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FROM SEPTEMBRE 2019 TO 13 APRIL 2020
PARTICIPATION IN THE EXHIBITION ON THE THEME OF THE NUDE
AT THE KARTAUSE DE ITTINGEN
CH 8532 WARTH TG/CH

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FROM NOVEMBER 2 2018 TO FEBRUARY 24 2019
PARTICIPATION OF ROBERT WEHRLIN
AT THE EXHIBITION
"POLITICAL DRAWING, POETIC DRAWING"
AT THE MUSEE JENISCH IN VEVEY (SWITZERLAND)

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FROM SEPTEMBER 8 TO OCTOBER 28 2018 EXPOSITION
"ROBERT WEHRLIN"
IN THE ORANGERIE OF THE CAILLEBOTTE PROPRIETY IN YERRES (F91)

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ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE"ELSAUER-ZYTIG" BY JOSEF WINTELER N° 204 MAY 2015

THE WINDOWS OF THE CHURCH OF ELSAU (CH/ZH) BY R.WEHRLIN
ILLUSTRATE "C DANS L'R" PROGRAM ON FRANCE 5
PRESENTATION: YVES CALVI/CAROLINE ROUX
DECOR: FRANCK FELLEMANN
PRODUCTION: "MAXIMAL PROD"
DIRECTOR: PASCAL HENDRICK/JEAN-FRANCOIS VERZELE/JACQUES WEHRLIN
06 and 23/04/2015

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JANUARY - JUNE 2015
EXHIBITION AT THE KARTAUSE DE ITTINGEN
SWISS GERMAN ARTISTS DURING WWII
CH 8532 WARTH TG/CH

"DER HIMMEL BRENNT AM HORIZONT"
"THE SKY IS BURNING ON THE HORIZON"

http://www.kunstmuseum.ch/xml_1/internet/de/application/d8/f115.cfm?action=ausstellung.show&id=100

http://www.art-tv.ch/11379-0-Kunstmuseum-Thurgau-Der-Himmel-brennt-am-Horizont.html

"Le Mauvais Peintre" ca.1940 Aquatinte 34,5 x 25 Coll. Musée "La Piscine" Roubaix

"Il faut en finir" ca.1943 Vernis mou 34,5 x 22 Coll. Musée "La Piscine" Roubaix

"La politique de la main tendue" 1940 Vernis mou 34,5 x 22 Coll. Musée "La Piscine" Roubaix

ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE "SUDKURIER" OF KONSTANZ (GERMANY)
26 MAY 2015

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TRIBUTE OF THE ARTIST FOR THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH IN 1964
Gallery "Im Rathausdurchgang"
septembre 27 2014 to janvier 3, 2015
Stadthausstrasse 57
CH 8400 Winterthur

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ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE EXHIBITION CATALOG
"VIE DE CHEVAL"
From the bottom of the mine to the equestrian games
National Archives of World of Work
Roubaix (F59) 3rd quarter 2014

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ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE "LANDBOTE" FEBRUARY 26, 2014
for the 50th anniversary of the death of the artist the 29/02/1964

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"DEPOLAND"
59140 DUNKIRK
"ART TO THE TEST OF THE WORLD"
July 6 to October 6, 2013
http://www.claudinecolin.com/fr/902-lart-a-lepreuve-du-monde

"The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse" by Wehrlin alongside the "4 Horsemen" by Dürer

"The War in Poland" by Wehrlin and "Guernica, Mother and Child" by Jean Lasne two works on loan from the Musée "la Piscine" in Roubaix

MUSEUM "LA PISCINE" 59100 ROUBAIX

OCTOBER 13 2012 - JANUARY 13 2013

PRESS REVIEW AND EXHIBITION INORMATIONS

LINK TO REPORT OF 13H ON TF1 FROM 22/12/2012

Journal de TF1 Présentation de l'exposition

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ATICLE APPEARED IN MAGAZIN "L'OEIL" IN JANUARY 2013

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ARTICLE APPEARED "LIBERTE HEBDO" 28/12/2012

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ARTICLE APPEARED IN "LA GAZETTE DROUOT" 07/12/2012
by Lydia Harambourg

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ARTICLE APPEARED IN "LA VOIX DU NORD" DU 02/12/2012

