Julia Ris (21 September 1904, Kingston upon Hull – 16 December 1991,

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 ...

) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...

. She taught materials and drawing at the Gewerbeschule Basel, where she introduced students, including

Jean Tinguely Jean Tinguely (22 May 1925 – 30 August 1991) was a Swiss sculptor best known for his kinetic art sculptural machines (known officially as Métamatics) that extended the Dada tradition into the later part of the 20th century.Chilvers, Ian; Gl ...

, to early 20th-century artistic movements such as

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

, Abstraction, and the Bauhaus.

Early life and education

Julia Ries was born on the 21 September 1904, to a

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

family in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

. Ris' father, Gustav Ries, was an

importer An importer is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. Import is part of the International Trade which involves buying and receivin ...

and later owned a

millinery Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners made and sold a range of accessories for clothing and hairstyles. ...

factory, whilst Ris' mother, Agnes Ries née Siblerman, was a housewife and artist. Ris' had four siblings, the youngest of which was the American metal artist Victor Ries (1907 – 2013). The family returned to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

sometime between 1905–1907 and settled in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Education

From 1921–1925, Ris was educated at the

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for the ...

and the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. In 1925, Ris married Swiss artist

Theo Eble Theo Eble or Théo Eblé (1 June 1899, Basel –2 May 1974, Basel) was a Swiss painter, graphic designer and drafter. Elbe was educated at the Gewerbeschule Basel , a Kunstgewerbeschule in Basel, from 1915 –1920 From 1922 &ndash ...

, a fellow classmate at the Academy of Fine Arts. Ris and Eble and moved to Eble's hometown of

, where Ris began to develop her work toward

abstraction Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal (reality, real or Abstract and concrete, concrete) signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstraction" ...

and

reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

. In 1935 their daughter, Doris Eva Eble, was born. According to

, both Ris and Eble studied at

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

Career

From 1930–1957, Ris taught at the Gewerbeschule Basel applied arts department and sporadically created her own artworks. Ris' "material studies" class was based on the concepts of Bauhaus, and introduced students to the concept of creating

collages Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

using scrap and found materials such as metal, wood or cloth. Ris' students included

Beatrice Afflerbach Beatrice "Bea" Afflerbach (14 June 1920 – 3 March 2003) was a Swiss graphic designer, painter, drafter and illustrator. Life and work Afflerbach studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Basel (now, Schule für Gestaltung Basel) and in 1941 w ...

and Jean Tinguely. Ris is credited with introducing Tinguely to the work of

Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist. He was born in Hanover, Germany, but lived in exile from 1937. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including Dadaism, Constructivism (a ...

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

, and to other artists interested in representations of movement (notably the Italian Futurists). Ris was a member of the ″ Allianz, Vereinigung moderner Schweizer Künstler″ (Alliance, Association of Modern Swiss Artists), and exhibited with the group in 1947. In 1956, Ris married the Swiss artist (1916–2010) In 1967, Ris and Held were joint artists-in-residence at the

Cité internationale des arts The Cité internationale des arts is an artist-in-residence building complex which accommodates artists of all specialities and nationalities in Paris. It comprises two sites, one located in the Marais and the other in Montmartre. Approximately ...

From 1970–1977 Ris taught at the Technical University of Basel, and lived in

Sissach Sissach () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and the capital of the district of Sissach (district), Sissach in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Country, Switzerland. History Sissach is first mentioned around 1225-26 as ' ...

Filmography

* TINGUELY (2011) Directed by Thomas Thümena, Switzerland. As self (credited as Julia Eble-Ris)

Public artwork

* Julia Ris (1967) "Ohne Titel" ("Untitled"). Stained glass.

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 ...

, Switzerland

Exhibitions

Notes

:1. Possibly the or the .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ris, Julia 1904 births 1991 deaths 20th-century Swiss painters Jewish German artists Jewish German painters