Benjamin Vautier (Swiss artist)

Marc Louis Benjamin Vautier (27 April 1829 – 25 April 1898) was a Swiss genre painter and illustrator.^[1]

Early life and education

He was born in Morges. He was the son of a teacher and began his art studies in Geneva, then worked for two years as a jewelry enamel painter. In 1849, he obtained a position in the studios of history painter Jean-Léonard Lugardon.^[1] While there, he also took courses in anatomical drawing at a nearby art school.

Work

He began attending the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1849 and became a member of "Malkasten" (Paintbox), a local artists' association. He left the Academy for one year to work with Rudolf Jordan as a private student.^[2] Eventually, he decided to devote himself to depicting peasant life, which he observed for several years by visiting the Bernese Oberland.

In 1856 he went to Paris but returned to Düsseldorf a year later and painted his first peasant genre pictures. Initially, he focused on Switzerland, but finally decided to concentrate on the Black Forest region.^[2] He also worked as an illustrator (Der Oberhof by Karl Leberecht Immermann, Barfüßele by Berthold Auerbach, and others). Later, he became a Royal Professor at the Academy in Düsseldorf.

Death

He died in 1898 in Düsseldorf.

Gallery

Vautier's Self-Portrait, 1888
Kinder beim Mittagessen
(Children at Lunch, 1857)

References

^ a b Laurent Langer: Benjamin Vautier (Swiss artist) in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
^ a b Eduard Daelen (1908), "Vautier, Benjamin", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 54, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 738–741

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Benjamin Vautier (1829-1898).

Illustrations online (selection)

Digitalized by the University and State Library Düsseldorf:

In: Album deutscher Kunst und Dichtung. Mit Holzschnitten nach Originalzeichnungen der Künstler, ausgeführt von R. Brend'amour. Friedrich Bodenstedt. - Berlin : Grote, 1867. [1]
In: Aquarelle Düsseldorfer Künstler : den kunstsinnigen Damen gewidmet. - Düsseldorf : Arnz, 1861. English Edition: Aquarels of Düsseldorf artists. - Düsseldorf: Arnz, 1852. [2][3]
Auerbach, Berthold. Barfüßele. - Stuttgart : Cotta, 1870. [4]^{[permanent dead link]}
In: Düsseldorfer Bilder-Mappe : Original-Zeichnungen. - Berlin : Grote, 1866. [5]
In: Howitt, Mary Botham. The Dusseldorf artist's album. - Dusseldorf : Arnz, 1854. [6]
Kurzweil und Zeitvertreib : Bilder aus dem Leben in 12 Bleistiftzeichnungen. - München : Ackermann, 1884. [7]
In: Märchen und Sagen für Jung und Alt. - Düsseldorf : Arnz : Voß, 1857, Vol.2 [8]
Immermann, Karl. Der Oberhof : aus Immermann's Münchhausen. - Berlin : Hofmann, 1863. [9]
In: Stieler, K./Wachenhusen, H. /Hackländer, F. W.: Rheinfahrt : Von den Quellen des Rheins bis zum Meere. - Stuttgart : Kröner, 1875. [10]
In: Diethoff, E. Vom Rhein. Bilder und Geschichten aus alter und neuer Zeit. - Leipzig : Payne, 1871. [11]
Gedichte. Arnz, Düsseldorf 1852 [12]