Ficht Tanner

==Biography==
Born in Trogen, in Appenzell, Ficht Tanner spent his childhood in the Rine Valley, in Balgach, and has been devoted to music since his adolescence. At the age of 16, he began his apprenticeship as a typographer at a printing press in Balgach. At 20, in 1972, he moved to Stuckishaus, near Bern, into a shared apartment where he met musicians Töbi Tobler, Markus Sutter, and Markus Iten. 
From 1973 to 1979, Ficht Tanner became the assistant to the painter Rudolf Mumprecht (1918-2019), who introduced him to the Swiss art scene. It is during this period that he began his first drawings, and in 1975, he married the artist, painter and ceramist Esther Rüdlinger (1953- ). A year later, in 1976, they moved together to Kirchlindach, into a house formerly owned by a printer. Ficht Tanner was able to continue his work as a typographer there, and his wife Esther Tanner had her ceramic studio built. With the support of Rudolf Mumprecht, Ficht and Esther Tanner then exhibited regularly at the Ringmauer Gallery in Murten. 
During this time, Ficht Tanner met the textile artist Therese Hächler, as well as Max Goldinger, an outsider artist whom he supported throughout his life in his creations. As a typographer, Ficht Tanner notably published the two poetry and drawing books of the artist Max Goldinger. The first was 19 Gedichte, published in 500 copies using his press in Kirchlindach, hand-bound and sewn. Later, in 1981, he had Festschrift published in a printing press in Aarau. 
Playing the double bass, Ficht Tanner was "always very active musically during his time in Bern - in changing formations, with different groups, and in styles ranging from blues, free funk, progressive rock to completely freely improvised jam sessions". In 1981, he founded his improvisational music group Appenzeller Space Schöttl with his friend Töbi Tobler. With their group, Ficht Tanner and Töbi Tobler would become the "pioneers of the new Swiss folk music (...), guiding traditional Appenzell music to new heights through free jazz, blues, and rock improvisations". 
In the early 1980s, Ficht Tanner began creating his first embroidered artworks. 
Three years later, Ficht Tanner leaves Kirchlindach to return to his hometown of Trogen and moves into the Honnerlagschen Palast with Therese Hächler, as well as his friend Töbi Tobler. From 1984 to 1999, he embarks on numerous tours across Europe with his improvisation group, Appenzeller Space Schöttl. 
Since the 2000s, Ficht Tanner has dedicated himself exclusively to embroidery and music, and regularly exhibiting his embroidered artworks in Gurmels, Heiden, Switzerland|Heiden, Zofingen, Schwarzenberg, Switzerland|Schwarzenberg, Bern, Baden, Switzerland|Baden, and Ligerz. In 2012, a major retrospective was dedicated to him at the Open art Museum in St. Gallen, and in 2021 in Speicher at the Museum für Lebensgeschichten. 
According to art historian and curator Monika Jagfeld, "Ficht Tanner comes closest to Wassily Kandinsky's synesthetic conception of art: he has always viewed music as colorful forms. Completely free in form and materiality, like Kandinsky, Ficht Tanner conceives music as the highest level of art, as the articulation of inner sound". 
Swiss journalist Brigitte Häring conducted an extensive interview with Ficht Tanner in SRF Kultur in 2012. 
==Exhibitions (not exhaustive)==
* 1981: Galerie Ringmauer (Murten);
* 2002: Gallery in der Haula|Galerie in der Haula, "Ficht Tanner", October 11 - Novembre 9, 2002 (Gurmels);
* 2004: Christina Waidelich Gallery|Galerie Christina Waidelich, "Therese Hächler & Ficht Tanner: Textilkunst", August 19 - Septembre 12, 2004 (Heiden);
* 2006: Artdirekt Gallery|Galerie Artdirekt, "Ficht Tanner", May 6 - June 10, 2006 (Bern);
* 2012: Open art Museum, "Ficht Tanner: Gestickte Gedanken", March 27 - July 8, 2012 (St. Gallen);
* 2013: Galerie Gluri Suter huss, "Ficht Tanner", May 5 - June 2, 2013 (Wettingen);
* 2013: Kulturpunkt, "Ficht Tanner: Exotische Stickereien aus Trogen", October 17 - Novembre 23, 2013 (Bern);
* 2014: Galerie Kulturschiene, "Ficht Tanner", August 28 - Septembre 7, 2014 (Herrliberg);
* 2019: Akku Kunstplattform, "Die Fäden in der Hand", August 24 - October 27, 2019 (Emmenbrücke);
* 2021: Museum für Lebensgeschichten, "Ficht Tanner: Musiker, Zeichner, Sticker", April 18 - Dezember 12, 2021 (Speicher)
==Discography==
* Appenzeller Space Schöttl, Sunrise Studios, 1982 (Online notice);
* Love is a hard work, Liverpool Record, 1984 (Online notice);
* Appenzeller Space Schöttl: Herbstimprovisationen, Greenwood Studios, 1995 (Online notice)
==Filmography==
* Ficht Tanners Gesticktes Universum, documentary de Heinz Erismann, Fotomagie Distribution, 2012, 60 min (Online notice)
==Bibliography==
* Monika Jagfeld, Ficht Tanner: Gestickte Gedanken, Museum im Lagerhaus, St. Gallen, 2012, 44p. (Online notice);
* Beat Keller, Ficht Tanner: Musiker, Zeichner, Sticker, Museum für Lebensgeschichten, Speicher, Switzerland|Speicher, Druckerei Lutz, 2021, 41p. (Online);
* Michael Sutter, "Fäden in der Hand", in Kunstbulletin, n°10, 2019 (Online);
* "Esther & Ficht Tanner à Morat: incursions réciproques", in Der Murtenbieter, novembre 1985 (Online);
* "Das Leben als liebe: Therese Hächler und Ficht Tanner", in Obacht Kultur, n°6, 2010/1, pp.11-13 (Online);
* "Ficht Tanner & Töbi Tobler: Appenzeller Space Schöttl, in Bühne Heimat, hiver 2017, p.1 (Online);
* "Swiss in Space", in Orla Duane, James Mc Connachie, World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, volume 1, Rough Guides, 1999, p.9 (Online)
Category:1952 births
Category:Swiss people
Category:Swiss artists
Category:Musicians
Category:Draughtsmen
Category:Painters
Category:Embroiderers