Alfons Walde *
(Oberndorf 1891–1958 Kitzbühel)
Aufstieg der Schifahrer (The ascent of the skiers), c. 1935, signed A. Walde, oil on cardboard, 42 x 67 cm, original Walde-frame
Registered:
Alfons-Walde-Archive
Provenance:
Private Collection, Vienna (since the 1980s)
Private Collection, Vienna (by descent from the above)
“Walde’s sky is of a potent, cold blue, and the same tone plays within the light and the counter-light. For the most part, mountains, forests, and figures stand against one another in sharp objectivity.”
Max Roden, 1927
The Rise of Modern Landscape
“The anatomy, the perspective of the ether, of the azure, of the air, of the atmosphere is excellent,” the poet Gustinus Ambrosi wrote enthusiastically to Alfons Walde following the artist's seminal exhibition at the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1926. It was there that Walde first presented his winter landscapes, in which the intense blue of the sky and the vast, rugged mountain silhouettes of Kitzbühel coalesced into a ‘landscape demonstration par excellence’. He impressively demonstrated a new style of a genuine interplay of subtle nuances and intense tonal values that was to become a hallmark of modern landscape painting up to this day.
From 1926–1927 onwards, Walde further integrated the human figure into the natural vista as a new design element, likely stimulated by his own personal experience of nature and his athletic pursuits. With this new thematic content, Walde simultaneously responded to the rise of modern alpinism, which sought to present nature to tourists as a site of experiential discovery. Since the hotelier Franz Reisch had introduced skiing to Kitzbühel in 1892, the town had developed alongside the Arlberg into an internationally renowned winter sports hub. Walde himself was among the pioneers of this new sport, and as an enthusiastic skier, he undertook numerous tours from the 1920s onwards, frequently accompanied by his friend, the hotelier Max Faller, and his brother-in-law, the alpine photographer Hans Lackner. Two photographs in a private collection document the experience of these shared tours, and Walde immortalized the special atmosphere of snow, brisk air and blue sky in what is arguably his most prominent motif: The Ascent of the Skiers (Der Aufstieg der Skifahrer) that has undoubtedly become an iconic symbol of winter's beauty and leisure.
Three Skiers in the Mountains
Set against a backdrop of snow-covered peaks, three ski tourers reach an initial ridge. Their short white shirts convey the sunny warmth of the blue winter day, while the wide, sweeping movements of their ski poles reflect the vigorous energy of the sportsmen. Beneath the flawless blue sky at the upper horizon, white, blue, and grey tones dominate the palette, punctuated only by the bold red of a cap. In his own unparalleled way Walde captures the chromatic shifts of white on the slopes, and the contrast between illuminated zones and spectacular blue shadows. The transitions between the colours are soft; only along the boundary lines between the mountain crests and hollows does the cardboard flash through as a brown line, subtly generating volume and space. Finally, the gesturally applied, impasto brushstrokes on the mountain rocks contribute to a fascinating, relief-like plasticity.
A Universal Formula
Typical of Walde’s oeuvre is the anonymous, schematic quality of the faces and figures. It is thus, that he shifts away from capturing a specific, fleeting and personal moment towards an image of an enduring, recurring general sense of experience.
Herein lies Walde’s true modernity: through deliberate abstraction, he achieves a universal formula that frames nature and landscape as forces that profoundly enrich the human spirit.
Specialist: Dr. Marianne Hussl-Hörmann
(Oberndorf 1891–1958 Kitzbühel)
Aufstieg der Schifahrer (The ascent of the skiers), c. 1935, signed A. Walde, oil on cardboard, 42 x 67 cm, original Walde-frame
Registered:
Alfons-Walde-Archive
Provenance:
Private Collection, Vienna (since the 1980s)
Private Collection, Vienna (by descent from the above)
“Walde’s sky is of a potent, cold blue, and the same tone plays within the light and the counter-light. For the most part, mountains, forests, and figures stand against one another in sharp objectivity.”
Max Roden, 1927
The Rise of Modern Landscape
“The anatomy, the perspective of the ether, of the azure, of the air, of the atmosphere is excellent,” the poet Gustinus Ambrosi wrote enthusiastically to Alfons Walde following the artist's seminal exhibition at the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1926. It was there that Walde first presented his winter landscapes, in which the intense blue of the sky and the vast, rugged mountain silhouettes of Kitzbühel coalesced into a ‘landscape demonstration par excellence’. He impressively demonstrated a new style of a genuine interplay of subtle nuances and intense tonal values that was to become a hallmark of modern landscape painting up to this day.
From 1926–1927 onwards, Walde further integrated the human figure into the natural vista as a new design element, likely stimulated by his own personal experience of nature and his athletic pursuits. With this new thematic content, Walde simultaneously responded to the rise of modern alpinism, which sought to present nature to tourists as a site of experiential discovery. Since the hotelier Franz Reisch had introduced skiing to Kitzbühel in 1892, the town had developed alongside the Arlberg into an internationally renowned winter sports hub. Walde himself was among the pioneers of this new sport, and as an enthusiastic skier, he undertook numerous tours from the 1920s onwards, frequently accompanied by his friend, the hotelier Max Faller, and his brother-in-law, the alpine photographer Hans Lackner. Two photographs in a private collection document the experience of these shared tours, and Walde immortalized the special atmosphere of snow, brisk air and blue sky in what is arguably his most prominent motif: The Ascent of the Skiers (Der Aufstieg der Skifahrer) that has undoubtedly become an iconic symbol of winter's beauty and leisure.
Three Skiers in the Mountains
Set against a backdrop of snow-covered peaks, three ski tourers reach an initial ridge. Their short white shirts convey the sunny warmth of the blue winter day, while the wide, sweeping movements of their ski poles reflect the vigorous energy of the sportsmen. Beneath the flawless blue sky at the upper horizon, white, blue, and grey tones dominate the palette, punctuated only by the bold red of a cap. In his own unparalleled way Walde captures the chromatic shifts of white on the slopes, and the contrast between illuminated zones and spectacular blue shadows. The transitions between the colours are soft; only along the boundary lines between the mountain crests and hollows does the cardboard flash through as a brown line, subtly generating volume and space. Finally, the gesturally applied, impasto brushstrokes on the mountain rocks contribute to a fascinating, relief-like plasticity.
A Universal Formula
Typical of Walde’s oeuvre is the anonymous, schematic quality of the faces and figures. It is thus, that he shifts away from capturing a specific, fleeting and personal moment towards an image of an enduring, recurring general sense of experience.
Herein lies Walde’s true modernity: through deliberate abstraction, he achieves a universal formula that frames nature and landscape as forces that profoundly enrich the human spirit.
Specialist: Dr. Marianne Hussl-Hörmann
