About
1. About this website
This website was initiated to present Otto Wyler – the artist and his works –
on a digital platform.
It gives an overview of his paintings, drawings, graphic art, etc. to be enjoyed by the visitors. Additionally, it also includes extensive information on the exhibitions where Otto Wyler’s works have been shown, his biography and archive. This data base is not only of interest for the owners and collectors of works by Otto Wyler, it also provides a research base on the artist and his works. Beyond the data published on the website, we maintain a nonpublic digital catalogue on each work of art, comprising provenience and owner history, references to related works, publications, exhibitions etc.
During his lifetime, Otto Wyler’s work was present in more than 60 Swiss and International exhibitions, including several solo exhibitions in Art Museums. After his death in 1965, two retrospectives took place in museums in Aarau and Neuchâtel. Then for some years, it seemed as if his work would fall into oblivion as it was the case with many of his contemporaries. The interest in his paintings, however, never completely expired.
In 2013 a selection of his painting arrived in Israel and was exhibited at the Ein Harod Museum - one of the important art museums in Israel (catalogue) As a follow up, one key work was exhibited for 18 months at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in a dialogue with old masters (photo). For 2021 two new exhibitions are planned – a retrospective at the Museum Franz Gertsch in Burgdorf and an exhibition about the 4 generations of painters of the Wyler-Fellner family at the Kunsthaus Zofingen.
While preparing the 2013 exhibition we collected from current owners some 400 quality photographs of paintings and other works of art created by Otto Wyler - most of them in public and private collections in Switzerland, Holland, the USA and Israel. After first considering the publication of an oeuvre catalogue in a book, the idea of creating a dedicated website seemed to be more appropriate in the digital world – the Otto Wyler website was established in 2014 and today it already comprises documentation on some 890 works. Almost every week, we get e-mails from all over the world letting us discover new works of art or new aspects of the biography of Otto Wyler.
The website was initiated by Yehuda R. Sprecher, a grandson of Otto Wyler. The further development was supported by Swisslos and by other members of the family of Otto Wyler.
2. Request for information.
We invite visitors to the website who own paintings or other works of art by Otto Wyler to provide us relevant information and permission to add these to the catalogue and the website. If there are no quality photographs of the painting available, we may try to arrange the visit of a professional photographer. Any information related to the private owners of the works of Otto Wyler will, of course, be kept confidential.
Visitors are also invited to provide documents or personal memories related to Otto Wyler, his family and his works - these might become part of a future documentation and oral history project.
We also welcome corrections on any erroneous information provided on the website.
3. News
As it is important to show returning visitors to the website what has been added, there is a separate section “ news “ where all recent updates / additions will be listed and shown.
We are planning to publish a periodical newsletter and visitors are welcome to register here ( newsletter ).