Ferdinand Franz Engelbert Dorsch (10 December 1875, Pécs - 9 January 1938,

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

) was a German painter, graphic artist, and art Professor.

Life and work

While he was still very young, his family moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he grew up. In 1891, thanks to a scholarship from the Principality of Reuss-Gera, he was able to study at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts with Leon Pohle and Ferdinand Pauwels. From 1895 to 1898, he worked with

Gotthardt Kuehl Gotthardt Kuehl (28 November 1850 – 9 January 1915) was a German painter and a representative of early German Impressionism. He gained wide international recognition during his lifetime. Life and work His father, Simon Kühl, was the Sex ...

, who became a lifelong friend and patron. He returned to Vienna in 1898, where he made the acquaintance of

Carl Moll Carl Julius Rudolf Moll (23 April 1861 – 13 April 1945) was a prominent art nouveau painter active in Vienna at the start of the 20th century. He was one of the artists of the Vienna Secession who took inspiration from the pointillist techniqu ...

, a member of the

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austri ...

, who prompted him to join. In addition to painting portraits, he supported himself by doing photo retouching. By 1901, he was back in Dresden. The following year, he joined "", an artists' cooperative founded by his friend, Kuehl. In 1909, he himself was one of the founders of the . During this time, he took several painting trips with Kuehl, and was inspired to become an

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. Due to a lack of commissions, beginning in 1904, he operated his own painting school. His students included and Conrad Felixmüller. He was named a Professor at the Dresden Academy in 1914, but continued to operate his school until 1916, when the workload became too great. His best known students there included Otto Dix, , , and Paul Sinkwitz. In 1926/27 and again from 1935, he served as Rector. From 1906 to 1921, he was a member of the (artists' association), and was its Chairman in 1918. That same year, he was awarded a Knight's Cross in the Albert Order. He and Max Feldbauer jointly operated a studio from 1922. A special exhibition of his works was held in Berlin in 1935. He died at the age of sixty-two, and was interred at the Johannisfriedhof. No catalogue raisonné of his works has been compiled. They may be seen at the National Gallery (Berlin), the Galerie Neue Meister and the Städtische Galerie in Dresden, and the

Museum der bildenden Künste The Museum der bildenden Künste (German: "Museum of Fine Arts") is a museum in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It covers artworks from the Late Middle Ages to Modernity. History Museum Foundation and First Museum The museum dates back to the fo ...

in Leipzig, among many others.

Selected paintings

File:Ferdinand Dorsch In der Weesensteiner Amtstube.jpg, In the Office File:Dorsch-Balcony.jpg, On the Balcony File:Ferdinand Dorsch Fastnachtsspiel.jpg, Carnival Games File:Dorsch-Chapel.jpg, In the Chapel at

Schloss Weesenstein Schloss Weesenstein is a ''Schloss'' located in , a small village, part of Müglitztal in the Müglitz (river), Müglitz river valley, around south of Dohna in Saxony, Germany. History A castle was erected here sometime around 1200, built with th ...

File:Dorsch-Dress.jpg, Young Woman in a
Black Dress

Sources

* "Dorsch, Ferdinand", In: Hans Vollmer (Ed.): ''Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts'', Vol.1: A–D. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1953, pg.587 * ''Ferdinand Dorsch 1875–1938. Ein Künstlerleben in Dresden,'' exhibition catalog, with contributions by Georg Siebert, Conrad Felixmüller et al., Galerie von Abercron, Cologne 1976
Entry at the Deutsche National Bibliothek
* Dieter Hoffmann (Ed.): ''Dresden, ein Traum. Lithographien und Zeichnungen von Ferdinand Dorsch'', Hellerau-Verlag, Dresden 1993.

External links

More works by Dorsch
@ ArtNet
Biography of Dorsch
@ the Galerie von Abercron {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorsch, Ferdinand 1875 births 1938 deaths Burials at Johannisfriedhof, Dresden 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German genre painters Dresden Academy of Fine Arts People from Pécs 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists