Ferdinand Hodler - Hardcover

Bätschmann, Oskar; Schmidt, Katharina; Kopp, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3775720634 ISBN 13: 9783775720632

Publisher: Hatje Cantz, 2008

Synopsis

Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler is one of Europe's best least-known artists. Though he remained in Switzerland for his entire life, his international reputation has been growing in the past several decades, beginning with a traveling retrospective in the early 1970s. Hodler, who kept up on the latest movements brewing in Paris, is considered a Symbolist who tempered that movement's flights of fancy with Realism. He is regarded as a bridge between the Modern period and the impulses of mid-1800s Realism, Symbolism and Art Nouveau. As may be expected with such a range of influences at the artist's disposal, Hodler's style fluctuated widely throughout his career. His most well known painting may be "The Woodcutter" (1908), which was commissioned as an illustration for the Swiss 50-franc note. "The Woodcutter" is a strange and engaging mixture of Expressionism--the subject is depicted mid-chop in vigorous brush strokes--and Symbolism, as the ghostly landscape behind the figure supports an odd, bright blue, orb-like cloud. More than two decades since his last retrospective, this fresh and extensive assessment of Hodler's paintings finds much new territory to uncover.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hatje Cantz
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 3775720634
• ISBN 13: 9783775720632
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416