Charles Hindenlang

Charles Hindenlang (1 October 1894 – 30 April 1960) was a Swiss painter and glass artist. He was a member of Rot-Blau II and a co-founder of Gruppe 33. His work developed from early narrative paintings influenced by New Objectivity and Surrealism toward the boundaries of abstraction, and from the mid-1930s he worked increasingly in monumental painting and stained glass.

Hindenlang was born in Basel on 1 October 1894.^[1] After leaving school he began an apprenticeship in the office of a Basel shipping company, but in 1911 switched to training as a decorative painter with Karl Schneider in Basel.^[2] From 1914 to 1916 he attended the Basel trade school, while continuing his artistic training autodidactically with Fritz Baumann, Paul Wilde and Jakob Mumenthaler.^[3]

In 1922 he travelled, including to Florence and Rome. Between 1932 and 1933 he spent periods in Paris, and he also travelled to Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece.^[1] From 1928 to 1933 he was a member of the artists' group Rot-Blau II, and in 1933 he became a co-founder of Gruppe 33.^[1][3] He subsequently worked mainly in Basel, where he died on 30 April 1960.^[1][3]

Hindenlang's early work included narrative paintings and works influenced by New Objectivity and Surrealism. He later moved toward the boundaries of abstraction.^[1] In the first half of the 1920s he also experimented with Expressionism influenced by Cubism.^[3]

In the 1930s he increasingly favoured motifs from the circus world, Basel Fasnacht, and the local Totentanz tradition. From the mid-1930s he devoted more attention to monumental painting and stained glass, and in the 1940s he designed stage sets for theatres in Basel and Bern.^[3]

In 1947 Hindenlang won the competition for five new choir windows for Basel Minster, although their execution was ultimately rejected in 1952. His public works included the stained-glass panel Wettstein und die Riehener (1939) for the Gemeindehaus in Riehen, the mural Wassersport (1937) for the Gottfried-Keller-Schulhaus in Basel, and the stained-glass works Symbole des realdenkenden Thomas and Symbole des gläubigen Thomas (1958) for Thomaskirche Basel.^[3]