WEISE, ALEXANDER (1883-1960)

**PRICE ON APPLICATION**
 
"Winterliche Alpenlandschaft" (c.1920)
oil on canvas
92 x 107cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Weise is a forgotten Ukrainian-born German Impressionist. He was born in Odessa (modern day Ukraine). He trained at the influential Munich Academy in studio of renown r artist, Angelo Jank. He then relocated to Paris where he studied under Jean-Paul Lawrence. Weise is best known as a landscape painter. His favourite subject was the overwhelming nature of the Bavarian Alps, the area around Garmisch and the Berchtesgadener Land, both in summer and winter. The landscapes of Weise bear witness to a fine feeling for the characteristic light and atmosphere of the mountain world. During the 1930s and into World War II, Weise's stunning, panoramic views of the Alps attracted the attention of not only allied soldiers travelling through the region, but also Nazi officers, whom were attracted to the traditional landscape scenes which fell under the banner of the Great German Art prophesiced by the Fuhrer. In fact, it is believed some of Weise's paintings hung in Reich offices, and he was also one of Adolf Hitler’s favourite artists (despite having no known association with the Nazi party). This painting reminds me of the work of the great Italian Symbolist, Giovanni Segantini, whom was famous for his surreal, snowy landscapes of the Southern Alps in Switzerland.