Kubin, Alfred

Kubin, Alfred

▪ Austrian artist
born April 10, 1877, Leitmeritz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Litoměřice, Czech Republic]
died August 24, 1959, Zwickledt, Austria

      Austrian graphic artist known for his drawings and paintings of dreamlike, often morbid, subjects.

      In 1898 Kubin went to Munich, Bavaria, in the German Empire (now Germany), to study art. As a student, he discovered the works that would become his major influences: the fantastic and morbid prints of French Symbolist (Symbolist movement) Odilon Redon (Redon, Odilon) and of Belgian painter James Ensor (Ensor, James, Baron), and the strange and imaginative etchings of German artist Max Klinger (Klinger, Max). Kubin's early drawings were usually executed in an ink-and-wash technique that attempted to emulate the velvety aquatints of Redon and Klinger. He later adopted a more spontaneous-looking drawing style that is often described as “spidery.”

      In 1902 Kubin had his first exhibition at the Cassirer Gallery in Berlin, and the next year he completed the first of many book illustrations. He visited the aging Redon's Paris studio in 1906. Later that year Kubin settled at Zwickledt, Austria, where he continued to live for most of his life. He exhibited with the Blaue Reiter (Blaue Reiter, Der) group in Munich in 1912 and at Der Sturm (Sturm, Der) in 1913. He suffused his works with images of death, of a menacing female sexuality, and of various bizarre animals, all of which he depicted in dim light against shadowy backgrounds, evoking a haunting expectation of some sinister turn of events. The nightmarish world Kubin created in his drawings reflects his own inner turmoil; he attempted suicide in 1896 and suffered a mental breakdown in 1903.

      Kubin seems to have chosen the books he illustrated—by writers such as Edgar Allan Poe (Poe, Edgar Allan), Oscar Wilde (Wilde, Oscar), and Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Dostoyevsky, Fyodor)—for their macabre qualities. Kubin also wrote a novel inspired by the death of his father, Die andere Seite (1909; “The Other Side”).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Kubin, Alfred —    см. Кубин, Альфред …   Энциклопедический словарь экспрессионизма

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  • Alfred Kubin — Alfred Kubin. Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (10 de abril de 1877 – 20 de agosto de 1959) Ilustrador expresionista austriaco y escritor ocasional, descendiente de ancestros checos. Kubin nació en Leitmeritz, Bohemia, que …   Wikipedia Español

  • KUBIN (A.) — KUBIN ALFRED (1877 1959) Il a été la preuve vivante de l’impossibilité de réduire l’expressionnisme à un courant pictural. Après une tentative de suicide sur la tombe de sa mère, Alfred Kubin s’engage dans l’armée austro hongroise. Une nouvelle… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Alfred Kubin — 1904; Fotografie von Nicola Perscheid. Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (* 10. April 1877 in Leitmeritz (Litoměřice), Böhmen; † 20. August 1959 in Zwickledt, Gemeinde Wernstein am Inn) war ein österreichischer …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Alfred Kubin — Naissance 10 avril 1877 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Kubin — ist der Name folgender Orte: Dolný Kubín, (deutsch Unterkubin, ungarisch Alsókubin), Stadt in der Slowakei Kubin (Banat) = Kubin (Vojvodina), Stadt in Serbien Kubin ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Alfred Kubin (1877–1959),… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kubin —   [ kuːbin, ku biːn], Alfred, österreichischer Zeichner und Schriftsteller, * Leitmeritz 10. 4. 1877, ✝ Gut Zwickledt (heute zu Wernstein am Inn) 20. 8. 1959. Kubin stand zunächst unter dem Eindruck der Werke von F. de Goya und M. Klinger; so… …   Universal-Lexikon

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