Charles Kohl Explained

Charles Kohl
Birth Name:Charles Kohl
Birth Date:16 April 1929
Birth Place:Rodange, Luxembourg
Death Date:3 January 2016 (age 86)
Death Place:Berschbach, Luxembourg
Known For:Sculpting, painting, lecturing
Training:École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (1948–1952) and the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1953–1955).
Awards:Prix Grand-Duc Adolphe (1956 and 1962)

Charles Kohl (16 April 1929 - 3 January 2016) was a sculptor, painter and lecturer from Luxembourg.

Biography

Born in Rodange (Luxembourg), Charles Kohl started his fine arts studies in Luxembourg-City at the Lycée des Arts et Métiers under Lucien Wercollier (1945–48), then continued at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (1948-1952) and the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts (1953-1955) in Paris. He went on to forge a distinguished career as a fine artist in his native country, being awarded twice the coveted Prix Grand-Duc Adolphe (in 1956 and 1962). He participated in numerous collective international exhibitions but also regularly exhibited at individual exhibitions.

Fresh from his studies, Charles Kohl took on teaching in 1956 as assistant professor of arts at first at the Lycée des Arts et Métiers, and later (in the 1970s and 1980s) at the Lycée Technique du Centre in Luxembourg City. Concurrently, he worked as a book illustrator,[1] as a poster designer for Luxembourg's National Lottery, and as cartoonist at the magazine Revue (under the nickname "Carlo"),[2] but more importantly as an independent artist from his artist's studio in Bonnevoie. He secured a number of important commissions for monuments and sculptures, several of them in churches throughout Luxembourg.

In his early sixties, arthritis -brought about by years of chiseling marble and granite- started to plague his shoulders, so Kohl reluctantly gave up working the hard stone and concentrated on working in terracotta and on drawings/paintings.

Towards the end of the 1990s, Charles Kohl started to suffer from macular degeneration. His deteriorating health implied that he could no longer live by himself and so he moved in 2010 into a home for the blind in Berschbach. In spite of his vision being down to a mere 4% in the last year of his life, he still produced drawings up to a couple of months before his death on 3 January 2016.

Critiques

As a sculptor, Kohl was best known for his works in marble frequently showing veiled forms, but also for his bronzes and his mixed media drawings, which "with their often fragmentary bodies and faceless heads, created a stylized human anatomy symbolizing both the vulnerability and the power of body and soul",[3] and which have earned him a reputation as "Illustrator of the human condition".[4] During the private view of the Charles Kohl retrospective in Luxembourg's Villa Vauban -held online because of the pandemic- the critic Paul Bertemes called Charles Kohl: "Either a particularly three-dimensional painter, or a particularly well-drawn sculptor".[5]

Upon his death in 2016, the Luxemburger Wort declared "Luxembourg's art scene is grieving for a virtuoso artist with a remarkable sensitivity".[6]

Throughout 2020, the Villa Vauban devotes a major retrospective to the artist[7] whom the Luxemburger Wort called "An illustrious unknown".[8] The Luxemburger Wort reviewed "The timeless and tortured sculptures of Charles Kohl",[9] while Redlion[10] and RTL[11] called him "one of Luxembourg's most important sculptors."

Selection of public works

Exhibitions of Charles Kohl's works

[18]

Individual exhibitions

Collective exhibitions

Bibliography

External sources

Notes and References

  1. Book: Luxemburger Autorenlexikon . Centre national de littérature . de, lb.
  2. Web site: Cartoons by Carlo . Charles Kohl . 14 October 2020.
  3. Web site: Charles Kohl Information . 13 December 2019 . Villa Vauban - Luxembourg.
  4. Becker . Nathalie . L'imagier de la condition humaine . Ons Stad . 2012 . 99 . 13 October 2020.
  5. Web site: Virtual private view of the Charles Kohl retrospective . Vimeo . Ville de Luxembourg . 16 October 2020.
  6. Luxemburger Wort culture section . La sculpture luxembourgeoise en deuil: Décès de l'artiste Charles Kohl . Luxemburger Wort . 4 January 2016 .
  7. Web site: Villa Vauban . Charles Kohl - Dessins et Sculptures . 13 December 2019 . 13 October 2020 . Luxembourg-City.
  8. Hick . Thierry . Un illustre inconnu . Luxemburger Wort . 6 July 2020 . 13 October 2020.
  9. Reinertz . Michael . The timeless and tortured sculptures of Charles Kohl. Luxembourg Times . 5 June 2020 . 13 October 2020.
  10. RedLion . Luxembourg City Agenda . Charles Kohl (1929-2016) .
  11. News: Rock . Sarah . Expo vum Charles Kohl an der Villa Vauban . 14 October 2020 . RTL - Culture news . 2 August 2020 . lb.
  12. Web site: National Resistance Monument . charleskohl.com . 16 October 2020.
  13. Web site: War Memorial in Contern . charleskohl.com . 16 October 2020.
  14. Web site: War memorial in Slonsk . charleskohl.com.
  15. Web site: Works in Cessange church . charleskohl.com.
  16. Web site: Sculpture outside the LTAM . charleskohl.com . 13 October 2020.
  17. Web site: Steles outside the Ecole de Commerce et de Gestion . charleskohl.com . 13 October 2020.
  18. Web site: List of exhibitions . CharlesKohl.com . 13 October 2020.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Charles Kohl".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.