Fritz Cäsar Baumann (3 May 1886,

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

– 9 October 1942, Basel) was a Swiss painter who worked primarily in the

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and

Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

styles. Preoccupation with caricature, textile and pottery, puppet theater and book illustration.

Biography

From 1904 to 1907, he completed an apprenticeship in decorative painting. He then studied with Fritz Schider at the (Arts and Crafts School) in Basel for one year. This was followed by a study trip to Rome with August Babberger. Upon his return, he studied at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. In the second half of the 19th centur ...

. He then moved to the mountain village of Rührberg, near

Grenzach Grenzach-Wyhlen is a municipality of 15,000 people in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It sits on the right bank of the Rhine abutting the Swiss municipalities of Riehen and Bettingen in the Kanton of Basel-Stadt, the ...

, where he created drypoint etchings. In 1909, he married Anny Rickenbach, daughter of a gunsmith from

Muttenz Muttenz is a municipality with a population of approximately 17,000 in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. It is located in the district of Arlesheim and next to the city of Basel. History Under the Roman Empire a hamlet called Montet ...

. Shortly after, he went to

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

to study with

Hans Thoma Hans Thoma (2 October 1839 – 7 November 1924) was a German painter. Biography Hans Thoma was born on 2 October 1839 in Bernau, Grand Duchy of Baden, in the Black Forest, Germany. He was the son of a miller and was trained in the basics of p ...

and improve his etching techniques. After the birth of his son Fritzli in 1910, the family lived in Erlenhof (

Thürnen Thürnen is a municipality in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. Geography Thürnen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 56.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 25.3% is forested. Of the rest of ...

) but spent the winters in Paris working at La Ruche, an artists' residence. After a stay there in 1912, he began to focus almost exclusively on woodcuts. For a time, he was obsessed with creating portraits of his son. In 1913, they moved to Berlin, where he became a member of ''

Der Sturm ''Der Sturm'' () was a German List of avant-garde magazines, avant-garde art and literary magazine founded by Herwarth Walden, covering Expressionism, Cubism, Dada and Surrealism, among other artistic movements. It was published between 1910 a ...

'', an artists' group associated with the journal of the same name. Anny died in May 1914. To suppress his grief, he volunteered for military service and was assigned as a

Gefreiter Gefreiter (, abbr. Gefr.; plural ''Gefreite'') is a military rank used in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria since the 16th century. It is typically the second rank or grade to which an Enlisted rank, enlisted soldier, airman, or sailor can be prom ...

to a Pionier-Kompanie in

Ticino Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...

. It was there he met his second wife, Emma Ziswyler. He continued to exhibit his woodcuts, while in service, with the help of

Herwarth Walden Herwarth Walden (actual name Georg Lewin; 16 September 1879 – 31 October 1941) was a German expressionist artist and art expert in many disciplines. He is broadly acknowledged as one of the most important discoverers and promoters of German av ...

. Back in Basel, after the war, he became a teacher; at the Gewerbeschule and the Frauenarbeitsschule, a similar organization for women. He was also a cofounder of the artists' group ''Das Neue Leben'', and wrote the group's manifesto: In the mid 1920s, he began to suffer from recurring bouts of depression and developed doubts about his artistic abilities. At some point, he took most of his important works from 1916 to 1920 and threw them in the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

. After 1928, he ceased exhibiting and focused almost entirely on teaching. He committed suicide in 1942.

Selected works

File:Fritz Baumann Gandria 1918.jpg,

Gandria Gandria is both a Quarter (country subdivision), quarter of the city of Lugano in the Switzerland, Swiss Ticino, canton of Ticino, and a village on the northern shore of Lake Lugano, which forms the core of that quarter. Until 2004, the quarter of ...

File:Fritz Baumann Mann mit Strohhut 1913.jpg, Man in a Straw Hat ( Otto Morach) File:Fritz Baumann Schicksal 1918.jpg, Fate File:Fritz Baumann Betrunkene 1916.jpg, Drunkards File:Fritz Baumann Fritzli 1917.jpg, Portrait of Fritzli at age seven

External links

''Fritz Baumann – Leben und Werk''
Website * * *
More works by Baumann
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Baumann, Fritz Swiss male painters 20th-century Swiss painters 20th-century Swiss male artists 1886 births 1942 deaths 1942 suicides 20th-century Swiss military personnel Suicides in Switzerland