Leo Leuppi
Leo Leuppi ( born June 28, 1893 in Zurich, † August 24 1972 in Zurich ) was a Swiss painter, printmaker, sculptor and representatives of the Zurich school of Concrete. He was the founder of the avant-garde artists' associations Groupe Suisse Abstraction et Surréalisme and alliance.
Life
Leo Leuppi came as the son of a family with many peasant family in Zurich to the world. From 1910 to 1914 he attended the class specializing in graphic art at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich. His artistic education he picked up as a self-taught while visiting the Ethnological Museum in Berlin and the British Museum in London as well as almost all the major museums in Europe. End of the First World War, he came up with the Zurich Dada movement in contact and became friends with Jean Arp. In 1934 he founded the Groupe Suisse Abstraction et Surréalisme to help the modern art movements in cultural institutions and artists ' associations to break through. In 1936, he was able to present to a wider public the progressive Swiss artist with the exhibition period problems in Swiss painting and sculpture for the first time. The following year, he called together with Richard Paul Lohse, allianz in life, an association of modern Swiss artists. By 1938 he had organized alliance exhibition New Art in Switzerland at the Kunsthalle Basel, he sat down with the 1940 with Richard Paul Lohse published almanac of new art in Switzerland another significant milestone Swiss avant-garde art. More allianz exhibitions followed at the Kunsthaus Zurich, 1942, in St. Gallen 1947, the Kunsthaus to 10-year alliance anniversary. 1954 was the last alliance exhibition held in Zurich helmet house. In the same year Leuppi resigned as president of the alliance. From 1959-1960 Leuppi was a teacher of experimental design in the fashion department at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich. In 1963 he gave up his studio at the Mühlebachstrasse in Zurich and moved into the Nursing home Bombach, Zurich - Hoengg.
Work
As the founder, organizer and president of the Alliance Leuppi was one of the most important pioneers of modern art in Switzerland. His ability to project a group of artists, in which representatives of opposing art movements such as constructivism, concrete art and Surrealism merged, was also reflected in his work, where he associated undogmatic constructive principles of style with surrealistic moments.
The Cubism of Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Juan Gris Leuppi led to abstraction. From 1937-1947, his works were characterized by a constructive character, where he was inspired by Max Bill, Sophie Taeuber- Arp, Walter Bodmer and Jean Arp.
Known are his works in public spaces such as the iron sculpture on the facade of the Migros building Thun ( 1955), the wall mosaic in the schoolhouse Kolbenacker in Zurich ( 1955-57 ) and the mural in the entrance hall of the Alterssiedlung Gsteigstrasse in Zurich - Hoengg ( 1956 - 57).