1 - Theodor von Hörmann (Imst 1840 - 1895 Graz)

Theodor von Hörmann (Imst 1840 - 1895 Graz) Agricultural landscape near Znojmo, 1891 oil/canvas 26,5 x 49,5 cm dated 1891 depicted in Marianne Hussl-Hörmann, 2013, Monograph Theodor von Hörmann, 1840 - 1895, p. 239, no. I.326 SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 2800 - 4000 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 2800 Theodor von Hörmann was an Austrian landscape painter and is considered one of the early proponents of Impressionism in Austria. Born on December 13, 1840, in Imst, Tyrol, he initially pursued a military career and took part in the campaigns of 1859 and 1866. From 1873 to 1875, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Eduard Peithner von Lichtenfels and Anselm Feuerbach. As early as 1875, he became a teacher of freehand drawing and fencing at a military school. A decisive factor in his development was his contact with Emil Jakob Schindler, who initially encouraged Hörmann to adopt a realistic, tonal style of landscape painting; later, however, he increasingly moved away from this approach. A study trip to France and Paris between 1886 and 1890 took him to the area around Fontainebleau and Barbizon, where he engaged with the Barbizon School—particularly the works of Camille Corot and Charles-François Daubigny—as well as with contemporary Impressionist plein-air painting. The observation of light, atmosphere, and the changing times of day became the central theme of his landscape paintings. After returning, Hörmann lived first in Znaim and later in Vienna, where he became a member of the Künstlerhaus in 1895. His landscapes—often enlivened by the inclusion of figures—are characterized by an intense use of color (which was initially little appreciated at the time) and a free, sketchy brushwork. This distinctive approach gained increasing recognition in his later work; however, full appreciation only came after his death on July 1, 1895, in Graz, while he was traveling to Italy. Hörmann’s work laid important groundwork for Austrian "mood Impressionism" (Stimmungsimpressionismus) and the emerging Viennese Modernism. While Carl Schuch explored similar questions regarding color and the observation of nature in his distinctive painting—which bridged realism and modernism—artists such as Carl Moll and Gustav Klimt became influential innovators of landscape depiction for the subsequent generation. Moreover, as an artistic outsider of his time, Hörmann became a key reference point for the Vienna Secession, which was founded later. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights and platform fee. In the case of normal taxation (marked ° at the estimate), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax is added to the sum of the highest bid, the buyer's premium and platform fee. This amounts to 13% for paintings, drawings, graphic works and sculptures and 20% for photographs and all other items. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.