Hans Emmenegger’s painting technique notebook - a digital edition

Hans Emmenegger (1866-1940) is one of the most important Swiss painters of the early 20th century. He is distinguished by the quality of his work, his close ties with other artists in Switzerland and abroad, and his influential position in the art politics of central Switzerland at the time. His 188-page painting technique notebook, now in the Special Collection of the Central and University Library of Lucerne, is an important source on the technique of painting around 1900.

In this notebook, Emmenegger meticulously documented, between 1901 and 1905, his working process, his painting supports, painting materials and techniques, and three series of technical experiments. These records are particularly meaningful due to the fact that the processes described correspond to those used by a large number of artists of the time, who often preferred traditional methods even for avant-garde pictorial inventions.

The online edition of the painting technique notebook was created as part of a collaborative project between the Swiss Institute for Art Research SIK-ISEA and the Publication Services Department of Heidelberg University. The text, transcribed and edited in XLM format according to the guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), is enriched with additional information on persons, companies and places mentioned, as well as types of pre-primed canvases, primers, paints, other products for painting, tools, production steps, and also on the types of damage that sometimes developed early in the paint layers of Emmenegger's works. The paintings mentioned are linked to the research portal published by SIK-ISEA, if they are recorded there. A thematic entry into the painting technique notebook is also possible via the full text search and the index.

We thank Swiss Re, Zurich and the Landis & Gyr Foundation, Zug, who supported the project financially

 

Please cite this edition as follows:
Hans Emmenegger’s painting technique notebook - a digital edition, edited by Karoline Beltinger and SIK-ISEA (Zürich), Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net, 2022. DOI: doi.org/10.11588/edition.emmenegger.