Otto MORACH
(1887 – 1973)
Otto Morach is one of the most important representatives of Swiss modernism. As a painter, poster artist and puppeteer, his work was first influenced by Futurism and Cubism, then by German Expressionism, especially the work of the German painter Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956).
After having been a teacher of mathematics and natural sciences, he changed his career and attended drawing classes. He spent several years in France and Germany. In Paris he worked at the artists' residence "La Ruche" in Montparnasse (1911-1912), in Munich, Dresden and Berlin he studied painting at various art academies (1912-1914).
The outbreak of the Second World War forced him to return to Switzerland. In 1918 he founded "Das Neue Leben", a group of progressive artists whose manifesto was to make no distinction between art and life, "high culture" and popular culture (textiles, jewellery, etc.). This group lasted only two years.
In 1919, he became a professor of art at the Zurich University of the Arts and began his work as a poster artist. The printer Johann Edwin Wolfensberger encouraged him to work directly on lithographic stone. Morach produced posters that were ahead of their time and made their mark (Bally, Bremgarten railway, WeltiFurrer taxis, Davos).
