Wilhelm Legler also Guglielmo Legler (3 April 1875 – 28 April 1951) was a painter from

Pisino Pazin (, ) is a town in western Croatia, the administrative seat of Istria County. It is known for the medieval Pazin Castle, the former residence of the Istrian margraves. Geography The town had a population of 8,638 in 2011, of which 4,386 li ...

, Istria.

Biography

Wilhelm Legler (also ''Guglielmo'') was born in

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

, to Wilhelm Legler, an engineer, and Adele Legler-Köhler (Koehler). On 4 September 1900 he married Margarethe (Greta) Julie Schindler (1881-1942) in

Bad Goisern Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good *Error, Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect *Unhealthy, or counter to well-being *Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored tr ...

, Austria. After their marriage they moved to

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. She was the daughter of Emil Jakob Schindler (though there are questions surrounding her paternity) and the sister of

Alma Mahler Alma Mahler-Werfel (born Alma Margaretha Maria Schindler; 31 August 1879 – 11 December 1964) was an Austrian composer, author, editor, and socialite. Musically active from her early years, she was the composer of nearly fifty songs for voice ...

. After Schindler's death, his wife, and Greta's mother, married Carl Moll (with whom she had been previously accused of having an affair). Moll then married Greta to Legler, one of his pupils. It has been also reported that Greta was forced to marry Legler by her mother. The marriage produced a child, Wilhelm (Willy) Carl Emil Legler (1902-1960), an architect. After a suicide attempt in December 1911, Margarethe was institutionalized for most of the rest of her life and the couple was divorced in 1917.

Career

Legler was chiefly a landscape painter and an engraver. He studied from 1897 at the Academy of Fine Arts in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

with Carl Moll and then from 1899 to 1906 in

with

Robert Poetzelberger The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

, Leopold von Kalckreuth and Adolf Hölzel as well as etching with Alexander Eckener. From 1906 he worked mainly in Vienna and

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, later also in Dimburg and Stillfried an der March. From December 1910 to January 1911 he exhibited at the Galerie Miethke, which had become "the primary outlet for the Klimt group". From 1929 he lived and worked mainly in Vienna, where he was a member of the

Vienna Künstlerhaus The Künstlerhaus in Vienna's 1st district has accommodated the Künstlerhaus Vereinigung since 1868. It is located in the Ringstrassenzone in between Akademiestraße, Bösendorferstraße and Musikvereinsplatz. The building was erected betwee ...

from 1914. During his time in Stuttgart he made numerous etchings, was artistically influenced by Carl Moll until about 1915, but then turned to landscape painting and mainly painted landscapes of the Marchfeld. His works were exhibited at the Kunstschau Wien 1908 and the 1909 International Art Show in Vienna. In April 1945, during the Second World War, Legler's house in Vienna's Rainergasse 27 was destroyed by a bomb attack, along with his entire artistic work. In 1957 the Wilhelm-Legler-Gasse in Vienna was named after him. His works can be found in the

Albertina The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...

Österreichische Galerie Belvedere The Österreichische Galerie Belvedere is a museum housed in the Belvedere (palace), Belvedere palace, in Vienna, Austria. The Belvedere palaces were the summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736). The ensemble was built in the ear ...

and in the Lower Austria Museum in

Sankt Pölten Sankt Pölten (; Central Bavarian: ''St. Pödn''), mostly abbreviated to the official name St. Pölten, is the capital and largest city of the States of Austria, State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria, with 55,538 inhabitants as of 1 Januar ...

, among others.

Gallery

File:Wilhelm Legler Stillleben mit Gartenblumen.jpg, ''Still life with garden flowers'', oil on canvas, 1935 File:Wilhelm-legler-2309284.jpg, ''Interior with Floral Still Life'' File:LeglerDieFabrikAmFluss.jpg, ''The Mill on the River'' File:Wilhelm Legler - In front of the Homestead.jpg, ''In Front of the Homestead'', oil on canvas, 1937 File:Wilhelm Legler-Bathers on the Morava.jpg, ''Bathers on the Morava'', oil on canvas, 1933 File:Wilhelm Legler - Alte Donau - (MeisterDrucke-1345001).jpg, ''Old Danube''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legler, Wilhelm 1875 births 1951 deaths 19th-century Austrian painters 20th-century Austrian painters Austrian landscape painters Austrian male painters Austrian still life painters People from Pazin