Adolf Heinrich Lier (21 May 1826,
Herrnhut - 30 September 1882,
Vahrn
Vahrn (; it, Varna ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about northeast of the city of Bolzano.
Geography
Vahrn borders the following municipalities: Brixen, Klausen, Franzensfeste, Natz-Schabs, Sarntal ...
) was a German landscape painter.
Life and work
He was the son of a goldsmith from
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...
. At the age of fifteen (after a problematic youth that included three years in a
reformatory
A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concern ...
)
he expressed a desire to be a painter but his father opposed the idea, sending him instead to the construction tradeschools in
Zittau
Zittau ( hsb, Žitawa, dsb, Žytawa, pl, Żytawa, cs, Žitava, Upper Lusatian Dialect: ''Sitte''; from Slavic "'' rye''" (Upper Sorbian and Czech: ''žito'', Lower Sorbian: ''žyto'', Polish: ''żyto'')) is the southeasternmost city in the Ge ...
and Dresden to study draftsmanship. He was able to gain a short-term position in the studios of
Gottfried Semper while he was in Dresden.
In 1848, he received a commission to help prepare designs for a museum ceiling in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, under the direction of
Melchior Berri. This type of work proved to be unsatisfying, however, and he was encouraged to go to Munich for further studies. After failing to obtain a position in the studios of
Joseph Karl Stieler
Joseph Karl Stieler (1 November 1781 – 9 April 1858) was a German painter. From 1820 until 1855 he worked as royal court painter of the Bavarian kings. He is known for his Neoclassical portraits, especially for the Gallery of Beauties at N ...
, he encountered
Richard Zimmermann
Richard Augustus Zimmermann, genre and landscape painter, was born in Zittau in 1820.
Biography
Zimmermann was the son of the impresario Karl Friedrich August Zimmermann, and his three brothers, Albert, Max, and Robert, have all been well-known ...
, who he knew from Zittau, and became his pupil.
He decided to specialize in landscape painting and held his first exhibit in 1855. Initially, he focused on the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...
and
Upper Bavaria
Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany.
Geography
Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...
n lakes.
In 1861 he took a trip to Paris, where he had his first encounter with the
Barbizon School
The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name ...
. This confirmed him in his belief that landscapes should be natural, focus on overall effect rather than detail, and be what one might now call "deceptively simple". In 1864 he returned to Paris, where he spent his time copying the old masterpieces in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
. He was especially interested in the work of
Jules Dupré
Jules Louis Dupré (April 5, 1811 – October 6, 1889) was a French painter, one of the chief members of the Barbizon school of landscape painters. If Corot stands for the lyric and Rousseau for the epic aspect of the poetry of nature, Dupré i ...
, and visited with him in
L'Isle-Adam that winter. In 1868 he opened an art school which he operated until 1873, when his health began to decline, due to a heart condition. After that time he continued to teach, but took a much less active role in the school.
Hoping to find some rest and recovery, he planned to spend the winter of 1882 in the
South Tyrol
it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol
, settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province
, image_skyline = ...
, but died of a heart attack shortly after arriving.
References
Further reading
* Theodor Mennacher, Adolf Heinrich Lier: ''Adolf Lier und sein Werk'', Verlag Piloty & Loehle, 1928
* Sigfried Wichmann: ''Meister – Schüler – Themen, Münchner Landschaftsmaler im 19. Jahrhundert'', Schuler Verlag 1981.
* Adolf Heinrich Lier. In:
Thieme-Becker
Thieme-Becker is a German biographical dictionary of artists.
Thieme-Becker
The dictionary was begun under the editorship of Ulrich Thieme (1865–1922) (volumes one to fifteen) and Felix Becker (1864–1928) (volumes one to four). It was complet ...
: ''Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart''. Vol.23, E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1929, pg.211.
External links
ArtNet: Twelve pages of paintings by Lier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lier, Adolf Heinrich
1826 births
1882 deaths
19th-century German painters
German male painters
German landscape painters
People from Herrnhut
19th-century German male artists