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ARTICLE APPEARED IN "HET LAATSTE NIEUWS" OF BRUXELLES 30/11/2012

La Piscine surprises with two very original exhibitions. Anyone who thinks they have seen everything from Chagall will make some discoveries here: such as the theater costumes he painted in 1942-3 in New York and Mexico City, not without humor. Vases rich in deformations painted in Vallauris (near Picasso). The little-known sculptural work, mainly in stone worked on the surface, with subjects borrowed from Jewish mysticism. And finally projects designed for large decorative commissions (Opera de Paris) and collages of recent years made with oil and sand and others. Swiss painter Robert Wehrlin (1903-1964) - you probably don't know him. He met German expressionist Kirchner (who painted his portrait) and initially worked in this style. He is in Paris when fascism triumphs. He makes a series of engravings about it, which is absolutely unique and shown here for the first time (see photo, Hitler as a failed painter). This series and the rest of the work is a real sensation! Joost De Geest

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ARTICLE APPEARED IN "LE JOURNAL DU DIMANCHE " 28/10/2012

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LINK TO "artactu.com" 12/11/12

http://www.artactu.com/exposition-robert-wehrlin-la-piscine-de-roubaix-article001999.html


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EXHIBITION PRESENTATION IN "LET'S MOTIV" North/Belgium édition 03/11/2012

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ARTICLE APPEARED IN "LE FIGARO MAGAZINE" 02/11/2012

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Press release of the MUSEUM "LA PISCINE"
ABOUT THE ROBERT WEHRLIN EXHIBITION

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PROGRAM OF THE MUSEUM "LA PISCINE" from 12/10/2012 to 13/01/2013

Le Musée de "La Piscine"

MARC CHAGALL After the success of the exhibition "Chagall and ceramics" in 2007-2008 La Piscine lifts a new veil on the work of this major artist. With this exhibition, La Piscine wishes to shed light on the question of volume at Chagall, with nearly two hundred works. Whether through ceramics, sculpture or his involvement in the performing arts, Chagall has integrated these areas of experimentation as inseparable components of his work. They are among the least known of his artistic experience ... This exhibition is produced in partnership with the EMMA - Museum of Modern Art in Espoo in Helsinki (Finland) and the Museum of Art in Dallas (USA) MARTINE DAMAS Great lady of ceramics, Martine Damas died two years ago, as her creative world opened up to other practices - paper, photography - in a desire to decompartmentalize art. La Piscine, helped by the companion of the artist Pierre Patrolin, wishes to present in this exhibition the sensitive work of this creator recognized throughout the world. ROBERT WEHRLIN Robert Wehrlin (1903-1964) is a Swiss expressionist artist who spent most of his life in France from 1924 to 1964. A pupil of E.L. Kirchner, he left an important work of painter and engraver. Virtually unpublished, the family fund, kept by wehrlin's only son, is extremely rich. This dossier exhibition will accompany a donation to the museum. PRISCILLA MOTTE Priscilla Motte trained as a sculptor at the Beaux-Arts. His inspiration is nourished by his literary encounters, concerns related to our world and his painful or happy experiences. Little by little, she refined the material to create sculptures that move at the slightest breath, or powerful and hieratic. Her creative world explores all the materials available to her. Thus, in addition to his sculptures, the museum presents his experimental work in the field of styling.

THURGAUER ZEITUNG: Regionalkultur 16/01/2012

In «Constellation 4», the Thurgau Art Museum is showing drawings and graphic works. «Konstellation 4» zeigt das Kunstmuseum Thurgau Zeichnungen und grafische Werke.
BARBARA FATZER

WARTH. Every year since 2009, the Thurgau Art Museum has been fetching partly unknown works from the depot, which in a new compilation allow unknown perspectives on certain artists or topics. The fourth of these exhibitions has now opened, showing mainly Thurgau artists who developed in the first 60 years of the 20th century. This «constellation 4» should also help to introduce the 2012 annual theme of the art and Ittinger museums: craft and its significance for art.

Life drawing compulsory
The small selection of drawings or graphic sheets shows how artists used to acquire their artistic craft: as was customary at the beginning of the 20th century, abroad at academies or with well-known artists. The life drawing was very important, the exact observation and reproduction of the human body was one of the compulsory subjects of the training at that time. The Frauenfeld painter Martha Haffter also devoted herself to nude drawing during many years of study visits to Paris. However, her own family was not allowed to know about it, they did not tolerate preoccupation with the naked body. Martha Haffter always kept these sheets and did not exhibit them. Her masterful handling of the subject can now be seen in just a few drawings. Carl Roesch, on the other hand, like Ernst Schlatter, had to earn a living alongside the "high" art. They designed posters or postcards and had some success with them.

