-wet, or ''alla prima'' (Italian, meaning ''at first attempt''), direct painting or au premier coup, is a painting technique in which layers of wet paint are applied to previously administered layers of wet paint. Used mostly in oil pain ...
method of working quickly from nature in public performances. This had an immediate impact on many of the city's young artists, who found Courbet's approach an invigorating alternative to the shopworn
academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
tradition. In 1870 he made the acquaintance of
Carl Schuch Carl Eduard Schuch (30 September 1846 – 13 September 1903) was an Austrian painter, born in Vienna, who spent most of his lifetime outside Austria, in Germany, Italy and France. He painted primarily still lifes and landscapes. From 1865 to 18 ...
and Albert Lang. In August 1871, the three artists painted landscapes together during hikes in
Hohenschwangau Hohenschwangau is a former village and now an urban district of the municipality of Schwangau, Ostallgäu district, Bavaria, Germany. It is located between Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Hohenschwangau and is visited by about 2 million peop ...
and
Bernried Bernried is a municipality in the district of Deggendorf in Bavaria in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the A ...
, where they met Leibl. In 1872 Trübner met
Hans Thoma Hans Thoma (2 October 1839 – 7 November 1924) was a German painter. Biography Hans Thoma was born on 2 October 1839 in Bernau, Grand Duchy of Baden, in the Black Forest, Germany. He was the son of a miller and was trained in the basics of p ...
, another German painter who greatly admired the unsentimental realism of Wilhelm Leibl. Together Trübner, Schuch, Lang, and Thoma formed the core of the group of artists known as the "Leibl circle". The early 1870s were a period of discovery for Trübner. He travelled to Italy, Holland and Belgium, and in Paris encountered the art of Manet, whose influence can be seen in the spontaneous yet restrained style of Trübner's portraits and landscapes. According to art historian Eberhard Ruhmer, "Trübner reached his relatively brief artistic peak between 1872 and 1876, during which time he made some of the most important contributions to the Leibl circle’s achievement and produced the most effective examples of what he called 'purist painting'" â€“ paintings in which formal concerns take precedence over subject. His works of this period, such as ''On the Sofa'' (1872) and ''Carpenters on the Banks of Wessling Lake'' (1876), depict prosaic scenes with a somber realism and subdued color. Subsequently, Trübner attempted to achieve greater success by brightening his palette, and he frequently painted historical and literary subjects. He published writings on art theory in 1892 and 1898, which express above all the idea that "beauty must lie in the painting itself, not in the subject". By urging the viewer to discover beauty in a painting's formal values, its colors, proportions, and surface, Trübner advanced a philosophy of "
art for art's sake Art for art's sake—the usual English rendering of (), a French slogan from the latter half of the 19th century—is a phrase that expresses the philosophy that 'true' art is utterly independent of all social values and utilitarian functions, b ...
". In 1901 he joined the recently formed
Berlin Secession The Berlin Secession was an art movement established in Germany on May 2, 1898. Formed in reaction to the Association of Berlin Artists, and the restrictions on contemporary art imposed by Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, 65 artist ...
, at the time Germany's most important forum for the exhibition of
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
art. From 1903 until his death in 1917 he was a professor at the Academy of Arts in Karlsruhe, also serving as director from 1904 to 1910.Bahns et al. 1994, pp. 76–77. Trübner's paintings are in many public collections, especially in Germany, including the
Alte Nationalgalerie The Alte Nationalgalerie ( ''Old National Gallery'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. The gallery was built from 1862 to 1876 by the order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia according to ...
,
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, the
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere The Österreichische Galerie Belvedere is a museum housed in the Belvedere (palace), Belvedere palace, in Vienna, Austria. The Belvedere palaces were the summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736). The ensemble was built in the ear ...
,
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, and the
Neue Pinakothek The Neue Pinakothek (, ''New Pinacotheca'') is an art museum in Munich, Germany. Its focus is European Art of the 18th and 19th centuries, and it is one of the most important museums of art of the nineteenth century in the world. Together with t ...
in Munich.


Gallery

File:1872 Truebner Auf dem Kanapee anagoria.JPG, ''On the Sofa'' (1872) File:Wilhelm Trübner Silber und Rosen.jpg, ''Silver and Roses'' (1873) File:1877 Trübner Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant anagoria.JPG, ''Great Dane with Sausages: "Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant"'' (1877) File:Wilhelm Trübner Dantes Hölle.jpg, ''Dante's Inferno'' (1880) File:Wilhelm Trübner Tod Alexanders.jpg, ''The Death of
Pope Alexander VI Pope Alexander VI (, , ; born Roderic Llançol i de Borja; epithet: ''Valentinus'' ("The Valencian"); – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into t ...
'' (1883) File:Wilhelm Trübner Gorgonenhaupt.jpg, ''Gorgon'' (1891) File:Wilhelm Trübner Ermatingen.jpg, ''Ermatingen am Bodensee'' (1894),
gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...
on paper File:Wilhelm Trübner Bildnis einer Ordensschwester.jpg, ''Portrait of a Nun in a Summer Garden'' (ca. 1900) File:Wilhelm Trübner Karl Haberstock.jpg, ''Karl Haberstock'' (1914) File:Wilhelm Trübner Aussichtsplatz am Starnberger See.jpg, ''Aussichtsplatz am Starnberger See'' (1911)


Notes


References

*Bahns, Jörn, and Wilhelm Trübner. 1994. ''W. Trübner: 1851-1917; usstellungskatalog, für das Kurpfälzische Museum der Stadt Heidelberg'. Heidelberg: Braus. *Forster-Hahn, Françoise, et al. (2001). ''Spirit of an Age: Nineteenth-Century Paintings From the Nationalgalerie, Berlin''. London: National Gallery Company.


External links

*
Wilhelm Trübner Studien zum Frühwerk und Gemäldeverzeichnis, bgs artMedia''German masters of the nineteenth century: paintings and drawings from the Federal Republic of Germany''
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Wilhelm Trübner (no. 96) {{DEFAULTSORT:Trubner, Wilhelm 1851 births 1917 deaths Artists from Heidelberg Painters from Baden-Württemberg People from the Grand Duchy of Baden 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists