Adolf Höfer (10 October 1869, in Munich – 14 March 1927, in Parsberg) was a German painter, illustrator, and graphic artist.

Biography

His father was the landscape painter, Heinrich Höfer. Both of his parents died while he was a child; his mother Mathilde when he was four, and his father, of tuberculosis, when he was nine. In the interval, his father had remarried, and he was raised by his step-mother, Amalie. After completing his primary education, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, where he studied with Ludwig Schmid-Reutte, then in the Nature Class taught by

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 ...

, and finally in the Master Class of

Paul Hoecker Paul Hoecker (11 August 1854, Oberlangenau – 13 January 1910, Munich) was a German painter of the Munich School and founding member of the Munich Secession Biography His passion for art developed gradually, beginning at the Gymnasium in Ne ...

. While there, he became part of the group of painters who created an artists' association called ""; an agricultural term that often means "homeland", but they denied any patriotic intent.Georg Biermann: "Die Scholle, eine Münchener Künstlervereinigung", In: ''Die Kunst unserer Zeit''. Hanfstängl, 1910, pp.62–136 He initially worked as a graphic artist for the weekly art magazine, '' Jugend''. Later, he created posters and other advertising materials, which were not very profitable. He participated in exhibits by Die Scholle, but received little attention from the art critics.Hans Rosenhagen: "Die Münchner Künstlervereinigung „Scholle“", In: ''Die Kunst'', Vol.11, 1905, pp.406 and 439 f. In 1906, calling himself "reumütig" (repentant), he decided to focus entirely on painting. He did, however, teach at the Damenakademie, to provide a steady income.Yvette Deseyve: ''Der Künstlerinnen-Verein München e.V. und seine Damen-Akademie'', Herbert Utz Verlag, Munich, 2005, This also enabled him to afford a studio in Schwabing, Munich's Bohemian quarter. He had a relationship with one of his students, , which never led to marriage due to the differences in their social status and age. His best works date from this period, he gained recognition and, in 1910, was invited to tea in 1910 by Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria. When World War I began he volunteered, thinking it would be over quickly, and became an Etappenoffizier (someone in charge of logistics) in Flanders. When he returned home in 1918, everything had changed. Nadine had gotten married, his step-mother had died, and he found himself living alone in her apartment. The Damenakademie closed in 1920. He was able to exhibit twice, with the Munich Secession, but sold nothing. His savings were eaten up by inflation, so he was lonely and impoverished. During those hard times his brother Wilhelm, a doctor in Parsberg, invited him to his home for longer and longer stays. There, he continued to paint landscapes and portraits. In the spring of 1927, he shot himself with his old officer's pistol. His grave at the Nordfriedhof in Munich was destroyed by a bombing raid in World War II. His output consists of around sixty known paintings, most of them privately owned. Attribution is difficult because he was inconsistent about signing his works. A catalogue raisonné was compiled by Simone Brehmers in 2010. New works have since come to light.

References

External links

"Adolf Höfer-Retrospektive eines Schollemalers. Forschung am Museum"
@ Dr.Margarete Meggle-Freund, Kulturwissenschaftlerin (2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hofer, Adolf 1869 births 1927 deaths German painters German landscape painters German illustrators Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Artists who died by suicide Painters from Munich Suicides by firearm in Germany

Biography

References

Further reading

External links