The most interesting new discovery is Robert Wehrlin (1903–1964), of whom there is a considerable collection in the art museum. He is better known in Winterthur, where he grew up and belonged to the artist group, but also in Paris, where he stayed again and again from 1924 onwards. The only larger exhibition in Thurgau was organized by the Kunstverein Frauenfeld in 1983; it included his graphic work. In the art museum, the focus is now on the oil painting “La mort d'un ami”, for which the artist made countless sketches to grasp this difficult subject, as well as a graphic series. von dem eine ansehnliche Sammlung im Kunstmuseum vorhanden ist. Bekannter ist er in Winterthur, wo er aufgewachsen ist und zur Künstlergruppe gehörte, aber auch in Paris, wo er sich von 1924 an immer wieder aufhielt. Die einzig grössere Ausstellung im Thurgau hat der Kunstverein Frauenfeld 1983 veranstaltet; sie beinhaltete sein grafisches Werk. Im Kunstmuseum steht jetzt das Ölbild «La mort d'un ami» im Mittelpunkt, wofür der Künstler unzählige Skizzen anfertigte, um dieses schwierige Thema zu fassen, wie auch eine grafische Serie

Two artistically valuable murals by Robert Wehrlin have been rescued from the welfare house. You are looking for a new place to stay.

Zwei künstlerisch wertvolle Wandbilder von Robert Wehrlin sind aus dem Wohlfahrtshaus gerettet worden. Sie suchen eine neue Bleibe.künstlerisch wertvolle Wandbilder von Robert Wehrlin sind aus dem Wohlfahrtshaus gerettet worden. Sie suchen eine neue Bleibe.

Once upon a time there were two murals. They decorated two halls that were built in 1956 at right angles to each other. Each of the two took up an entire long wall. They were enormous just because of their dimensions of 27 and 25 meters in length and four and three meters in height, respectively. There were no comparable formats in Winterthur and hardly anywhere in this country, except in churches. These giant pictures, however, housed a very mundane canteen, namely the former welfare house of the Sulzer brothers AG in Oberwinterthur, a building that will soon be demolished. Upscale apartments are being built on the site where the planned Eulachpark is to begin. Hundreds of people saw the decorative paintings every day, tens of thousands over the decades since their installation in 1962. It was without a doubt thanks to the architect Edwin Bosshardt that he was able to convince the company to aesthetically upgrade a purely functional building as it would have been in a public building. It was he who gave Robert Wehrlin this appearance. Wehrlin was predestined for this, at that time probably the only one in the region who was up to the task, who was not shocked by 200 square meters of empty wall. His creative imagination required large projection surfaces. He arranged with sweeping gestures, out of his arm and out of his body, and according to his nature was interested in “art in architecture”. He created sgraffiti for different locations. With his own spiritual passion, he took up church stained glass in his mature years. Several impressive glass window cycles come from him. He is also present in some places with large-format tapestries. In the last, extremely fruitful creative decade, Robert Wehrlin, who died prematurely at the age of 61, also realized the murals of the Sulzer canteen, " the Wohlfahrtshaus".
Hunderte von Menschen haben die dekorativen Gemälde täglich gesehen, Zehntausende waren es im Laufe der Jahrzehnte, seit ihrer Installation im Jahre 1962. Es war ohne Zweifel das Verdienst des Architekten Edwin Bosshardt, dass er die Firma überzeugen konnte, einen reinen Zweckbau ästhetisch so aufwerten zu lassen, wie es einem Gebäude des öffentlichen Raums wohl angestanden wäre. Er war es auch, der Robert Wehrlin diesen Auftritt verschaffte. Wehrlin war dafür prädestiniert, in der Region damals wohl der Einzige, der dieser Aufgabe gewachsen war, der vor 200 Quadratmetern leerer Wand nicht erschrak. Seine gestaltende Fantasie bedurfte grosser Projektionsflächen. Er disponierte mit ausladenden Gesten, aus dem Arm, aus dem Körper heraus, und interessierte sich seinem Naturell gemäss für «Kunst am Bau».
Er schuf Sgraffiti für verschiedene Standorte. Mit der ihm eigenen spirituellen Leidenschaft nahm er sich in reiferen Jahren kirchlicher Glasmalerei an. Von ihm stammen mehrere eindrucksvolle Glasfensterzyklen. Auch mit grossformatigen Tapisserien ist er an manchen Orten präsent. Im letzten, überaus fruchtbaren Schaffensjahrzehnt verwirklichte der mit 61 Jahren zu früh verstorbene Robert Wehrlin auch die Wandbilder der Sulzer-Kantine, dem Wohlfahrtshaus.

