Otto Meyer-Amden: The early works 1903-1914

About

Otto Meyer-Amden (1885-1933) is an artistic anomaly in Switzerland in the early 20th century. However, his work is still little known and poorly understood his life and work. For the first time, this exhibition shows the Will of the artist, because it focuses on his early work, which is almost completely gathered here. It begins with the earliest surviving works from the years of wandering in Zurich, Munich, Strasbourg, followed by works from the period of study in the class of Adolf Hölzel at the Stuttgart Academy, where Meyer became friends with Oskar Schlemmer and Willi Baumeister. Here he developed the mysterious gardener image that is shown in the exhibition along with numerous preparatory work that contribute to the understanding of his background. On his walks through Stuttgart Meyer found the motifs that he worked in seemingly spontaneous representations - Riding, tennis and football player. There are oil paintings on paper, showing the influence of the French Nabi painting. End of 1912, Meyer moved at the suggestion builder in the mountain village Amden above Lake Walen, where there is already a community of artists had settled. While his colleagues left the place after a few months, Meyer remained there until 1928.Here he took his first landscape motifs ago, in which the content of his work emerged ripe, the "unique combination of picturesque peinture pure with an unusual idea content" as formulated Schlemmer. The exhibition closes with the figure paintings painted by Meyer during a stay in Zurich in the autumn of 1913.With the large pencil drawings, the so-called "graphite", then began a new phase of work.