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Fraktur (folk Art)
Fraktur is a highly artistic and elaborate illuminated folk art created by the Pennsylvania Dutch, named after the Fraktur script associated with it. Most Fraktur were created between 1740 and 1860. Fraktur drawings were executed in ink and/or watercolors and are found in a wide variety of forms: the ''Vorschriften'' (writing samples), the ''Taufscheine'' (birth and baptismal certificates), marriage and house blessings, book plates, and floral and figurative scenes. The earlier Fraktur were executed entirely by hand, while printed text became increasingly common in later examples. Common artistic motifs in Fraktur include birds (distelfinks), hearts, and tulips, as well as blackletter (Fraktur) and italic calligraphy. Many major American museums, including the American Folk Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Winterthur Museum have Fraktur in their collections. Important Fraktur have been sold by major American auction houses and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennsylvania Dutch
The Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-speaking territories of Europe, mainly from the Palatinate, also from Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, and Rhineland in Germany as well as the Netherlands, Switzerland, and France's Alsace-Lorraine region. Pennsylvania's German settlers described themselves as ''Deutsch'' or ''Hoch Deutsch'', which in contemporary English translated to "Dutch" or "High Dutch" ("Dutch" historically referred to all Germanic dialect speakers in English). They spoke several south German dialects, though Palatine German was the dominant language; their mixing contributed to a hybrid dialect, known as Pennsylvania Dutch, or Pennsylvania German, that has been preserved through the current day. The Pennsylvania Dutch maintained numerous religious affiliations; the gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Bentz
Samuel Bentz (1792–1850) was an American fraktur artist. A native of Cocalico, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Bentz was the son of Reverend Peter Bentz and Anna Maria Caffroth Bentz; his father, an itinerant farmer, joiner, and unordained Lutheran preacher, committed suicide in 1818, and his mother was forced to raise him on her own. He became a schoolmaster in the vicinity of Ephrata. Shortly before his death, Peter had established a school on the family land, and Samuel taught there for much of his life, living in the school building. Much of his fraktur was birth records, which he produced to augment his income. Some pieces refer to Mount Pleasant, and Bentz was designated the "Mount Pleasant Artist" until a bookplate with his signature was discovered. At his death, he left behind a box with eighteen frakturs. Much of Bentz's work is distinguished by its bold lines and the use of architectural elements as decoration, almost Greek Revival in style. Sometimes a human face is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Schumacher
Daniel Schumacher (c. 1728–1787) was an American fraktur painter. He was the first artist to use fraktur as a method of general record-keeping, rather than a document of important events. Schumacher was born in Hamburg; his name is found on a ship's manifest from Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1751, at which time his profession is given as "candidate of theology". His education was poor, and he had no ministerial qualifications; even so, Lutheran congregations in Pennsylvania needed a pastor, and he was able to make a living at the profession. He was active during his career in Berks, Lehigh, and Northampton Counties. Schumacher kept records of various pastoral acts, decorating them with images of flowers and angels; from 1754 until 1773 he kept a similar book of his own, noting each child he baptized or confirmed. Other motifs to appear in his work include the eye of God and hearts. He attempted to depict Lutheran doctrine in six drawings; he drew New Year greetings to friends, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Charles Portzline
Francis Charles Portzline (1771 - 1857) was an American fraktur artist of German birth. A native of Solingen, Portzline migrated to the United States in 1777, and settled in Franklin Township, York County, Pennsylvania, around 1800. There he operated a general store; its account book still exists in the hands of his descendants. He married Sabina Heiges, a member of a local family, and is believed to have been a schoolteacher at the Franklin Church. Achieving American citizenship in 1804, in 1812 he sold his York County property and moved to Perry County; some years later he moved again, to Snyder County, which would be his home until his death. His property was located along the Susquehanna River, in Perry Township, at the time part of Union County. While living there he continued to farm and teach. The Portzline family cemetery, containing the artist's grave, still exists in Perry Township. As an artist Portzline is remembered today for a handful of baptismal records for c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Peterman
Daniel Peterman (1797-1871) was an American fraktur artist. A third-generation American, Peterman was a native of Shrewsbury Township, York County, Pennsylvania, where he died. A member of the Reformed Church, he was a schoolmaster in that tradition, and in the Lutheran Church as well. He was married and had children. Much of his fraktur was produced for the children of York County, and many of his pieces are similar to one another in their format, in which two female figures border the text and various flowers and birds are added as decoration. For his family, he created more elaborate pictures, in which a variety of objects, from sailing ships to pianos, are shown. One baptismal record for a nephew includes in its decorative scheme a market house, chickens, and a dog. Sometimes he added Adam and Eve into his compositions; he also drew courting couples. His palette is bright. Peterman used ruled paper to continue his art when hand-milled paper became unavailable; he continued ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Henrich Otto
