Charles A. Ficke (1850-1931) was a

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

-born American lawyer, politician, author, and art collector. He served two terms as the mayor of

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

. Ficke made significant contributions to a number of cultural institutions in Iowa during his life and after his death. He was the father of poet and artist Arthur Davison Ficke.

Biography

Charles A. Ficke was born in Boitzenburg, Kingdom of Prussia on April 21, 1850. His parents, along with their eight children,

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

Scott County, Iowa Scott County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 174,669, making it the third-most populous county in Iowa. The county seat is Davenport. Scott County is included in the Davenport– Moline ...

when he was two years old. His parents were successful farmers throughout the late 19th century. In the 1860s, Charles Ficke began working his way through various business positions in Davenport. He worked as a salesman, in insurance, and eventually as a lawyer. He became active in the Scott County Republican Party and gained popularity among the many other

German American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

emigrants Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

in the area. Charles Ficke married Fannie Davison in 1882. Their children include Arthur Davison Ficke, Alice Ficke Simonsen, and Helene Ficke Watzek. As he gained business and political success, Ficke began collecting art. In 1890, he was elected to the first of his two terms as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

. He was also the president of the Davenport Turner Society around this time.

Charles August Ficke Collection

In 1886, 1892, 1901, 1902, and 1903, Charles Ficke and Fannie Davison made trips to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, collecting

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and

rare books Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is ''bibliophilia'', and someo ...

along the way. They consulted Professor

Leandro Izaguirre Leandro Izaguirre (February 13, 1867 in Mexico City – February 26, 1941 in Mexico City) was a Mexican painter, illustrator and teacher. He entered the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City in 1884. He is perhaps best known for his ''Torture o ...

when making some of the purchases. He also made multiple trips to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and collected art there as well, mostly

old master print An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition. The term remains current in the art trade, and there is no easy alternative in English to distinguish the works of "fine art" produced in printmakin ...

s. Beginning in 1920 and continuing until his death in 1931, Ficke and his family distributed the collection to

cultural institution A cultural institution or cultural organization is an organization within a culture/subculture that works for the Preservation (library and archive), preservation or promotion of culture. The term is especially used of public and charitable organiz ...

s in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. His art collection of 334 European and Mexican paintings was the founding donation for the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery. The gallery was established with state legislation after the donation. It was the precursor for the current

Figge Art Museum The Figge Art Museum is an art museum in Davenport, Iowa. The Figge, as it is commonly known, has an encyclopedic collection and serves as the major art museum for the eastern Iowa and western Illinois region. The Figge works closely with sever ...

. His books were donated to the Davenport Public Library. In 1943,

Manuel Toussaint Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name) * Manuel (Fawlty Towers), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Charlie Manuel, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * M ...

, a notable Mexican art historian and author, traveled to Davenport to assess Ficke's collection of Colonial Mexican painting. He called it one of the most important in an American institution and published his findings.

Links

Figge Art Museum's Mexican Colonial Art Collection
* J. Monroe Parker–Ficke House

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ficke, Charles August 1850 births 1931 deaths Mayors of Davenport, Iowa People from Uckermark (district) Prussian emigrants to the United States American art collectors 20th-century art collectors Iowa Republicans