Eberhard Viegener

Born in Soest, Germany, Eberhard Viegener was a self-taught painter and printmaker. After an apprenticeship as a decorative painter, he initially worked as a decorator in his father's business. During this time he frequently visited the Folkwang Museum in Hagen where he discovered Modernism and became increasingly keen to pursue his own career as an artist. After a brief period in Zurich, where he worked as a decorative painter from 1912, he started to create his first paintings, inspired by ideas from Wilhelm Morgner and Ferdinand Hodler. This was followed by an impasto neo-Impressionist phase and subsequently an Expressionist phase, inspired by the early works of Wassily Kandinsky and Alexej von Jawlensky. At the same time he also started to produce a large body of prints which were sold via the art gallery owner Alfred Flechtheim, who also organised Viegener's first solo exhibition. In the 1920 Viegener turned towards New Objectivity and painted mainly still lifes in a cool and formal style. His phase in the 1930s, on the other hand, was characterised by a realistic, naturalist style. During this period he painted numerous landscapes of his native Westphalia where he was now living a more secluded life. The paintings of his Expressionist and neo-Objectivist phases were confiscated by the Nazis under their "Degenerate Art" policy. Towards the end of artistic life, Viegener began to take an interest in Cubism, particularly the works of Robert Delaunay. The outstanding stylistic diversity of Viegener's oeuvre is a reflection of Modernist developments whose many different movements he skilfully adopted in his art, adding his own personal touch.