Alfred Kubin
Alfred Kubin was an Austrian artist and illustrator, known for his unique contributions to the Expressionist movement and his eerie, dreamlike works that often explored themes of death and the subconscious. He initially trained in photography before shifting his focus to art and literature. His only novel, "Die andere Seite" (The Other Side), was completed during a particularly difficult period of depression and is considered an allegorical work that reflects his artistic style. Kubin's early artistic endeavors were marked by collaborations with notable figures, including Franz Kafka, and his illustrations graced the works of renowned authors like Fyodor Dostoevsky and Edgar Allan Poe, helping him gain international recognition. He experienced significant personal tragedies, including the loss of his mother and fiancée, which deeply influenced his art. Kubin spent much of his life in the quiet town of Zwickledt in western Austria, where he continued to develop his distinctive style characterized by inked lines. Despite the challenges he faced, including the impact of World War II, Kubin's work was rediscovered post-war, leading to various honors and exhibitions, including his first solo show in the United States in 1941.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Alfred Kubin
Expressionist
- Born: April 10, 1877
- Birthplace: Leitmeritz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now Litoměřice, Czech Republic)
- Died: August 24, 1959
- Place of death: Zwickledt, Austria
Biography
Alfred Kubin was an artist and illustrator who branched out into writing during a twelve-week period in which he suffered from depression and found himself unable to draw. Instead, he wrote his sole novel, Die andere Seite (the other side). It was published in 1909.
Kubin lived most of his life in the upper regions of Austria, although he traveled frequently during his life. He suffered from recurring bouts of depression. His mother died when he was ten years old, prompting him to attempt suicide at age nineteen in 1896, at his mother’s grave. The following year, he suffered a complete mental breakdown while serving in the military. Even after his career had gotten underway, he was dogged by more tragedy: the death of his fiancé, Emmy Bayer, from typhus in 1903. Perhaps it should not be surprising that his work often focused on themes involving death.
After convalescing for about a year, Kubin went to Munich in 1898 to study art. The native of Bohemia had previously worked as an apprentice in a photography workshop. He traveled to Paris, where he became friendly with such literary figures as Franz Kafka. He began illustrating classic literary works about this time. He was one of the artists creating the Expressionist movement, although his early work has also been seen as a precursor to Surrealism. His first exhibited works appeared in 1902 at the Cassirer Gallery in Berlin. In 1903, he followed with exhibits in Vienna and Berlin, and a collector published fifteen of his eerie drawings in a portfolio. In 1904, he became part of what was called the Phalanx group, and continued as part of the Munich avant-garde art movement. This continued until World War I split the group and killed some of its members.
Less than a year after the death of his fiancé, Kubin married another woman, Hedwig Schmitz, who became addicted to morphine and suffered successive chronic illnesses. Then Kubin’s father died in 1906. It was at this point that Kubin found himself unable to create visual art, and turned instead to the novel he completed in twelve weeks. Die andere Seite has been described as an allegorical proto-Expressionist novel, and his illustrations in it set the style with which he would be associated for the rest of his life. Later, he would begin his autobiography, which would be added to the 1911 edition of his novel and updated periodically.
By the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, Kubin’s style had changed to the inked lines that became characteristic of his later work. He lived most of the rest of his life in the remote town of Zwickledt in western Austria. His illustrations appeared in books ranging from such authors as the Russian Fyodor Dostoevski to the American Edgar Allan Poe. The popularity of the authors whose books he illustrated exposed him to the international community even though he lived mostly in one spot.
Having already exiled himself, he was left alone by the Nazi occupiers of his homeland during World War II. After the war, Austria rediscovered him and honored him a number of times. His first one-man art show in the United States was at the Galerie St. Étienne in 1941.