Leo Putz (18 June 1869,

Merano Merano (, ; ) or Meran () is a (municipality) in South Tyrol, Northern Italy. Generally best known for its Spa town, spa resorts, it is located within a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to Height above mean sea ...

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

– 21 July 1940, Merano, Kingdom of Italy) was a

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

ean painter. His work encompasses

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and the beginnings of

Expressionism 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 ...

. Figures, nudes and landscapes were his predominant subjects.

Life

His father, Karl Putz, was the Mayor of Merano. He began his studies at the age of sixteen 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 ...

, where he studied with the history painter

Gabriel von Hackl Gabriel (von) Hackl (24 March 1843 – 5 June 1926) was a German historicist painter. Life and work He was born in Maribor, Lower Styria, Austrian Empire. A surgeon's son, he attended the gymnasium in his home town and the city school in Graz ...

. Convinced that he had great talent, his father sent him to the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

in Paris. After military service, he returned to Munich and studied with Paul Hoecker. He opened his first studio in 1897. That same year, he became a member of the

Munich Secession The Munich Secession (German language, German Münchener Secession) was an association of visual artists who broke away from the mainstream Munich Artists' Association in 1892, to promote and defend their art in the face of what they considered ...

. He worked with the weekly magazine '' Jugend'' and many of his paintings were reproduced on the magazine's title page. During this time, he also worked as a commercial artist, creating many posters in Art Nouveau style and billboards for the Moderne Galerie München. The Staatsgalerie Dresden and the Neue Königliche Pinakothek acquired many of his works in 1903. He became an

honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honor usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

in 1909; a prerequisite for becoming a Professor, for which he received appointment that same year.Leo Putz Information website
/ref> Between 1909 and 1914, he spent his summers at Schloss Hartmannsberg near

Chiemgau Chiemgau () is the common name of a geographic area in Upper Bavaria. It refers to the foothills of the Alps between the rivers Inn and Traun, with the Chiemsee at its center. The political districts that contain the Chiemgau are Rosenheim and ...

to practice

plein-air ''En plein air'' (; French language, French for 'outdoors'), or plein-air painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein ai ...

painting. While there, he took on several students, among them the American artist

Edward Cucuel Edward Cucuel (August 6, 1875, San Francisco – April 18, 1954, Pasadena, California) was an American-born painter who lived and worked in Germany. Life and work He was the son of a German newspaper publisher. At the age of fourteen he was alre ...

. It was also there that he created his best-known works; the two series known as the "Boat Pictures" and the "Bathers". In both, he focused on portraying beautiful young women, a prominent feature of his early work. In 1913, he married the landscape painter Frieda Blell. He relocated to

Gauting Gauting is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Starnberg (district), district of Starnberg, in Bavaria, Germany with a population of more than 20,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Würm (Amper), Würm, southwest of Munich ...

in 1922, where he built a house; trading his paintings for building materials.

To Brazil and back

He and his family accepted an invitation to move to Brazil in 1929. At the request of

Lúcio Costa Lúcio Marçal Ferreira Ribeiro Lima Costa (27 February 1902 – 13 June 1998) was a Brazilian architect and urban planner, best known for his plan for Brasília. Early life Costa was born in Toulon, France, the son of Brazilian parents. His ...

, he took a professorship at the

Escola Nacional de Belas Artes Escola de Belas Artes (School of Fine Arts) is one of the centers of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and dates back to colonial times. A royal letter of 20 Nov 1800 by John VI of Portugal established the ''Aula Prática de Desenho e ...

in 1931. There, he gave lectures on composition and took on several students, including the landscape architect

Roberto Burle Marx Roberto Burle Marx (August 4, 1909 – June 4, 1994) was a Brazilian landscape architect (as well as a painter, print maker, ecologist, naturalist, artist and musician) whose designs of parks and gardens made him world-famous. He is credited w ...

. During his stay, his colors took on a more tropical flavor and the (for him) exotic plant life became a favorite subject. He would often travel to remote areas on muleback in search of inspiration. He returned to Germany in 1933. A selection of his South American works was the focus of an exhibition in Munich in 1935, which has been fiercely attacked by the Nazi propagandist newspaper ''

Der Stürmer ''Der Stürmer'' (; literally, "The Stormer / Stormtrooper / Attacker") was a weekly German tabloid-format newspaper published from 1923 to the end of World War II by Julius Streicher, the '' Gauleiter'' of Franconia, with brief suspension ...

'' due to the exotic nature of the depicted issues. Leo Putz is represented with two drawings of scenes do Rio de Janeiro in the collection of the

Museu de Arte do Rio Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR) (English: Art Museum of Rio) is an art museum in Rio de Janeiro which was inaugurated on 1 March 2013. It is maintained by a partnership between municipal public institutions and private initiatives. The museum is part ...

(MAR), a gift of Fundo Z.

Nazi era seizures and destruction of artworks

An opponent of

National Socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequ ...

, Putz' art was labelled " degenerate". Beginning in 1936, he was repeatedly interrogated by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

and was forced to flee back to his native region, the

. In 1937, he was officially banned from working in Germany. His watercolor ''Zwei Akte'' and the prints ''Liegender Frauenakt'' and ''Zwei Akte'' were confiscated from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Kassel in the Nazi "Degenerate Art" campaign and destroyed. He was banned from working in Germany. His watercolor ''Das Burggespenst'' (60 × 46 cm) was seized with the collection of the Jewish art dealer

Walter Westfeld Walter Westfeld or Westfield (4 March 1889 – May 1945) was a German Jewish art collector and art dealer whose collection was plundered by Nazis. Westfield was murdered in the Holocaust. Early life Walter Westfeld, brother of the painter Ma ...

and sold at auction by Kunsthaus Lempertz in 1939, after which its fate is unknown. It is listed on the German Lost Art Foundation (Lost Art-ID461012). For the remainder of his life, he concentrated on painting castles, villages and benign landscapes. He died in 1940, following an operation. News of his death was suppressed in Italy and Germany and he was quietly interred in

References

External links

*
Leo Putz: Memories of the Tropics

Biography, Literature and Works by Leo Putz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Putz, Leo 1869 births 1940 deaths German Impressionist painters Art Nouveau painters Expressionist painters Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to Germany Austrian expatriates in Brazil German expatriates in Brazil Austrian painters Austrian male painters People from Merano

Life

To Brazil and back

Nazi era seizures and destruction of artworks

References

Further reading

External links