1853-1918 Swiss Ferdinand Hodler Galleries Hodler was born in Berne and grew up in poverty. His father, Jean Hodler, made a meager living as a carpenter; his mother, Marguerite (n??e Neukomm), was from a peasant family. By the time Hodler was eight years old, he had lost his father and two younger brothers to tuberculosis. His mother remarried to a decorative painter, but in 1867 she too died of tuberculosis. Before he was ten, Hodler received training in decorative painting from his stepfather, and was subsequently sent to Thun to apprentice with a local painter, Ferdinand Sommer. Hodler's earliest works were conventional landscapes, which he sold in shops and to tourists. In 1871, at the age of 18, he traveled on foot to Geneva to start a career as a painter. The works of Hodler's early maturity consisted of landscapes, figure compositions and portraits, treated with a vigorous realism. He made a trip to Basel in 1875, where he studied the paintings of Hans Holbein??especially Dead Christ in the Tomb, which influenced Hodler's many treatments of the theme of death. In the last decade of the 19th century his work evolved to combine influences from several genres including symbolism and art nouveau. He developed a style which he called Parallelism, characterized by groupings of figures symmetrically arranged in poses suggesting ritual or dance. In 1884 Hodler met Augustine Dupin (1852?C1909), who became his companion and model for the next several years. Their son, Hector Hodler, was born in 1887. In 1889 Hodler married Bertha Stucki; they were divorced in 1891. Hodler's work in his final phase took on an expressionist aspect with strongly coloured and geometrical figures. Landscapes were pared down to essentials, sometimes consisting of a jagged wedge of land between water and sky. However, the most famous of Hodler's paintings portray scenes in which characters are engaged in everyday activities, such as the famous woodcutter (Der Holzfaller, Mus??e d'Orsay, Paris). This picture went on to appear on the back of the 50 Swiss Franc bank note issued by the Swiss National Bank. In 1898, Hodler married Berthe Jacques. In 1914 he condemned the German atrocities conducted using artillery at Rheims. In retaliation for this, German art museums excluded Hodler's work. In 1908 he met Valentine Gode-Darel, who became his mistress. She was diagnosed with cancer in 1913, and the many hours Hodler spent by her bedside resulted in a remarkable series of paintings documenting her disintegration. Her death in January 1915 affected Hodler greatly. He occupied himself with work; a series of about 20 introspective self-portraits date from 1916. By late 1917 his declining health led him to thoughts of suicide. He died on May 19, 1918 in Geneva leaving behind a number of unfinished works portraying the city.  Related Paintings of Ferdinand Hodler :. | Autumn Evening (mk09) | Genfersee mit Mont-Blanc im Morgenlicht | Emotion | ie Dents du Midi von Caux aus | Stockhornkette mit Thunersee |
Related Artists:
CONINXLOO, Gillis van
Flemish Northern Renaissance Painter, 1544-1607 Flemish landscape painter. His Judgment of Midas (Dresden), Latona (Hermitage, St. Petersburg), and above all the Landscape with Figures (Liechtenstein Gall., Vienna) are fine examples of his art. Coninxloo's paintings, characterized by fantasy, warm tones, and refined realism,
catalan school
banquet of herod mid-fifteenth century new york, metropolitan museum
ulrika eleonora
Ulrika Eleonora d.y., född 23 januari 1688, död 24 november 1741, var regerande drottning av Sverige 1719-1720, dotter till Karl XI och Ulrika Eleonora av Danmark, syster till Karl XII samt kusin till August den starke, Fredrik IV av Danmark och Fredrik IV av Holstein-Gottorp. Hon gifte sig 24 mars 1715 med Fredrik av Hessen, den blivande Fredrik I, men förblev barnlös. Ulrika Eleonora föddes den 23 januari 1688 på Stockholms slott som dotter till kung Karl XI och Ulrika Eleonora d.ä. Under barndomen förbisågs hon av alla för sin äldre, livligare och mera begåvade syster Hedvig Sofia. Så snart hon blivit giftasvuxen fick hon många friare, bland andra blivande Georg II av Storbritannien och arvprins Fredrik av Hessen-Kassel. Redan 1710 begärde denne hennes hand, men deras trolovning tillkännagavs inte förrän den 23 januari 1714. Bilägret firades den 24 mars 1715. Under Karl XII:s vistelse utomlands var hon, efter Hedvig Sofias död (1708), den enda myndiga medlemmen av kungahuset inom riket om man borträknar hennes åldriga farmor (Hedvig Eleonora). I slutet av 1712 eller början av 1713 hade Karl XII tankar om att göra sin syster Ulrika Eleonora till regent, men fullföljde inte denna plan. Det kungliga rådet däremot övertalade henne att bevista dess sammanträden för att i henne erhålla ett stöd. Första gången hon infann sig i rådet, 2 november 1713, beslöts också om sammankallande av en riksdag. Det s.k. rörelsepartiet vid denna riksdag ville att prinsessan i kungens frånvaro skulle göras till riksföreståndarinna "såsom närmaste arvinge till kronan och regementet". Detta förslag motarbetades av Arvid Horn och rådet, som fruktade att svårigheterna för en ändring av regeringssättet därigenom skulle ökas. Prinsessan visade emellertid ständerna stort intresse för landets angelägenheter. I sina brev till kungen uppmanade hon honom att återvända hem och varnade honom för möjliga följder av hans frånvaro. Med hans samtycke undertecknade hon under den följande tiden alla rådets skrivelser, utom dem som var ställda till honom, för i sin egenskap av vice regent var hon ett med kungen enligt dennes uppfattning. Mera sällan deltog hon i rådets förhandlingar.