Ferdinand Max Hodler

Born Mar. 14, 1853, in Bern; died May 19, 1918, in Geneva. Swiss painter.

From 1871 to 1876, Hodler studied in Geneva with B. Menn. He subsequently did most of his work in Geneva. Hodler was one of the most important masters of art nouveau painting. He developed grand human themes that enabled him to express the inevitable merging of the human and cosmic being (man and history). The taut compositional rhythms and simple decorative coloring inherent in Hodler’s mature works (for example, Night, 1890, Art Museum, Bern; Day, 1900, Art Museum, Bern; The Woodcutter, 1910, Art Museum, Bern; A Look Into Infinity, 1916, Kunsthaus, Zürich) find their most organic expression in the master’s monumental-decorative works (for example, The Departure of the Jena Volunteers, 1908–09, Schiller University, Jena). Hodler also painted portraits and magnificent views of the Alps.