Alfred Kubin

Alfred Kubin (10 April 1877 – 20 August 1959) was born Leitmeritz (Litoměřice) on the Elbe River in northern Bohemia, the son of an Austro-Hungarian land surveyor. Two years later, the family moved to the Austrian heartland where Kubin begin drawing his first pieces.

The Epidemic | 1900/1901 | © Eberhard Spangenberg, Munich/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2018

After unsuccessfully attending the Gymnasium (grammar school) and the State Trade School in Salzburg, he began an apprenticeship as a photographer with an uncle in Klagenfurt at the age of 15. He broke off the apprenticeship three years later after a suicide attempt at his mother's grave. Following another mental breakdown while serving in the military, Kubin went to Munich in 1898 to study art. There, in 1899, he had a decisive encounter with Max Klinger's etching cycle "Paraphrase on the Finding of a Glove," which, according to Kubin himself, triggered a crisis in him, causing him to experience a "fall of visions of black-and-white images" and leading to the discovery of his own expressive world, which characterized his nightmarish and fantastical early work. By 1904, Kubin had produced hundreds of drawings of this type using a special technique of wash and spatter ink pen and ink. The 1903 Hans von Weber portfolio, containing reproductions of his provocative drawings, further increased his renown.

The hour of death | 1900 | © Eberhard Spangenberg, Munich/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2018

In January 1904, Wassily Kandinsky invited him to the 9th exhibition of the artists' association "Phalanx," where Kubin was able to show a collection of 30 drawings. Shortly thereafter, he married Hedwig Gründler, the sister of the writer Oscar A.H. Schmitz, and in 1906 the couple moved from Munich to Zwickledt in Upper Austria. Here, in the autumn of 1908, Kubin wrote and illustrated the novel "The Other Side." These illustrations showcase the fluid, black-and-white pen-and-ink style that would become characteristic of his entire subsequent work. In 1909, he joined the "New Artists' Association of Munich" and, in December 1911, participated in the founding of the "Blue Rider" group. As early as 1910, he sought contact with Paul Klee in Munich and exchanged drawings with him. Kubin was represented at the second "Blue Rider" exhibition in 1912 with an impressive eleven works.

Map of the town of Perle, illustration for 'The Other Side' | 1909 | © Eberhard Spangenberg, Munich/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2018

Authentic view of Perle, the capital and residence city of the Dream Empire. | 1909 | © Eberhard Spangenberg, Munich/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2018

The end of the war | 1920 | © Eberhard Spangenberg, Munich/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2018

In the second half of his life, Kubin created a substantial body of work in Zwickledt, including as a book illustrator and designer of numerous portfolios. Increasingly, motifs from his rural surroundings and the Bohemian Forest, which he discovered as a place to retreat to, found their way into his art. He also maintained an extensive correspondence with artists and writers of his time, such as Salomon Friedlaender, Hermann Hesse, Hans Carossa, and Ernst Jünger. Kubin died on August 20, 1959, in Zwickledt.