Albert Jakob Welti

Painter born October 11, 1894 in Zurich Höngg. He is a Swiss writer and painter. Son of the painter Albert Welti, Albert Jakob Welti first learned this art. He studied at the Düsseldorf academy, Munich, London and Madrid. He lost his mother at 17 and his father the following year. A severe typhus in the Balearic Islands in the early 1920s prompted him to turn to writing.

Back in Switzerland, he moved to Chêne-Bougeries. Maroto und sein König, his first play written in 1922, was staged in 1926. He published his first novel, Wenn Puritaner jung sind, in 1941. The second, Martha und die Niemandssöhne, in 1948, shows a Geneva politically and socially very agitated.

In a number of essays and speeches, Welti alludes to the cultural, literary and political questions of his time. His last work, Bild des Vaters, in 1962, is a sensitive portrait of the artist who compares himself to his father.

Albert J. Welti received several awards from the Schweizerische Schillerstiftung, notably for his entire theatrical work in 1954.

Albert J. Welti was a grandson of transport contractor Jakob Albdert Welti-Furrere, a cousin of Arthur Welti an uncle of Philippe Welti and a second degree great-uncle of Sophie Hungrer.

In 2018, his play Steibruch - zrugg us Amerika, which deals with the issue of Swiss people who have gone to seek their fortune in the Americas, but forced by fortune to return to the country, is directed by Livio Andreina. The play is a five-act Swiss-German dialect drama that has not been replayed since 1939. The new show brings together 40 actors and extras and is performed in the theater of the Ballenberg Open Air Museum. The main role is played by Hanspeter Müller-Drossaart.

Died on December 5, 1965 in Amrisswil.