Kurt Oscar Weber

Kurt Oscar Weber (26 July 1938 – 29 October 2011) was a Swiss-American fine artist, primarily working in sculpture and painting. He worked in several genres of art including German Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism, Color fielding, and Figuration. He is known for his international solo and group exhibitions primarily presented in the US, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. He maintained studios in Emeryville, California and in Uerikon near Lake Zurich for over 30 years.
Personal background
Kurt O. Weber was born on 26 July 1938 in Zurich, Switzerland. Weber traveled internationally throughout his life. In 1968, he traveled to the US and with his wife, artist Colette Leitner, (AKA Lindner) began a 13-year adventure exploring the country. In 1970, he became a US citizen, while simultaneously maintaining his Swiss citizenship. During this period, he continued his artwork, which primarily included sketching and drafting ideas. Following their exploration across the US, which ended in 1981, Weber divorced and moved to the western US. Arriving in California, Weber set up a studio in Emeryville, located in the San Francisco Bay area. It was here that he created his first large-format images.
Later on, he would commute back and forth between America and Europe, which continued until the 1990s when he temporarily took up residence in Basel. Following the separation from his second wife, he switched his primary residence back to San Francisco. While maintaining a studio in California, he continued to travel to Paris and Switzerland on a regular basis. It wasn't until 2009, that Weber exhibited his art in his native city of Zurich for the first time.
In Paris, during the growing environment of the existentialism, Weber met Jean-Paul Sartre and Alberto Giacometti. He formed a lifelong friendship with the Giacometti, who advised him to develop and maintain ownership and independence of his artistic style and expression, apart from the influence and control of the artistic community that would seek to define his work based on the desires and artistic direction of others. To that end, Weber continued to develop new techniques and painting processes, which included the use of mixed media, pigments, and bright, vibrant colors on various canvasses and placement boards.
In 1964, with the encouragement of Giacometti, Weber traveled to New York, where the avant garde movement had been developing and coming to prominence on a global scale. While intrigued by the creative expression of the abstract painters he encountered in New York, he was drawn to the historic monuments of the Mayas and the Aztecs and began traveling to Mexico regularly. It was this combination of experiences - the breadth and spatiality of American abstract painting and Mexico's luminous colors that moved Weber to a radical new start.
Educational background
Weber's professional training was varied and included studying with world-renowned artists throughout Europe. He attended the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in Vienna, Switzerland, from 1955 through 1958. The school was a highly progressive school that offered an education that focused primarily on architecture, furniture, crafts, and modern design. While Vienna's Academy of Fine Art was considered more prestigious and traditional, the education at Kunstgewerbeschule was dominated by instructors of the Vienna Secession.
Following the completion of his education at Kunstgewerbeschule, Weber relocated to Paris, where he studied sculpture and painting under the guidance of André Lhôte, founder of the Académie d'Art in Montparnasse. Afterwards, Weber went to Italy to study the famous murals and wall paintings created by Italian Renaissance painters. After completing initial studies of the Italian frescoes, Weber moved to Salzburg, Austria, where he studied with Oskar Kokoschka, founder of the Schule des Sehens (School of Seeing). He additionally studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Zurich and the Académie de peinture et de sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture) in Paris. He and studied lithography and etching with Stanley Hayter in Paris.
Influences
André L’Hôte was not only a professor but also a significant influence on Weber's early emerging talent. Fernand Léger, also contributed to Weber in his early years. As Weber's work matured the classic influences of Andrea Montegna, Caravaggio, Pierro Della Francesca, and Fra Angelica are evident. He received the greatest inspiration in his professional career from Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso.
Personal style
Weber's oeuvre consists of four distinct genres: Late German Expressionism, which reveals his close scrutiny of Max Beckmann, E. L. Kirchner, and Emile Nolde. Abstract Expressionist works salute Jackson Pollock, Conrad Marca-Relli, Arshille Gorky, and Philip Guston. Figuration nods to Eric Fischl and Egon Schiele. Weber's expansive Colorfields reflect his respect for fellow Bay Area artist, Richard Diebenkorn, as well as Helen Frankenthaler, Ad Reinhardt, and Barnett Newman.
Death
Weber died in Basel, Switzerland on 29 October 2011. At the time of his death, he had perfected a previously undeveloped painting technique and process which allowed brilliant inks and pigment to adhere to translucent vellum. His last collective series encompassed the perfecting of this technique, which he referred to as Clusters. Following his death, an exhibition of a retrospective collection of Weber's life and work from 1960 through 2009 was presented at the Sammlung Gallerie S/Z in Zurich, running from June through August 2012. Another retrospective presentation of his work, entitled Remember, was presented in 2012 at the Galerie Lilian Andrée, Riehen, in the canton of Basel-Stadt in Switzerland.
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
1965: Workshop Gallery, Studio East, New York
1971: Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
1981: Retrospektive in der Galerie Inter Art Basel, Switzerland
1985: Galerie Stella Polaris, Los Angeles, California
1986: Galerie Hatley Martin, San Francisco, California
1988: Galerie Hatley Martin, San Francisco, California
1991: Galerie et Edition Lilian Andrée, Basel, Switzerland
1992: Galerie Hilt, Basel, Switzerland
1994: Centre d'Art d'Ivry, Galerie Fernand Léger, with catalogue (77 MBytes) Paris
1995: Galerie Marie-Louise Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland
1999: Kurt Weber: Retrospective, Le Coq Rouge, Lörrach, Germany
2002: Galerie Lilian Andrée, Basel, Switzerland
2004: Ambassade Suisse, Paris
2005: Galerie Lilian Andrée , Basel, Switzerland
2009: Sammlung Galerie S/Z, Zurich, Switzerland
2010: Southern Landmarks, Sammlung Galerie S/Z, Zurich, Switzerland
Group exhibitions
1962: Salon de Mai, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris
1963: Salon de la jeune Peinture, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris
1973: Galerie Troup, Texas
1986: First Emeryville Annual, San Francisco, California
1989: The Western National Annual, The Brooklyn Museum, New York
2000: Yellow: The First Color, Bedford Gallery, San Francisco, California
2003: Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, France
Further reading
14ème Salon de la jeune Peinture. Catalogue de l'exposition, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, 1963.
"A Swiss Painter in America", Basler Zeitung, Basel, Switzerland, 1981.
Kurt Weber at Hatley Martin, San Francisco, Clifford Schwartz, 1986.
Kurt Weber at Lilian Andrée, Basel, Switzerland; Siegmar Gassert, 1991.
Tansitions-California-Basel Doppelpunkt (Revue d'Art), Exposition Galerie Hilt, Basel, Switzerland, 1992.
Catalogue de l'exposition à la Galerie Fernand Léger, Ivry sur Seine. Cimaise, Revue d'Art, Paris, 1993.
Pierre-Marc-Levengeois: Kurt Weber, "The Palimpset of Cities". Le Nouveau Quotidien, Lausanne, Suisse, Laurent Wolf: "Kurt Weber, L'Homme qui va là où est la Peinture". Radio France Internationale, Allemagne. Arts plastique: Ironie et dérision, Ville d'Ivry: Actualité Culture
Frank, Peter. Kurt Weber, Paintings, SMI: Centre d'Art d'Ivry, 1994.
Autour de Mark Tobey, Art contemporain, Kurt Weber, 2003.
Pariscope, Kurt Weber à l'Ambassade de Suisse, Paris, Peintures récentes. Kunstbulletin, April 2004, Suisse, Kurt Weber à l'Ambassade de Suisse, Paris, 2004.
References
External links
Swiss contemporary artists
1938 births
2011 deaths