Monday, February 16, 2009

Lesser Ury


Several of you have been asking about the artist behind my new
header piece, Young Girl in Cafe with Street View by German
impressionist and printmaker, Lesser Ury (1861–1931).

Born Leo Lesser Ury in Birnbaum, he was the son of a baker whose
death in 1872 caused the family's move to Berlin. In 1878 Lesser
left school to apprentice with a tradesman, and the following year
studied painting in Düsseldorf at the Kunstakademie.

His first exhibition in 1889 met with hostile reception, although he
was championed by Adolph von Menzel, whose influence induced the
Academy to award Ury a prize. In 1893 he joined the Munich
Secession, one of the several Secessions formed by progressive
artists in Germany and Austria in the last years of the 19th century.
In 1901 he returned to Berlin, where he exhibited with the Berlin
Secession, first in 1915 and notably in 1922. By this time Ury's
critical reputation had grown and his paintings and pastels were in
demand. His subjects were landscapes, urban landscapes, and
interior scenes, treated in an Impressionistic manner.

Ury is especially noted for his paintings of nocturnal cafe scenes and
rainy streets. He developed a habit of repeating these compositions in
order to sell them while retaining the originals, and these quickly
made and inferior copies have harmed his reputation.

Always introverted and distrustful of people, Ury became increasingly
reclusive in his later years. He died in Berlin and is buried in the
Jewish Cemetery in Berlin-Weissensee.
.


info from Wikipedia, self portrait by Lesser Ury

47 comments:

  1. Fascinating. I could read this kind of biography all day. Love the black and white picture. It reminds me of the charcoal sketches my Grandmother Elizabeth did. SHe was an amazing painter.

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  2. Interesting. I like the painting very much.

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  3. Thanks for this introduction to an artist about whom I knew nothing!

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  4. "Introspective and distrustful"...what a difficult life...thank goodness he had his art! And now we have him reaching out to us... thanks for sharing, Willow.

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  5. Very cool. I love your taste Willow.

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  6. Wow! Another artist I'd not known about. That makes two this week :)Thanks Willow!

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  7. So lovely to discover a painter I never knew about.
    .. and a wonderful one too.

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  8. Thank you for the biography. I find artists and art incredibly interesting, especially since it is one topic I know very little about.

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  9. Willow I think I have said this before-- you find the most interesting stuff. I feel as though I have come away from your blog with a little knowledge for the day. thanks!
    Janet

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  10. wonderful ! Thanks for answering my question. I am wondering if this is a drawing or a wood print?

    I love the subject of cafes.......

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  11. Sydney, it's a drypoint technique print. Wonderful, huh?

    Check out more here:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drypoint

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  12. Willow,

    Thank you for the introduction to Ury. I had never heart of him, so I will look for more of his works.

    Impressionist art is my favorite and Monet is my favorite artist.

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  13. Willow,
    If you want to read a very interesting book about artists read "Born Under Saturn: The Character and
    Conduct of Artists" by Margot and Rudolf Wittkower. I first read it when going to art college. Originally published in 1963, it was reissued in paperback in 2007. It's a fascinating read.

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  14. Fascinating. Sad that he felt he needed to spread his work so thin (so to speak) in order to earn money. Sign of those times, perhaps?

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  15. I've really enjoyed reading this, Willow - I knew nothing about Lesser Ury. I like the images you have posted of his, especially your header.

    The book Tattered and Lost mentioned sounds interesting. Thanks!

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  16. The header is lovely. Is that a self-portrait at the top? It strikes me as being rather like James Mason.

    Kat

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  17. I LOVE that stuff!! it's very fascinating. Here, let me get a drink and I'll browse some more!!!

    Waiter?????

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  18. I forgot to mention I put a link to this book at my vernacular photography blog.

    I tried for years to get a used copy like I'd read in the 70s, but to no avail. I was thrilled when it was reissued. Now you can buy those used at a very good price.

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  19. Ooooh, his work is wonderful. I love the woman in the cafe on the sidebar, too! Interesting artist! I am not familiar with him. Thanks for the introduction!

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  20. There is something magical in the way a few brush strokes convey so much character.

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  21. I love learning new things. Thank you very much for this.

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  22. Your heading is very interesting because it projects the elegance of a cafe society but it also has a draft quality about it that makes you think is was drawn only a few minutes ago. Very evocative indeed. Great illustrator I must say. Did he illustrate any books by chance? I love posts like this, very informative. You want to learn more about the artist and his work.

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  23. Really Interesting!!...
    I love paintings and Artists...

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  24. Sad to think the copies harmed his reputation.

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  25. I was going to ask you about the artist of your header image, now I know why it looked so familiar! :-)

    Lesser Ury also travelled extensively to Paris and London, painting street and cafe scenes there, and spent time in several other German cities besides Berlin.

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  26. I love the small "Woman in a Cafe" photo at bottom. She has the feel of Marlene Dietrich.

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  27. Intriguing facial expressions in both paintings...very pleasing.

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  28. I wish I could paint portraits. I can't. But I wish I could.

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  29. Wow fascinating research! I actually just came over to let you know... do you remember when you interviewd Daryl many moons ago? Well I asked Daryl to interview me but I took until now to do the interview.

    So at last, it is posted. Please pop by for a look if you have time.

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  30. Hello Willow,

    Seems like an awful lot of us a now a little wiser! I think his name is amusing, rather like a river tributary (but that's just my juvenile mind!)

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  31. Tattered, thank you for the book recommendation! I am going to look for it right now. Sounds fascinating!

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  32. Kat, his self portrait DOES bring to mind James Mason! heehee

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  33. Hey Willow, I Follow your blog and have never left a comment, but I thought this time I should say something. It is really fascinating to learn about people and what they did. Thanks for ANOTHER interesting post (all of yours seem so interesting)

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  34. Kayla, it's always so fun when I meet a new commenter! Thank you and nice to meet you.

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  35. His work is haunting, isn't it? Beautiful. Thanks so much for this.

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  36. Thanks for the info. I read your blog through google reader, so I would have never known about the new, and lovely, header if you hadn't posted about the artist. =)

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  37. Lucky he wasn't born a while later or the Nazis would have got him. A brilliant artist.

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  38. I adore your blog. I'm so impressed. It's what I aspire to.

    I too stay away from fashion and gossip and strive to be interesting.

    My blog started from a little magazine I used to write for my 9-year old, he's 14 now. I put it on blogger and I got the blogging bug.

    Please check out The Clever Pup. I'm going to stroll (scroll) through your favourite blogs during the next day or so. Wow keep up the good work.

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  39. I'm especially interested in the fact that his first exhibition met with negativity.

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  40. Lovely, post and the header and his other paintings really draw me in! mysterious and moody all at once! Thanks again! Salut du midi!

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  41. I am glad he died before the 'Kristallnacht'!

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  42. I'm racking my brain trying to figure out where I've seen some of his paintings....as both his name and his style are very familiar....

    thanks for all the additional info....fascinating stuff.....

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  43. i love this artwork.

    and what was the movie with albert finney and audry hepburn from the same time/another love story ??

    xx

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  44. Rene, it was "Two for the Road", which I've got to see again. It's been ages since I've seen it!

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  45. I love nocturnal cafe scenes! Thanks for the intro!

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  46. I live in Birnbaum (Poland) were is born Lesser Ury, great artist

    Przemyslaw Adamski

    pshemo74@poczta.onet.pl

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  47. Pshem, welcome to Willow Manor. I'm glad you enjoyed the article on Lesser Ury.

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)