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« 2024. # 2 (176)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2024. № 2 (176), 369—376

UDK 730.071.1(477.83-25)”17/18″Г.Вітвер:378(436.1):930.253

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2024.02.369

ACADEMIC EDUCATION OF HARTMAN WITWER: IN LIGHT OF ARCHIVAL SOURCES

BONDAR Pavlo

Abstract. Hartman Witwer — Lviv sculptor, native of Imst (Austria), one of the prominent representatives of classicism in Western Ukrainіаn lands, whose personality is still uderstudied.

Problem Statement: Until now there have been known neither documentary evidence of H. Witwer’s professional education. Information about his academic training was based solely on the personal assertion of the sculptor, carved on the tombstone of Katerina Yablonovska in Lviv (completed in 1806).

Purpose: The aim of the article is to investigate the period of H. Witwer’s education at the Vienna Academy of Arts, to publish unknown documents and to consider factors that influenced the formation of H. Witwer during his studies in Vienna (environment, aesthetic ideal, pedagogical methods, faculty).

Methods: The method of scientific research was applied in studying archival sources. Historical-descriptive and comparative methods were used to analyze the influence of the artistic-pedagogical environment of the Vienna Academy of Arts on the formation of the creative personality of H. Witwer.

Results: Previously unknown documents dealing with H. Witwer’s education at the Vienna Academy of Arts have been published. The features of the educational process of the academy in the late 18th — early 19th centuries have been outlined. The artistic figures of F.A. Zauner, J.M. Fischer, and A. Canova, who had a significant influence on the formation of H. Witwer’s creative personality, have been considered.

Conclusion: H. Witwer studied at the sculpture department of the Vienna Academy of Arts for at least 5 years between 797 and 1802. The young sculptor mastered the artistic means of classicism style, which was predominant at that time. His education was comprehensive and included practical and theoretical knowledge. The creative personality of H. Witwer was mainly formed under the guidance of academy professors F.A. Zauner and J.M. Fischer, as well as the reputable Italian sculptor A. Canova, who had a special influence on the artistic processes of that time in Vienna. In 1802, H. Witwer was awarded the academic prize «Gundel-Preis» for the bas-relief «Philoctetes and Machaon».

Keywords: Hartman Witwer, Vienna Academy of Arts, classicism, antiquity, eclectic method, «Gundel-Preis» award.

Received 26.02.2024

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