Completed Continental European after 1800 3 Which Josef Kugler painted 'Waxted Landscape Mill Wheel'?

DOR_BRC_AH187
Topic: Artist

Josef Kugler (active 1911–1926): a Josef Kugler was born in 1913, but there is more than one artist of this name, including a father and son.

A Josef Kugler died on 17th October 2011 but we can't be sure it's the same artist http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/bulletin.aspx?Artist=11046271

Jade Audrey King, Entry reviewed by Art UK

Completed, Outcome

Jade Audrey King,

The artist has been identified as Josef Kugler Senior (1913–2011). This amend will appear on the Your Paintings website by the end of July 2015.

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No conclusion on the title was reached. If any contributors have new information about the title of this painting, we encourage them to propose a new discussion by following the Art Detective link on the Your Paintings page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/waxted-landscape-mill-wheel-59118

2 comments

Tim Williams,

These are by Josef Kugler senior (the signature has 'Sen'/ 'Sr'/'Snr' after the name). Sen. died in 2011 and was was apparently born in Vienna in 1913. Some of his paintings retailed by galleries were accompanied by a certificate stating:

"He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien), and later lived in Linz, Austria for several years before moving to Munich, Germany where he furthered his studies and also began exhibiting his paintings. He also studied for two years at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France.
He is primarily known for his landscapes, especially his forest scenes, as well as Alpine and coastal scenes, and his works are in many public and private collections in Europe and abroad including The Provincial Government of Lower Austria, as well as in the National Museum and the Department of Culture of the City of Vienna, Austria. During that time period, the city of Vienna regarded Kugler as the premier landscape painter of their city, and many publishers in Europe and the U.S. sought to publish and distribute reproductions of his artwork."

I'm not sure I believe half of that though - he seems to me more of a decorative furnishing painter! (Surely Bob Ross wasn't teaching at the academy in Vienna?!)

At some stage he moved to the USA where his son JC Kugler became an abstract painter. Apparently they would collaborate and Sen. would paint the landscape background with Jnr adding the abstract elements. It seems JC is still alive and suffering from MS.

Sen.'s father (another Josef) was also a landscape painter - their styles are very similar. He painted in the late 19th and early 20th C. All of the auction records are conflated, and I wouldn't be surprised if the biography was either conflated, exaggerated or invented!