Ferdinand Hodler: Towards Rhythmic Images

The official catalog for the "Ferdinand Hodler Exhibition," held to commemorate the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Switzerland. This book traces the artistic career of Ferdinand Hodler, a leading Swiss painter from the late 19th to early 20th century.

Born in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, Hodler experienced the loss of his family at a young age. Despite this, he built a unique artistic world through Symbolism, landscape painting, and figural representation. The Alpine landscapes, dancing figures, themes of life and death, and the repetition of the body. As he approached his later years, Hodler's works increasingly revealed the order and rhythm present in nature and the human body.

As indicated by the exhibition's subtitle, "Towards Rhythmic Images," this book focuses on "Parallelism," a concept advocated by Hodler. This includes the repetition of similar forms, the interlocking of bodies, and the rhythm of clouds and mountain ranges. The book introduces Hodler's paintings, through oils and drawings, which sought to extract not the visible subjects themselves, but the structures and sense of movement that underpin them.

The catalog is primarily composed of works from the Kunstmuseum Bern, other major Swiss museums, and private collections. It also includes essays by Matthias Frehner, Oskar Bätschmann, Verena Zenti-Schmidlin, Laurence Madeline, and Shusaku Sagara, along with original source introductions, a brief chronology, and a bibliography. As a record of the large-scale retrospective exhibition held in Japan for the first time in approximately 40 years, this catalog is a highly valuable resource for understanding Hodler's art.

[Title] Ferdinand Hodler: Towards Rhythmic Images
[Publisher] NHK / NHK Promotions
[Publication Date] 2014
[Pages] 274 pages
[Size] approx. 227 x 260 mm / 1.075g
[Format] Softcover
[Language] Japanese, English, German, French
[Title Reading] FERUDINANTHODORUTEN
[Author/Editor] Jun Shindo/Editor, NHK/Editor, NHK Promotions/Editor, Matthias Frehner/Curatorial Concept & Text, Oskar Bätschmann/Text, Verena Zenti-Schmidlin/Text, Laurence Madeline/Text, Shusaku Sagara/Text, Sumihiro Oki/Editorial Assistant & Editor, Therese Bhattacharya-Stettler/Curatorial Cooperation, Maiko Bair/English Translation, Martha McClintock/English Translation, Hisako Tanaka/Design, AIMEX Fine Art/Production
[Printing] Dainippon Printing/Printer
[ISBN] -
[Condition] Used【7】Good
[Accessories] -
[Featured Book] -
[Related Exhibition] "Ferdinand Hodler: Towards Rhythmic Images - Commemorating 150 Years of Japan-Switzerland Diplomatic Relations" (National Museum of Western Art, October 7, 2014 - January 12, 2015 / Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, January 24 - April 5, 2015)

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918)

Born in Switzerland. Painter.

A leading Swiss painter from the late 19th to early 20th century. Born in Bern, he lost close family members at a young age. In his early work, he dealt with Symbolist themes evoking death and melancholy, later developing his painting to express vitality and the order of nature through landscapes, figures, and the repetition of the body.

He advocated his own art theory called "Parallelism," expressing the rhythm hidden in nature and the human body through the repetition and juxtaposition of similar forms. He is known for his Alpine landscapes, dancing figures, group portraits, portraits, and the series of works depicting the death of Valentine Godé-Darel.

He is regarded as a national painter in Switzerland and is an important figure in understanding the currents of 20th-century art, Symbolism, Expressionism, and modern painting.

Major works include "The Night," "The Day," "Emotion," "The Chosen One," "The Woodcutter," "William Tell on Horseback," and the "Valentine Godé-Darel" series.

Major collections include the Kunstmuseum Bern, Kunsthaus Zürich, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, and the National Museum of Western Art.

< Related Figures >

Ferdinand Hodler, Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Valentine Godé-Darel, Matthias Frehner, Oskar Bätschmann, Kunstmuseum Bern, National Museum of Western Art, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art