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Egon Wilden

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Egon Wilden, Self-portrait in a bow tie (Selbstporträt mit Fliege), c. 1930

Egon Wilden (8 December 1894, in Düsseldorf – 7 September 1931, in Ahlen, Westphalia) was a German painter and set-designer.

Life

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Wilden began his studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, but they were interrupted until 1919 by World War I. One of his most important teachers there was Heinrich Nauen, a proponent of Rhenish Expressionism. His work was influenced by that school and other trends of the time. Watercolours and pastels formed a major part of his oeuvre. He received early recognition as a set-designer around the time of the 1919–20 season at the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf, which developed into one of the most modern theatres in the German-speaking world under the direction of Louise Dumont and Gustav Lindemann. He was later taken on by theatres in Herne, Gera, Hagen, Barmen-Elberfeld and Cologne, producing a total of around two hundred set designs, featuring vivid colours and often vertical emphases, front-facing architectural motifs and perspectives creating several illusory rooms.

He left the theatre behind in 1930 to work as an independent artist, though he did marry the actress Hedwig Sparrer.[1] He moved into a studio in an artists' house in Düsseldorf-Stockum in January 1931 but in the summer of that year his health began to deteriorate. He died soon afterwards whilst staying with friends in Ahlen.[2] His work remained largely unknown until 2005, when his niece donated a large collection of his paintings and drawings to the Förderkreis of the Kunstmuseum Ahlen. Since then his works have been the subject of several exhibitions.[3][4]

Selected works

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  • Flight into Egypt, 1919
  • Two figures in a wood, watercolour, 1920
  • God's Love, watercolour (set designs for a production of Die Liebe Gottes by Hermine von Boetticher), c.1920[5]
  • The Barber of Seville, set design for the Theater Hagen, 1924
  • Paul Kemp, portrait in pencil, c. 1925
  • Elektra, set design for the Theater Hagen, 1927
  • Angelina, set design for the Theater Köln, 1929
  • Self-portrait in bow tie, oil on panel, c. 1930, Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung Universität zu Köln
  • The Martyrdom of St Sebastian
  • Pieta
  • Lichtflut (literally A Flood of Light)
  • Strahlen (literally Radiating)
  • Trees in Light
  • Loneliness, Aquarell
  • Mourning, Aquarell
  • Painter in his Studio

Literature

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  • (in German) Elmar Buck (ed.): Egon Wilden. Maler und Bühnenbildner, 1894–1931. Ausstellungskatalog der Theaterwissenschaftlichen Sammlung der Universität zu Köln, des Theatermuseums Düsseldorf und des Ernst-Osthaus-Museums Hagen, Köln 1994
  • (in German) Joachim Geil: Egon Wilden. Der Maler und die Bühne. Teiresias-Verlag, Köln 1999, ISBN 978-3-98058-605-4
  • (in German) Burkhard Leismann (ed.), Kinga Luchs, Martina Padberg (Redaktion): Egon Wilden. Leben und Werk, 1894–1931. Förderkreis Kunstmuseum Ahlen e.V., Verlag Hachmannedition, Bremen 2009, ISBN 978-3-93942-969-2

References

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  1. ^ (in German) Angelika Storm-Rusche: August Macke Haus präsentiert Werke des Maler Egon Wilden. 29 January 2010 - Portal general-anzeiger-bonn.de, accessed 15 January 2016
  2. ^ (in German) Andreas Rehnolt: Ausstellung zum Werk des Malers Egon Wilden: August Macke Haus in Bonn präsentiert "Zwischen Atelier und Bühne". Webseite 30 January 2010 im Portal musenblaetter.de, retrieved 15 January 2016
  3. ^ Wild Egon Wilden Archived 2018-01-28 at the Wayback Machine, Webseite 19 December 2012 im Portal blogs.harvard.edu, retrieved 15 January 2016
  4. ^ (in German) Egon Wilden – Zwischen Atelier und Bühne Archived 2016-01-15 at the Wayback Machine. Artikel (2010) im Portal archiv.monopol-magazin.de, retrieved 15 January 2016
  5. ^ (in German) Egon Wilden: "Die Liebe Gottes", um 1920 Archived 2016-09-25 at the Wayback Machine
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