Frank Buchser

Frank (actually: Franz ) Buchserstrasse (. Born August 15, 1828 in St Niklaus - box Fountain, Canton Solothurn, † November 22, 1890 ) was a Swiss painter and adventurer.

Life

Buchserstrasse was the son of farmers and farmer Niklaus Josef and his wife Anna Maria nee Walker. He completed an apprenticeship as an organ and piano maker in Solothurn and Bern and took drawing lessons from the Bernese artist Heinrich von Arx ( 1802-58 ), the student Martin Distelis. In 1847 he decided after a trip through Paris to Florence and Rome to become a painter. He served in the Papal Swiss Guard, which enabled him to study at the Accademia di S. Luca in Rome painting. In 1848 he joined briefly to the troops of Garibaldi. From 1849 to 1850 he studied in Paris, from 1850 to 1852 in Antwerp. 1852 to 1853 he toured Spain, where he found early attention as a painter and draftsman.

Even after 1853, he sought his preferred field of action in the distance, so several times in England, where he was active as a commissioner of the department of Swiss Art at the World's Fair in London 1862. Personal highlights of his travel was an occasional ride to the royal city of Fez in Morocco in 1858 and 1866 to 1871 his stay in the U.S., where he among other things, Johann August Sutter portrayed. End of 1866 and early 1867, he caused there with his socially critical paintings of blacks in Washington and New York quite a stir. His last years were spent Buchserstrasse mainly in the domestic field fountain, where he taught from 1884 Cuno Amiet.

During his regular visits to Switzerland Buchserstrasse pursued alongside artistic and political interests. Beginning in 1864, he served briefly as an example of Ammann field wells. In 1865 he founded, together with Rudolf Koller and Ernst Stückelberg a group of artists who later company Swiss painter, sculptor and architect ( GSMBA ). In his last years he campaigned for a reform of exhibitions and was the pathfinder of the Federal Decree of 1887 to promote and uplift the Swiss art. 1888 to 1890 he was one of the members of the Swiss Federal Art Commission. Buchserstrasse was a Freemason.

Big merits as " Buchserstrasse researchers " are Dr. Gottfried Wälchli (1899-1960) attributed; However, a catalog raisonné of the artist does not yet exist. Buchser stylistically versatile life's work encompasses approximately 1,000 oil paintings, of which about 300 actual paintings. The rest are mostly independent, often executed with spirited rapid stroke oil sketches, prove that the strong sense of the artist for color and lighting.

The most important groups of works of the artist are in the Kunstmuseum Solothurn (80 paintings) and the Kunstmuseum Basel (over 1000 oil sketches, drawings and watercolors as well as numerous sketchbooks ). These collections had intended his estate, with the paintings of Solothurn and Basel was allowed to receive the comprehensive study material Buchserstrasse. In the Print Room of the Basel Kunstmuseum also over 200 photographs from the 1850s to the 1880s have since been kept, the Buchserstrasse had acquired on his extensive travels as a source of inspiration and reference material.

Works (selection)

Asceticism and lust for life, 1865

The Kiss 1878

Il divino porcaio 1882