Hugo Edmond Weber (1918–1971) was a Swiss-born, American artist and arts educator. Weber was known as an abstract, avant‐garde artist active in Chicago, Paris and New York City between the 1940s–1971. He worked mainly in painting but was also known to work in bronze for sculpture.

Biography

Weber was born in

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 ...

, Switzerland in 4 May 1918. He studied painting at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

, studying with artist . He moved to Paris, France by 1939 and was studying art with sculptor Marcel Gimond. Through this relationship with Gimond, Weber met with

Aristide Maillol Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (; December 8, 1861 – September 27, 1944) was a French sculptor, painter, and printmaking, printmaker.Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette . "Maillol, Aristide". ''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online''. Oxford ...

Hans Arp Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (; ; 16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist. Early life Arp was born Hans Peter Wilhelm Ar ...

, and

Alberto Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, Drafter, draftsman and Printmaking, printmaker, who was one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. His work was particularly influenced ...

, artists he later worked with as an artist assistant. In 1949, he moved to Chicago, Illinois to work as a teacher of the first year foundation studies at

IIT Institute of Design The Institute of Design (ID) is a graduate school of the Illinois Institute of Technology, a private university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The Institute of Design was founded in 1937 as "The New Bauhaus" by László Moholy-Nagy, a Ba ...

, replacing Laszlo Moholy‐Nagy. Weber's students include artist

June Leaf June Leaf (August 4, 1929 – July 1, 2024) was an American visual artist known for her abstract allegorical paintings and drawings; she also worked in modernist kinetic sculpture. She was based in New York City, on Bleecker Street in NoHo, and ...

and designer Richard Schultz. He worked collaboratively with

Emerson Woelffer Emerson Seville Woelffer (July 27, 1914 – February 2, 2003), was an American artist and arts educator. He was known as a prominent abstract expressionist artist and painter and taught art at some of the most prestigious colleges and universitie ...

from IIT, in designing the Chicago-based Jazz Ltd. building's avant-garde room. From 1955 until 1960, Weber lived in Paris, then moved to New York City. In New York, he befriended many of the second generation New York Abstract Expressionist artists, and he grew interest in beat poetry and writing. Weber was a gestural artist, but he was not rooted from American Action Painting like many of the others of the New York School of American

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

but rather from the European "''style informel".'' He created two films highlighting his process as an artist, ''Vision in Flux'' (1951), and ''Process Documentation by the Painter'' (1954). In February and March of 1964, Weber created lithographs at

Tamarind Institute Tamarind Institute is a lithography workshop created in 1960https://tamarind.unm.edu/about/history/ as a division of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM, United States. It began as Tamarind Lithography Workshop, a California non-profi ...

with master printer Irwin Hollander. He died 15 August 1971 at the age 53, in New York City after a short illness. His work is in various public art collections including

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, and others. Weber's bust portrait in bronze of his friend, architect

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pionee ...

is in the Crown Hall of IIT Campus.

Bibliography

References

External links

Hugo Weber papers, 1932-1971
from

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

, Smithsonian Institution {{Authority control 1918 births 1971 deaths Painters from New York City Painters from Chicago Swiss emigrants to the United States University of Basel alumni Illinois Institute of Technology faculty