Friday, December 14, 2007

Hugo Boettinger 1880-1934, Painter

Hugo Boettinger in his studio with the large painting "Zwei Blumenmädchen" (1911)-see the guitar in the background?
"Jugend", oil painting by Hugo Boettinger, 1918

"Three Girls Bathing on Bach" 1910 painting by Hugo Boettinger
Who was Hugo Boettinger (or Bottinger)? He was Czech painter who was born in 1880 and died in 1934. He was also a graphic artist and studied at the Prague Academy. He was a friend of T. F. Simon, another amazing painter.
You can find a whole page devoted to Boettinger on
tfsimon.com .
Follow the link and scroll down the page to see lots of photos, paintings and graphic works. He apparently loved music as there are photos of him holding an accordian, a violin, and a guitar. The painting above is entitled "Three Girls Bathing on Bach". The other painting, "Jugend", pre-dates Balthus, yet it has much in common with him. One wonders if Balthus saw these works and was influenced by Boettinger.
Here is another site with images: Michis-Seiten .
Boettinger's paintings of nudes bathing are fascinating compositions. You can see how he loved to overlap the poses of his figures- legs, arms, angles -to suggest interesting relationships. I like to do that, too. I am glad I stumbled upon this great artist!
The Art of Amy Crehore

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