Waiting in the storeroom in Lichtenstein

«The two murals will be something to talk about. Your free and personal language will become more understandable over time. Your artistic potency will be able to develop more and more". This was predicted by Heinrich Bruppacher (1930-2010), the younger artist colleague whom the master, together with Camillo Jelmini, had called in to realize the giant formats. Nobody suspected at the time that the sculptures would be obsolete so quickly. At least their destruction was prevented by a few friends of the artist and his son Jacques Wehrlin. The rescue operation succeeded without further ado because the pictures were painted on boards and only hung in front of the load-bearing walls. Stacked in a storage room, they are now waiting to see the light of day a second time, either in full width or divided into smaller portions, so that this fairy tale also ends happily: “And because they did not die, they are still alive today . " Due to their size, a new placement should not be easy. However, their cultural value is undisputed. For Dieter Schwarz, director of the Kunstmuseum Winterthur, they convincingly represent in the region the reflex of the Ecole de Paris, a mainstream of modern painting from the middle of the last century. As a young man, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner personally encouraged Wehrlin to drop out of law studies. He moved to Paris, where he was among painters who implemented traditional pictorial subjects in an expressive manner. His friends included Max Gubler and Willy Guggenheim, who incidentally took a variant of the (French articulated) sonorous name Wehrlin, namely Varlin, as a pseudonym. The artistic aim was to break up the harmless harmonic and pleasing. Wehrlin's painting is also characterized by impetuous brush script. His perception deforms what he sees into a statement, an existential commitment. In later years he therefore explored intensively, even fervently, the expressive powers of abstract design, as had been tried out by Bram van Velde, Bazaine, Bissiere, Manessier and others. In the field of glass painting, abstraction promoted internalization and spiritualization. In addition, figurative forms retained their rights, but reduced to signs and symbols.

Different shapes

Enduring this tension and even consciously staging the opposites is typical of Robert Wehrlin's later work. This can also be seen, for example, from the different shapes of the two murals. The larger one still illustrates the subject of “work and leisure” to a certain extent (from left to right), while the smaller picture plays through the alternation of “rest and movement” purely rhythmically. However, both works illustrate how much the artist Wehrlin was interested in the process of design, the design and networking in connection, not least the technical innovations, and how comprehensively his restlessly searching spirit and artistic temperament could be realized in this marathon of images .

GERHARD PINIEL April 2007

BETWEEN PARIS AND WINTERTHUR

Robert Wehrlin was born on March 8, 1903 in Winterthur. The decision to become a painter led him to Paris in 1924. In 1932 he became a member of the Winterthur artist group. He exhibited here for the first time in 1934. In 1938 he moved from Paris to nearby Antony. From 1946 he had a second studio in Winterthur. He receives numerous commissions here and is present with exhibitions. He died on February 29, 1964 in Winterthur.
www.wehrlin.info

Article appeared in the "Thurgauer Zeitung" (Switzerland) 8 mars 2003

Fascinated by people
by Nadine Kugler

Works by Robert Wehrlin in the Museum Bischofszell

Robert Wehrlin would have turned 100 this year. On his birthday, the Bischofszell Museum gives an insight into the artist's diverse work with paintings, documents and graphics.
Gianfranco Christen, curator of the Bischofszeller Museum, and Jacques Wehrlin, the late painter's son, set up the exhibition. «My father worked a lot. Too much », explains Jacques Wehrlin while looking at a painting by Robert Wehrlin. His father had the studio above his room. "As a child, I often heard his footsteps at night when he was still working and in the studio."
Robert Wehrlin was born in 1903 and died in 1964. Sometimes he thinks his father knew he wouldn't get old, Jacques Wehrlin ponders. That's why he worked so much. Nevertheless, the painter could not finish everything he started.
Studied in Paris
Robert Wehrlin's family comes from Bischofszell. The artist grew up in Winterthur. He started to study law. In Davos, where his mother lived for 20 years because of her tuberculosis, Wehrlin met the artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. This encounter influenced Robert Wehrlin's life: he gave up law studies in order to devote himself entirely to painting. In 1924 he moved to Paris, where he studied at various academies and presented his works at exhibitions. The artist also received more attention in Switzerland. He was accepted into the Winterthur artist group. In the post-war years, Wehrlin received a number of public contracts for schools and churches. For example, he designed colored windows for churches.

