Joseph Kutter

Joseph Jean Ferdinand Kutter (1894–1941) is considered one of Luxembourg's most important painters. He was greatly influenced by the Impressionists but developed his own distinctive Expressionist style.

Kutter was born on 12 December 1894 in Luxembourg City where his father, Paul Kutter, was one of the city's early photographers. Hoping to become a painter, he first attended the Ecole d'Artisans in Luxembourg and then the schools of decorative art in Strasbourg and Munich. From 1917 to 1918, he studied at the Munich Academy where he was introduced to a style of painting inspired by Wilhelm Leibl.

From 1919, after being strongly influenced by Cézanne, he presented his paintings at the Secessionist exhibitions in Munich. Although he returned to Luxembourg in 1924, he continued to exhibit in Munich until 1932 as a result of the negative criticism his nude paintings received in his home town. From 1925, he became increasingly interested in Flemish Expressionism which was flourishing in Belgium and France. Encouraged by André de Ridder, a Belgian art critic and strong supporter of Expressionism, Kutter participated in the 1926 Salon d'Automne in Paris. The same year, he became a founding member of the avant-garde Luxembourg secession movement, exhibiting at its salon in 1927.

He also continued to exhibit regularly at the Salon d'automne in Paris. His abilities were widely recognized in France and Belgium, much less so in Germany. In 1933, he ceased exhibiting in Germany after being considered a degenerate as Hitler gained power. In 1936, he was commissioned to paint two large works of "Luxembourg" and "Clervaux" for the French International Exposition. While he was working on them, he began to suffer from a painful disease which the doctors were unable to diagnose. Later, during his better periods, he painted his clowns which reveal his suffering and anxiety. He died on 2 January 1941 in Luxembourg City.

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