Background
Lohse was born in Zurich, Switzerland, on September 13, 1902.
Pfingstweidstrasse 96, 8005 Zürich, Switzerland
Lohse started his apprenticeship as a draftsman under the guidance of Max Dalang at the Zurich University of the Arts from 1918 to 1922.
Richard Paul Lohse working.
Richard Paul Lohse.
Lohse was born in Zurich, Switzerland, on September 13, 1902.
Richard Lohse's father died in 1915, leaving him and his mother in poverty. After numerous occasional jobs, he started his apprenticeship as a draftsman under the guidance of Max Dalang at the Zurich University of the Arts from 1918 to 1922. He was a self-taught painter.
Lohse joined the advertising agency of Max Dalang in 1922, where he trained to become an advertising designer. There he met Hans Neuburg and Anton Stankowski. During that time Lohse painted mainly expressive, late-cubist still lifes.
In the 1930s, his work as a book designer and graphic artist made him one of the pioneers of modern Swiss graphic design. In his paintings of the period, he depicted curved and diagonal constructions. In 1930 he was able to establish his own graphic design studio in Zurich. Since 1934 Lohse spent much of his time in his studio and apartment in the Zett-Haus, Zurich, together with artist and gallerist Irmgard Burchard.
In 1937 Richard Lohse became a co-founder of Allianz; it was an association of Swiss modern artists, with Leo Leuppi being one of its members. In 1938 he helped Irmgard Burchard to organize the London exhibition Twentieth Century German Art. He installed a print exhibition of German and Russian constructivists in Zurich. The same year he began a book design work for Büchergilde Gutenberg, which he completed in 1954.
He took part in the Swiss national exhibition Landi, Zurich, in 1939. At the same time, Richard Lohse did graphic design work for turbine builder Escher Wyss. He completed in 1969. In 1940 he became a co-editor and book designer of Almanac of New Art in Switzerland. In the year 1942 Lohse participated in the exhibition Allianz, Kunsthaus Zurich.
The year 1943 was crucial for Lohse's painting, as he standardized the pictorial means and started to develop modular and serial systems. The following year he participated in the exhibition Concrete Art, Kunsthalle, Basel. Richard Lohse organized together with Leo Leuppi the exhibition Concrete, Abstract, Surrealist Art in Switzerland, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, and participated in the exhibition Abstract and Concrete Art, Palazzo Exreale, Milano, in 1947. In 1948 Lohse organized the Swiss section in the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, Paris, and then again in 1950. In the year 1951 together with Sigfried Giedion, he became an organizer of the Swiss section at the International Water Colour Exhibition in Brooklyn, New York, and later participated in the 1st Biennale, São Paulo.
Richard Lohse published the book New Design in Exhibitions in 1953, and starting from 1958 he became a co-editor of the magazine Neue Grafik/New Graphic Design. The following year he was an editor of publication Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart on the occasion of his 60th birthday. His works were displayed in a number of retrospective exhibitions, including ones at Kunstverein Ulm in 1960 and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in 1961.
In 1965 Lohse was asked to represent Switzerland at the 8th Biennale in São Paulo. In 1969 he assisted in the creation of the McCrory Corporation Collection, New York. His works were exhibited at the 36th Biennale, Venice, in 1972; Modular and Serial Orders, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in 1976; at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands, in 1978; at the documenta 7, Kassel, in 1982, among others.
In the year 1988 Richard Lohse was commissioned by the French State to produce Grenoble 1788, in order to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution in Grenoble in 1788. The same year he held his last retrospective exhibition at the Musée de Grenoble.
Farbenergien in vier Richtungen
Composition
Drei Horizontal Gruppen mit gelben Zentrum Variation E
Modular/Seriell
Four Interrelated Colour Groups
Untitled
Drei Gruppen mit grnem Zentrum
Six systematical colour rows from bright to bright
Rhythmische Progression drei gleicher Farbgruppen
Farbstreifen
Vier verschränkte Farbgruppen mit blau grünen Akzenten
Elemente zu 10 gleichen Themen
Bewegung von dunkelgelb über rot, violett, blau zu grünem Zentrum
Bewegung von 4 kontrastierenden Gruppen aus einem Zentrum
Diffusion of Two Groups of Colour
Neun systematische Farbreihen mit horizontaler und vertikaler Verdichtung
Durchdringung von vier verschränkten Farbgruppen
Kreuz aus Gleichung und Kontrast
Progression of Four Graded Colours
Sechs systematische Farbreihen mit blaugrünen und violetten Akzenten
Untitled
Vier verbundene Gruppen
Untitled
Sechs vertikale systematische Farbreihen mit orangem Quadrat rechts oben
Kunstmappe Schweizerische Mobiliar
Zentrum aus vier Quadranten als Ergebnis der vier Kreuzflächen
Rhythmische Teilung
Progression
Gestufte Quadratreihe um ein Komplementärzentrum
Untitled
Diagonal from bright equality and contrast
Progression von Sechs Gleichen Gruppen von 1-11
4 x 4 Bewegungen um eine Achse
Fünfzehn systematische Farbreihen mit vertikalen Verdichtungen
Progression vier gleicher Gruppen von 1-4
Accent on Orange
Bewegung von acht Farben um eine Achse
Untitled
Farbfelder
Richard Lohse combined his art with political and moral awareness. He was an activist for immigrants. In the 1930s, he was involved in protests, which were considered to be illegal. He continued to protest until the onset of the Second World War.
In 1934 he became a member of the association Friends of New Architecture, and the Swiss Werkbund in 1942.
Richard Lohse got married to Irmgard Burchard in 1936. In 1942 he re-married Ida Alis Dürner. In 1944 the couple gave birth to their daughter, Johanna.