Brought to life

The exhibition in Bischofszell shows the diversity of the artist. Oil paintings, graphics and documents give an insight into the work of Robert Wehrlin and into his artistic development. Whether very representational or abstract - the works invite you to look at them for a longer period of time. There are always new details to be found. Some pictures are very colorful, while others are rather gloomy, thoughtful and yet fascinating. The classroom in the museum is brought back to life through the portraits and drawings of many children. «We lived across from a children's home in Paris. My father captured many of the children in his pictures, »says Jacques Wehrlin. But the painter not only portrayed strange children, but also his own son several times. "He often integrated my mother into his drawings, even though she wasn't there." He seemed fascinated by people, who are often the focus of his works. The letters that the artist wrote to his godchild, which are a mixture of drawing and writing, exude a special attraction. Excerpts from it can be admired in the museum. Also interesting are the caricatures that Wehrlin made during the Second World War and thus targeted Adolf Hitler.
Citizen of Bischofszell
His father died 39 years ago. "Still, he's not dead to me," says Jacques Wehrlin. He has hung up numerous paintings by his father at home and is always reminded of him. When he was younger, he had trouble understanding the drawings. Today it is easier for him. "I really appreciate my father's abstract art." Jacques Wehrlin asked the museum in Bischofszell whether he could organize an exhibition for his father's 100th birthday, explains Gianfranco Christen. The museum was happy to agree to this idea, especially since the painter's family are citizens of Bischofszell.

Article appeared in the "Thurgauer Zeitung" (Switzerland) 6 mars 2003

For Robert Wehrlin, painting was life

Robert Wehrlin, whose family comes from Bischofszell, is one of the well-known Swiss painters of the 20th century. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, the Bischofszell Museum is showing a retrospective of his work. Bischofszell - First, Robert Wehrlin, who grew up in Winterthur, began studying law. In Davos, where his mother lived for 20 years because of her tuberculosis, he met the charismatic artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. This fateful encounter finally determined Wehrlin's life: painting. The law course was given up against the will of the mother in order to be able to devote herself exclusively to art. In 1924 Robert Wehrlin moved to Paris, where he rented a cheap but uncomfortable and unhealthy studio and studied at various academies.

Wehrlin's early works were strongly influenced by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Expressionism. However, this subjectivist artistic form of expression contradicted the attitude to life that he experienced in Paris. Under the influence of Henri Matisse's art, Wehrlin's painting became more surface-oriented, the colors became richer and brighter, and questions of composition and form received increased attention.

Artistic recognition

Wehrlin's life in Paris was associated with many disappointments and privations. It was the price for his artistic freedom and self-realization. But there were also better times: Wehrlin was able to exhibit at the Salon d'Automne in Paris for the first time as early as 1925. Further exhibitions followed in the Salon des Tuileries, where he exhibited regularly until the outbreak of war. In Switzerland, too, Wehrlin received increasing attention: in 1932 he was accepted into the Winterthur artist group, in which art-interested citizens also frequented. Here he was not only popular as an artist, but also as an intelligent discussion partner who liked to comment on critical issues of the time.

In the post-war years, Wehrlin received a number of public contracts for schools and churches. The techniques he used were the sgraffito, the tapestry and finally the stained glass window.

Steps to abstraction

Viewed as a whole, Wehrlin's work is a work of the middle. He is just as averse to the pleasing as to the offensive, his pictures are characterized on the one hand by respect for tradition, the masters of the past, and on the other hand by a distanced examination of the avant-garde. You don't find big leaps, tensions and disunity with him. Nonetheless, in the 1950s a series of pictures emerged in which the representational appears at most only hinted at. In individual works - including graphic techniques - he ventured into total abstraction.

In these pictures that zeitgeist can be seen and felt, which believed to be on the move to new, unlimited possibilities, which was not only noticeable in the art world, but also in science. Robert Wehrlin, however, was a restless, overly interested person to dwell on just one style. Partly at the same time as the abstractions, an abundance of children's portraits was created, which reveal a fundamental love for people and a great deal of empathy.

Expressive children's portraits

Wehrlin loved the real, natural nature of the children. With inexhaustible variety he traced the different shapes of hands, eyes, mouths and noses. Precisely because he did not have a sentimental attitude towards children, these portraits appear honest and radiate a special beauty. Wehrlin took people seriously even when he was a child, he knew that he forms a whole in every phase of his being. Wehrlin's children's portraits have been given a particularly suitable place for the special exhibition within the classroom in the museum. An interaction takes place: the classroom comes to life through the diverse faces of boys and girls, and the portraits come together to form a unit in a harmonious atmosphere.

Anyone who wants to find out something about him as a person behind the artist Wehrlin will sense this from his pictures. The enormous examination of techniques and styles indicates an alert, intelligent and empathetic mind that perceives everything, deals with everything. Wehrlin was a person who was curious and positive about what he saw, who looked for a hidden truth behind what was superficial and who designed and implemented it artistically. He dealt unpretentiously with his artistry: He did not live his biography, but his life, which he devoted above all to art. For him painting was life and life movement.