Johann Henrich (sometimes Heinrich) Otto (1733 - c. 1800) was an American fraktur artist. Otto came to the Thirteen Colonies as a young man, arriving aboard the ship ''Edinburgh'' on October 2, 1753, his age given as 20 years. He was possibly a native of Schwarzerden, at that time in the parish of Pfeffelbach in the Western Palatinate, for one Joh. Henrich Otto was born there on February 5, 1733. He married Anna Catharine Dauterich; their children were born in Lancaster and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania. Beginning in 1755 he advertised himself as a weaver. From 1777 until 1780 he saw military service in the American Revolutionary War. He appears to have worked as a schoolmaster for numerous Reformed Protestant churches; from around 1769 until 1779 he was associated with an institution in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, and later he lived in Mahanoy Township, then in Northumberland County, where he likely taught at St. Peter's Lutheran and Reformed Church. Otto began produ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Otto
Daniel Otto (c. 1770–1822) was an American fraktur artist. Biography Otto was born in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, the son of fraktur artist Johann Henrich Otto. When his father moved from Schaefferstown, Daniel followed suit, moving with him to Mahanoy Township, then in Northumberland County, where the elder Otto took up a post at St. Peter's Church. Eventually he moved to Brush Valley, Miles Township, Centre County, later moving to Aaronsburg in the same county. In 1821 his name was removed from that community's tax list, indicating that he may have moved elsewhere. For much of his life Otto worked as a schoolmaster; he was married, and had a large family. He is believed to have died in Centre County, in Haines Township. Otto has also been called the "Flat Tulip Artist" due to the large, flat tulips which feature in many of his paintings. Other symbols which recur in his art include parrots, birds with long necks, mermen and mermaids, alligators, and paired lions. On ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christian Mertel
Christian Mertel (1739 - 1802) was an American fraktur artist. A native of Herborn, Mertel was the son of John Jacob and Elizabeth Mertel. He immigrated to the Thirteen Colonies in 1773 aboard the ''Crawford''; a fellow passenger was John Contrad Trevitz, who would also go on to become a teacher and fraktur artist. Mertel followed his father's profession, becoming a dyer of indigo cloth. By 1793 he had acquired land in Conewago Township, Dauphin County; during this period he began to produce fraktur, primarily for his neighbors. He taught school, most likely at the institution operated by Hoffer's Brethren Meeting; even so, he produced mainly baptismal certificates during his career. Raised in the Reformed tradition, he created work for Lutheran families as well. Mertel's paintings bear the influence of other fraktur artists, including Johann Henrich Otto and Johann Jacob Friedrich Krebs, who was a neighbor; nevertheless they are marked with the stamp of individuality, containing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Jacob Friedrich Krebs
Johann Jacob Friedrich Krebs, commonly known as Friedrich Krebs (c. 1749–1815) was an American fraktur artist. He was the most prolific of the Pennsylvania German fraktur artists. Born in Zierenberg, Hesse, Krebs was one of the Hessians who fought under the British crown during the American Revolutionary War. It has been reported that he returned to Germany, but this is uncertain, and it seems more likely that he remained in the United States at the conclusion of the war. In 1787 he established a business purchasing pre-printed baptismal records which he would then further embellish for sale; eventually he had forms of his own printed, many in Reading, Pennsylvania. He also painted many handmade examples. The majority of his work consists of baptismal certificates, but he produced many other pieces as well. These include drawings of various sacred and secular subjects; broadsides of Adam and Eve, used as marriage certificates; mazes; a clock face; and handboxes. During his caree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Gottschall
Samuel Gottschall (18001898) was an American fraktur artist. Born into a family of teachers, Gottschall was a resident of the Mennonite community of Franconia, Pennsylvania. His father, Jacob Gottschall, was a preacher and bishop as well as a sometime teacher; with his students he produced books of musical notation. Three of Samuel's siblings were educators as well; one, Martin, also produced fraktur. Neither of the two signed his work, and it is difficult to tell the two apart; their paintings have become popular among collectors because of the colors and imagery employed in their creation. Neither of the two men married; they worked as millers after the end of their teaching careers, operating a property on Perkiomen Creek in Salford. Samuel was a weaver as well, and among his surviving documents are his weaver's record book and weather diary, both of which have proven instrumental in identifying his work. Surviving frakturs from Gottschall date to the years 1833 to 1836, and do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Conrad Gilbert
Johann Conrad Gilbert (1734–1812) was an American fraktur artist. An emigrant from Germany, Gilbert ultimately settled in Berks County, Pennsylvania. By profession he was a Lutheran schoolmaster posted to several churches in Berks and Schuylkill Counties. He was married and had a large family; at his death he left his family Bible, with "writings therein", to a grandson, although this is now lost. Stylistically, Gilbert copied the work of Daniel Schumacher, borrowing also from the work of the Sussel-Washington Artist, whose own work is in turn informed by that of Johann Henrich Otto. His output consisted of baptismal records; presentation pieces, many depicting schoolmasters holding slates; religious texts; and images of the Easter rabbit, the earliest American depictions of the figure. Hallmarks of his frakturs include careful lines, deep color, and exotically dressed angels. His designs are whimsical, and appear meant for children rather than for adults. Two examples of Gil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Adam Eyer
Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" or "Yahweh is Merciful". Its English language equivalent is John. It is uncommon as a surname. People People with the name Johann include: Mononym *Johann, Count of Cleves (died 1368), nobleman of the Holy Roman Empire *Johann, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg (1662–1698), German nobleman *Johann, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1578–1638), German nobleman A–K * Johann Adam Hiller (1728–1804), German composer * Johann Adam Reincken (1643–1722), Dutch/German organist * Johann Adam Remele (died 1740), German court painter * Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (1649–1697) * Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783), German Composer * Johann Altfuldisch (1911—1947), German Nazi SS concentration camp officer executed for wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
