alfredhohenegger.art

Charity Art Exhibition

Alfred Hohenegger, 1928-2022 Alfred Hohenegger trained as an engraver, painter, and violinist in Dachau and Munich. The experience of being a war prisoner as a very young soldier—he was barely 17—during World War II marked him deeply, as evidenced by his perhaps most important painting, “The Song of the Prisoners.” In 1949 he got on a bicycle and rode from Dachau to Florence—without any money or ID—and the following year he took a second bicycle trip, this time all the way to Rome. There, in Piazza Venezia, while sketching ancient Roman ruins, he met his future wife. From 1954 on Alfred lived in Italy, often returning to Dachau, where his parents spent their long lives. He always retained his German nationality, but was an Italian by choice. He lived in Rome for a long time, then moved to Umbria and was a resident of Foligno for 35 years. Thanks to his remarkable versatility, he soon became a well-known graphic designer and illustrator in Italy, helping to shape the style and boosting the significance of post-war Italian graphic design. He was artistic director of magazines such as “Civiltà delle Macchine” and “Capitolium” and also founded “Il Margutta.” For many years he held a professorship in graphic design at the Istituto superiore per le industrie artistiche in Urbino (ISIA), a top school for graphic design and visual communication. Over the decades, Alfred held numerous conferences on graphic design in Italy, Germany, and the United States. Today, his book Graphic Design (1971) is still considered a foundational publication in editorial graphic design. In 1977 Alfred published the multilingual (Italian, English, and German) monograph Form and Sign, a reasoned collection of symbols, brands, and logos, arranged according to their shapes (square, circle, triangle). In subsequent years he published numerous other books, expanding into memoir and fiction writing. He had several exhibitions in Italy and Germany, one of the most important ones being held at Palazzo Braschi in Rome in 1975. His works are held in museum collections around the world. Yet, for Alfred, painting always remained the salient point (punctum saliens), the beating heart of the artist as a researcher, a role he understood as the exercise of doubt. Painting was, in fact, the core, albeit in constant contradiction, of his graphic creativity. His non-explicit theory of visual creativity consisted in questioning form as end result and seeing it rather as a never fully completed process, alive and always with the potential for change. Perhaps this is why it was always difficult for him to consider his paintings as consumer objects. Paintings are objects, but they are also alive and therefore have an absolute value. Leon Battista Alberti said that the artist should either sell them at a very high price (they are objects after all) or give them away (life cannot be sold). It is beautiful and important that he left a note: “I have not managed in my lifetime to transform … much of my pictorial production into money. However, if my children were to succeed, I would have one last wish: for them to donate the proceeds … to African children in need.” NOTE: Alfred Hohenegger was my father. My name is Beatrice, and I am one of his five children, the others being Alberto, Gretel, Hansmichael, and Alexander. Alfred lived a long life and died January 29, 2022 at the age of 93. In taking care of his estate, I found a paper in which he expressed the desire for his children to organize a charity exhibition of his works to benefit needy African children. He did not specify much more than that; he only wished for all the proceeds to go to them. With this website and the upcoming exhibition on October 4, 2024 we are honoring our father's wish. If you choose to purchase one of his works, know that 100 percent of the price will be donated to benefit needy African children through the East African Children's Fund (www.EACFund.org).

Alfred Hohenegger, 1928-2022

Alfred Hohenegger trained as an engraver, painter, and violinist in Dachau and Munich. The experience of being a war prisoner as a very young soldier—he was barely 17—during World War II marked him deeply, as evidenced by his perhaps most important painting, “The Song of the Prisoners.” In 1949 he got on a bicycle and rode from Dachau to Florence—without any money or ID—and the following year he took a second bicycle trip, this time all the way to Rome. There, in Piazza Venezia, while sketching ancient Roman ruins, he met his future wife.

From 1954 on Alfred lived in Italy, often returning to Dachau, where his parents spent their long lives. He always retained his German nationality, but was an Italian by choice. He lived in Rome for a long time, then moved to Umbria and was a resident of Foligno for 35 years.

Thanks to his remarkable versatility, he soon became a well-known graphic designer and illustrator in Italy, helping to shape the style and boosting the significance of post-war Italian graphic design. He was artistic director of magazines such as “Civiltà delle Macchine” and “Capitolium” and also founded “Il Margutta.” For many years he held a professorship in graphic design at the Istituto superiore per le industrie artistiche in Urbino (ISIA), a top school for graphic design and visual communication. Over the decades, Alfred held numerous conferences on graphic design in Italy, Germany, and the United States.

Today, his book Graphic Design (1971) is still considered a foundational publication in editorial graphic design. In 1977 Alfred published the multilingual (Italian, English, and German) monograph Form and Sign, a reasoned collection of symbols, brands, and logos, arranged according to their shapes (square, circle, triangle). In subsequent years he published numerous other books, expanding into memoir and fiction writing.

He had several exhibitions in Italy and Germany, one of the most important ones being held at Palazzo Braschi in Rome in 1975. His works are held in museum collections around the world. Yet, for Alfred, painting always remained the salient point (punctum saliens), the beating heart of the artist as a researcher, a role he understood as the exercise of doubt. Painting was, in fact, the core, albeit in constant contradiction, of his graphic creativity. His non-explicit theory of visual creativity consisted in questioning form as end result and seeing it rather as a never fully completed process, alive and always with the potential for change.

Perhaps this is why it was always difficult for him to consider his paintings as consumer objects. Paintings are objects, but they are also alive and therefore have an absolute value. Leon Battista Alberti said that the artist should either sell them at a very high price (they are objects after all) or give them away (life cannot be sold). It is beautiful and important that he left a note: “I have not managed in my lifetime to transform … much of my pictorial production into money. However, if my children were to succeed, I would have one last wish: for them to donate the proceeds … to African children in need.”

NOTE:
Alfred Hohenegger was my father. My name is Beatrice, and I am one of his five children, the others being Alberto, Gretel, Hansmichael, and Alexander.

Alfred lived a long life and died January 29, 2022 at the age of 93. In taking care of his estate, I found a paper in which he expressed the desire for his children to organize a charity exhibition of his works to benefit needy African children. He did not specify much more than that; he only wished for all the proceeds to go to them.

With this website and the upcoming exhibition on October 4, 2024 we are honoring our father's wish. If you choose to purchase one of his works, know that 100 percent of the price will be donated to benefit needy African children through the East African Children's Fund (www.EACFund.org).