Fritz Osswald

Fritz Osswald (23 June 1878 – 24 August 1966) was a Swiss painter, member of the Munich Secession and of the Darmstadt Artists' Colony.

Biography

Fritz Osswald was born in Hottingen (Zürich) on 23 June 1878. The son of sculptor Albert Osswald, he spent his childhood between Zurich and Winterthur, where he attended primary school; after a few years in a boarding school in French-speaking Switzerland, he enrolled at the art institutes of Zurich and Munich. In 1897, Osswald frequented courses by Wilhelm von Diez and Nikolaos Gyzis[1] at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich,[2] and was awarded two medals of honour. From 1904, he was represented in Munich’s Secession exhibitions, where he encountered outstanding success, selling his first works to museums. Appreciated as an emerging artist – and compared by critics to well-established names[3] – Osswald married in 1907 Elsbeth Leopold, who gave birth to their daughter Agnes Hildegard, known as Hilla, in May of the following year. The artist travelled extensively between Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the North and Baltic seas; until, in 1913, he was invited by Ernest Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse to become a member of the artists’ colony of Darmstadt,[4] cradle and stronghold of the Jugendstil. Here Osswald, already well-known, decorated the formal reception rooms of the alta borghesia. With a private studio at his disposal inside the castle, he feverishly painted urban views, factories on the Rhine, vases of flowers, and large winter landscapes. By now at the apex of his career, the Swiss artist elicited enthusiasm in the most important German galleries – Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Berlin, Heidelberg, Dresden. At the outbreak of the Great War, Fritz Osswald was summoned back to Switzerland to enrol for military service, from which he was afterwards discharged when he had passed the age limit. On his return to Darmstadt, he was able to take up his previously nominated position as Professor of Art. In 1919 he left the artists’ colony and departed for the outskirts of Zurich, before buying, in 1922, a large house in Starnberg, Bavaria. Here he lived with his family until his death, which passed on 24 August 1966, after years of continuous artistic production.

Works

"I know that every winter morning, particularly on the coldest of days, he is out there, wearing thick mittens, painting behind the Hofgarten, or in Nymphenburg Park, or other places around Munich. His rendering of the winter scene as a symbol of our existence, where the light and icy atmosphere become a metaphor of fading life, are a particularity of his art".
(Art critic Georg Biermann in Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte (de) magazine, 1909.)[5]

A post-impressionist painter, Fritz Osswald created thousands of large winter landscapes, snowy urban views and still lifes. Through intense collaboration with major art dealers like Ernst Arnold,[6] and galleries such as Heinemann (de),[7] Thannhauser and Brakl (de),[8] he achieved critical and popular acclaim until the mid-1930s.
On the 50th anniversary of Osswald's death, "L'école des Italiens - Museo Immaginario" and Fondazione Poscio set up a large exhibition "Fritz Osswald - The sense of snow" in Domodossola (Italy) with over 70 paintings on show;[9][10] Italian art publishers Umberto Allemandi & C. and Mme Webb released the catalogue in Italian, German and English. The same collection will be on show in Summer 2017 in Cles (Trentino).
Paintings by the Swiss artist can also be seen at the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt,[11] the Starnberger See Museum[12] and the Fundaziun Capauliana (de) of Chur (Grisons, Switzerland).[13]

Exhibitions

1904 Munich (Secession)
1905 Zurich (Künstlerhaus)
1906 Munich (Glaspalast)
1906 Zurich (National Exhibition of Swiss Art)
1909 Le Locle (Swiss Society of Fine Arts)[14]
1910 Dresden (Ernst Arnold gallery)
1910-1929-1936 Munich (Heinemann gallery)[15][16]
1921 Zurich (Kunsthaus)
1922 Munich (Thannhauser gallery[17] and Brakl)
1936 Munich (Civic gallery)
1952-1954-1956 Munich (Haus der Kunst)
1977 Darmstadt (Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Mathildenhöhe)
1979 Fürstenfeldbruck (Klostergalerie)
2006 Starnberg (Kreissparkasse and Civic gallery)
2013 Domodossola (L'école des Italiens - Museo Immaginario)[18]
2016 Domodossola (Casa de Rodis)[19][20]
2016 Domodossola (L'école des Italiens - Museo Immaginario)

Paintings

Bach (bei Mittenwald)
Blick vom Schneefernerhaus auf der Zugspitze
Blick von Braunwald gegen Hausstock
Bovalhütte
Die Giumels von Preda
Engadin im Winter
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Kleine Tannen
Matterhorn
Murnau (Blick gegen Kochel)
Piz Bernina und Piz Roseg
Piz San Jon, 1917
Porträt einer alten Frau in Tracht, 1905
Schloss Tarasp
Sellahaus mit Sassolungo
Starnbergersee
St. Christoph am Arlberg
Tauwetter, 1910
Verschneite Parkanlage
Vor dem Matterhorn
Winterliche Flusslandschaft mit Birken
Zugspitze, 1916

References

Auktionshaus Michael Zeller, Artist index
Fritz Osswald, register 1884–1920
Article by art critic Hans Graber on Westermann’s illustrierte deutsche Monats-Hefte magazine 58. Jahrgang – 115. Band, 2. Teil Gebundene Ausgabe – 1914
Short biography of Fritz Osswald on Institut Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt webpage
"Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte" art magazine, no. XXVII, 1913
Art dealer Ernst Arnold's profile in an article on Frankfurter Allgemeine of 8 August 1998
"Gallery Heinemann presents Fritz Osswald" Exhibition set up by "L'école des Italiens - Museo Immaginario" in Domodossola, (Italy) from May to October 2016
The "Kunsthaus Brakl", an article by Emanuel Von Seidl for Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration magazine
Blogspot by art organisation "L'école des Italiens - Museo Immaginario"
Interview to journalist Davide Brullo on Radiotelevisione Svizzera Italiana
Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt
Starnberg Museum
Osswald's paintings at the Fundaziun Capauliana
Catalogue of 1909 exhibition in Le Locle
History of the Heinemann gallery
Heinemann gallery's digital archive at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg
Die Münchner Moderne Galerie from Sport & Salon magazine, 16 April 1910, p. 13
"Fritz Osswald (1878-1966)" Exhibition
Casa de Rodis Museum in Domodossola"

Fritz Osswald – The sense of Snow Video gallery of Domodossola exhibition ("L'école des Italiens - Museo Immaginario", Collezione Poscio), on YouTube

Additional literature

Wilhelm Michel: Maler Fritz Osswald - München In: Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration: illustrierte Monatshefte für moderne Malerei, Plastik, Architektur, Wohnungskunst u. künstlerisches Frauen-Arbeiten, 24/1909, pp. 190–196 Digital version
Georg Biermann: Ein Münchener Maler In: Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte, 1909 Digital version
Hermann Uhde-Bernays: Fritz Osswald - München In: Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration: illustrierte Monatshefte für moderne Malerei, Plastik, Architektur, Wohnungskunst u. künstlerisches Frauen-Arbeiten, 32/1913, pp. 86–94 Digital version