Karl Edmund Walser (April 8, 1877, Teufen - September 28, 1943,

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

) 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 ...

, stage designer, illustrator, muralist, and artist. He was the older brother, by one year, of the writer

Robert Walser Robert Walser (15 April 1878 – 25 December 1956) was a German language Swiss writer. He additionally worked as a copyist, an inventor's assistant, a butler, and in various other low-paying trades. Despite marginal early success in his lit ...

, and provided illustrations for Robert's first book ''Fritz Kocher's Aufsätze'' (1904). He was a close friend of German expressionist painter

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, drawing, draftsman, printmaker, sculpture, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the m ...

, who strongly influenced his work.

Life and career

Karl Walser was born in Teufen, on April 8, 1877, to Adolf Walser and Elisa Marti Walser who had 7 children. He grew up in

Biel Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; German language, German: ''Biel'' ; French language, French: ''Bienne'' ; Bernese German, locally ; ; ; ) is a bilingual city in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. With over 55,000 residents, it is the ...

. He completed an apprenticeship as a decorative artist in Strasbourg and Stuttgart. Most of Walser's earlier works were lost during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Between 1899 and 1914 he lived in Berlin and became a board member of the

Berlin Secession The Berlin Secession was an art movement established in Germany on May 2, 1898. Formed in reaction to the Association of Berlin Artists, and the restrictions on contemporary art imposed by Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, 65 artist ...

(1903) and later a member of the Deutsche Künstlerbund (German Artists’ Association). While in Berlin, he worked as an illustrator for the publisher

Bruno Cassirer Bruno Cassirer (12 December 1872 – 29 October 1941Barbara Falk: ''No Other Home: an Anglo-Jewish family in Australia 1833–1987'', Penguin Books, Melbourne, 1988.) was a publisher and gallery owner in Berlin who had a considerable influence on ...

and designed the majority of his book illustrations. He also completed murals for the private residences of renowned figures. In addition to several study trips to Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and Japan, Karl Walser produced stage sets for opera and theatre from 1903. He also received commissions for book cover designs and book illustrations. In 1910 he married Hedwig Agnes Czarnetzki Walser (1885-1987). He returned to Switzerland in 1917 and mainly worked on the painterly decoration of public spaces, such as the Amtshaus in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, the Stadttheater in Bern and the Grossratssaal at Bern City Hall. He died in Bern, on September 28, 1943. He was buried at the

Schosshalden Cemetery The Schosshalden cemetery (in German language, German: Schosshaldenfriedhof) is a cemetery at Ostermundigenstrasse 116 in Bern. Overview It lies on the border to the Ostermundigen municipality, has been opened in 1877 as a replacement for the ...

in Bern.

References

External links

* * 1877 births 1943 deaths People from Biel/Bienne 19th-century Swiss painters Swiss male painters 20th-century Swiss painters 19th-century Swiss illustrators 20th-century Swiss illustrators Swiss muralists 19th-century Swiss male artists 20th-century Swiss male artists {{Switzerland-painter-stub