Adolf Erbslöh (27 May 1881,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

– 2 May 1947,

Icking Icking is a municipality in the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen in Bavaria in Germany. People * Anita Augspurg, lived in Icking from 1916 until she fled the Nazis * Dieter Borsche, actor, lived in Icking in the beginning of the '60s. * Ber ...

) was a German

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

painter; one of the founders of the

Neue Künstlervereinigung München The Neue Künstlervereinigung München (N.K.V.M.), ("New Artists' Association Munich") was an Expressionism art group based in Munich. The registered association was formed in 1909 and prefigured ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), the first ...

Biography

He was born to a merchant family; originally from

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

. His father, Gustav Adolf (1844-1900), was a junior partner in the export firm, Dieckerhoff, Raffloer & Co., and spent fifteen years at their New York office; returning to Barmen in 1887. Adolf received commercial training, although he displayed some talent for drawing.Hans Wille (Ed.): ''Adolf Erbslöh, 1881 bis 1947, Zeichnungen'', exhibition catalog, Städtisches Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm, 1986 The year after his father's death, he abandoned his business career to attend the

Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe The State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe () is an art school located in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History The Academy was founded in 1854 by Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, with the landscape painter Johann Wilhelm Schirmer as ...

, where he studied with and

Ludwig Schmid-Reutte Ludwig Schmid-Reutte (13 January 1863 - 13 November 1909) was a Germany naturalist painter. Biography Ludwig Schmid-Reutte was born in Lechaschau, a mountain village to the west of Garmisch and Innsbruck. Franz Anton Schmid, his father, was a ...

. In 1905, he continued his studies at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, ...

, with

Ludwig von Herterich Ludwig von Herterich (13 October 1856, Ansbach - 25 December 1932, Etzenhausen, today in Dachau) was a German painter and art teacher. He is best known as a painter of portraits and history paintings and is a representative of the Munich Scho ...

. In 1907, he married his second cousin, Adeline Schuchard (1880-1974), the daughter of , who owned a large import-export business. The following year, he came up with the plan for the "Neue Künstlervereinigung München" (NKVM), which was chartered in 1909. He initially served as its Secretary. Their first informal showing was in Barmen, followed by a public exhibition at the Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser in Munich. Their first museum exhibition was in 1910, at what is now the

Von der Heydt Museum The Von der Heydt Museum is a museum in Wuppertal, Germany. The Von der Heydt Museum includes works by artists from the 17th century to the present time. History The museum is housed in the former city hall of Elberfeld, which in 1902 became a ...

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

.Ulrike Becks-Malorny: ''Der Kunstverein in Barmen 1866–1946, Bürgerliches Mäzenatentum zwischen Kaiserreich und Nationalsozialismus'', J. H. Born, Wuppertal, 1992 That same year, he was elected the association's Chairman, upon the resignation of

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

, who helped co-found a competing art group, "

Der Blaue Reiter ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...

". In 1913, he participated in creating the , with some of his associates from the NKVM and former members of the

Munich Secession The Munich Secession was an association of visual artists who broke away from the mainstream Munich Artists' Association in 1892, to promote and defend their art in the face of what they considered official paternalism and its conservative polic ...

. They held their first exhibition in 1914. He was conscripted in 1915; serving in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

and France. The following year, he was chosen to be a war painter for the regimental staff in

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

but, as there was no such official position for non-commissioned officers, he was employed as an assistant clerk. His drawings from the field show portraits of his war comrades, forests and houses that had been destroyed. The colors of his oil paintings from that time were generally dull and pale.Andreas Erbslöh
"Adolf Erbslöh in den Familienberichten 1914–1918"
@ Erbslöh.org He returned to Munich in 1919. Shortly after, he and Adeline took a trip through

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

, where he composed an album of sketches. In the 1920s, he turned to the

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, who ...

; an art movement that was a reaction against Expressionism. A major feature of the new style was a return to lighting and shading effects, which the Expressionists had disdained. He held his last solo exhibition in 1931. A joint exhibition was planned for 1934, but had to be cancelled because most of the works by former NKVM members were declared to be "

Degenerate Degeneracy, degenerate, or degeneration may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Degenerate (album), ''Degenerate'' (album), a 2010 album by the British band Trigger the Bloodshed * Degenerate art, a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party i ...

". In 1937, four of his paintings were confiscated from public collections and destroyed. After that, he retired to his home near Icking and avoided any publicity. He remained in seclusion until his death in 1947. 1923 Adolf Erbsloeh Positano

References

External links

More works by Erbslöh
@ ArtNet

@ the Erbslöh family history website
Biography and works
@ Art Directory * {{DEFAULTSORT:Erbsloh, Adolf 1881 births 1947 deaths German painters German Expressionist painters Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe Artists from Wuppertal German expatriates in the United States

Biography

References

Further reading

External links