Self portrait, around 1820, oil on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
The Studio in Paris, around 1807, oil on paper/plywood
Hans Jakob Oeri (second from the right) with his twin brother Hans Oeri (second from the left), their brother Hans Georg Oeri (left) and his artist friend David Sulzer
SIK-ISEA, Zürich (Philipp Hitz)
Chloe, 1806/1808, oil on canvas
Kunsthaus Zürich
Moscow in Winter, 1809/1812, watercolour and gouache on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
Inside a Russian Farmhouse, 1812/1817, watercolour and gouache on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
Russian Church Service, 1812/1817, watercolour and gouache on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
Russian Farmers Building a Log Cabin, 1812/1817, watercolour and gouache on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
Russian Sleigh Ride, 1812/1817, watercolour and gouache on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
Russian Dance, 1812/1817, watercolour and gouache on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
Portrait of Johanna Goldschmied-Oeri in the 1830s, black chalk on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
Portrait of Emerentiana Zimmermann-Oeri, around 1820, black chalk on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
Portrait of the artist’s father, Hans Georg Oeri, around 1820, black chalk on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
Portrait of an elegant young woman, black chalk on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
The Fight between Zellweger and Wetter in Herisau 1732, 1832, watercolour and gouache on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
Garden Side of Trittligasse with View of Lake Zurich, around 1848, oil on canvas
Kunsthaus Zürich
Return of Zurich Soldiers from the Battle of Dättwil 1351, 1851, oil on canvas
Kunsthaus Zürich
Bauschanze in Zurich on the Arrival of a Steamship, 1866, gouache over pencil on paper
Kunsthaus Zürich
“Hans Jakob Oeri – A Swiss Artist in Paris, Moscow, Zurich” runs at the Kunsthaus in Zurich until October 23, 2016. It is the first exhibition to feature this long underappreciated and forgotten artist and draughtsman.
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Born 1969, originally from Moscow. After two years in the army, studied history and sociology at the history faculty of Moscow University, then wrote a doctoral thesis in history there on the topic of German foreign policy under Gustav Stresemann. Worked as a diplomat for almost 11 years in Germany and Switzerland, and as a translator, interpreter and published writer. Speaks German and English. Has been head of the Russian section of SWI Swissinfo since 2012.
Ester Unterfinger (photo editing), Igor Petrov (text)
Oeri was born in Kyburg, canton Zurich, into an aristocratic family of artists in 1782. As a young man he trained with landscape painter Johann Kaspar Kuster (1747-1818) in Winterthur for three years. He then travelled to Paris, where he studied at the renowned École des Beaux-Arts. Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), a Jacobin and friend of Maximilien de Robespierres, became his teacher and mentor there.
In 1809, Oeri decided to go to Moscow. He spent almost eight years in Russia as a portrait painter and art teacher. In 1812, the troops of Napoleon conquered Moscow, the city burnt down almost completely and about 10,000 Russian soldiers died. Oeri recorded this event in the form of a unique painting, which can now be seen in Zurich. Then he went to Kazan under the patronage of Russian prince Mikhail Mussin-Pushkin (1795-1862).
Oeri returned to Zurich in 1817 and became an active member of Zurich’s artist society. Among other things, he produced so-called “costume studies” – a series of 1,468 drawings of authentic historical costumes from different eras. Oeri died in Zurich in 1868.
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