Franz von Stuck (February 23, 1863 – August 30, 1928), born Franz Stuck, was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, and architect. Stuck was best known for his paintings of ancient

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

, receiving substantial critical acclaim with '' The Sin'' in 1892. In 1906, Stuck was awarded the

Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown The Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown (german: Verdienstorden der Bayerischen Krone) was an order of merit of the Kingdom of Bavaria established by King Maximilian Joseph I on 19 March 1808. The motto of the order is Virtus et Honos ('Courage ...

and was henceforth known as Franz Ritter von Stuck.

Life and career

Born at

Tettenweis Tettenweis is a municipality in the district of Passau in Bavaria, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and t ...

near Passau, Stuck displayed an affinity for drawing and

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...

from an early age. To begin his artistic education he relocated in 1878 to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, where he would settle for life. From 1881 to 1885 Stuck attended the

Munich Academy 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, ...

. He first became well known by cartoons for ''

Fliegende Blätter The ' ("Flying Leaves"; also translated as "Flying Pages" or "Loose Sheets") was a German weekly humor and satire magazine appearing between 1845 and 1944 in Munich. Many of the illustrations were by well-known artists such as Wilhelm Busch, Co ...

'', and vignette designs for programmes and book decoration. In 1889 he exhibited his first paintings at the Munich Glass Palace, winning a gold medal for '' The Guardian of Paradise''. In 1892 Stuck co-founded 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 ...

, and also executed his first sculpture, ''Athlete''. The next year he won further acclaim with the critical and public success of what is now his best known work, the painting '' The Sin''. Also during 1893, Stuck was awarded a gold medal for painting at the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

in Chicago, and was appointed to a royal professorship. In 1895, he began teaching painting at the Munich Academy. In 1897 Stuck married an American widow, Mary Lindpainter, and began work designing his own residence and studio, the Villa Stuck. His designs for the villa included everything from layout to interior decorations; for his furniture Stuck received another gold medal at the 1900 Paris World Exposition. Having attained a high public profile by this time, Stuck was ennobled on December 9, 1905, and would receive further public honours from around Europe during the remainder of his life. He continued to be well respected among young artists as professor at the Munich Academy, even after his artistic styles became unfashionable. His students over the years included

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

, Hans Purrmann,

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

Alf Bayrle Alf Bayrle (15 December 1900 – 11 September 1982), also known as Alf Singer-Bayrle, was a German painter, printmaker and sculptor. Life Bayrle was born in Biberach an der Riss. After his military service and participation in the First Worl ...

and

Josef Albers Josef Albers (; ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born artist and educator. The first living artist to be given a solo show at MoMA and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he taught at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, ...

. He was a member of the

International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers was a union of professional artists that existed from 1898 to 1925, "To promote the study, practice, and knowledge of sculpture, painting, etching, lithographing, engraving, and kindred ...

. His work was also part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

. Franz von Stuck died on August 30, 1928, in Munich; his funeral address memorialized him as "the last prince of art of Munich's great days". He is buried in the

Munich Waldfriedhof The Munich Waldfriedhof is one of 29 cemeteries of Munich in Bavaria, Germany. It is one of the larger and more famous burial sites of the city, known for its park-like design and tombs of notable personalities. The Waldfriedhof is considered the ...

next to his wife Mary.

Style

Stuck's subject matter was primarily from mythology, inspired by the work of

Arnold Böcklin Arnold Böcklin (16 October 182716 January 1901) was a Swiss symbolist painter. Biography He was born in Basel. His father, Christian Frederick Böcklin (b. 1802), was descended from an old family of Schaffhausen, and engaged in the silk tra ...

. Large forms dominate most of his paintings and indicate his proclivities for sculpture. His seductive female nudes are a prime example of popular Symbolist content. Stuck paid much attention to the frames for his paintings and generally designed them himself with such careful use of panels, gilt carving and inscriptions that the frames must be considered as an integral part of the overall piece. Ritter von Stuck's ''Kämpfende Amazone'' (''Fighting Amazon''), created in 1897, graced

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

's '' Carinhall''.Anna Rosmus: Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, pp. 87f

Legacy

By the time of his death, Stuck's importance as an artist in his own right had almost been forgotten: his art seemed old-fashioned and irrelevant to a generation that had endured

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Stuck's reputation languished until the late 1960s when a renewed interest in

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

brought him to attention once more. In 1968 the

Villa Stuck The Villa Stuck, built in 1898 and established as a museum in 1992 and located in the Munich quarter of Bogenhausen, is a museum and historic house devoted to the life and work of the painter Franz Stuck. In contrast to the Classical architectu ...

was opened to the public; it is now a museum. In

Robert Waite Robert George Leeson Waite (February 18, 1919 – October 4, 1999) was a Canadian historian, psychohistorian, and the Brown Professor of History (1949–1988) at Williams College who specialized in the Nazi movement, particularly Adolf Hitle ...

's 1977 book '' The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler'' and numerous other sources it is noted that Franz Stuck was Hitler's favorite painter from childhood on. Stuck's paintings were mentioned by

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...

, who wrote:

Gallery

File:Franz Von Stuck - The Guardian of Paradise.jpg, '' The Guardian of Paradise'', 1889 File:Franz Von Stuck - Dancers.jpg, ''Dancers'', 1896 File:Franz von Stuck -Wounded Amazon, 1903.jpg, '' Wounded Amazon'', 1903 File:Rigeltanz - Franz von Stuck - 1905 - Museo Nazionale del Arte Moderno - Rome.jpg, ''Ringeltanz'', 1905 File:Franz Von Stuck - The Struggle for Woman.jpg, ''The Struggle for Woman'', 1905 File:Stuck, Franz von - Salome - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Salome'', 1906 File:Sisyphus by von Stuck.jpg, ''Sisyphus'', 1920 File:Franz-Von-Stuck-adam-and-Eve.jpg, ''Adam and Eve'', 1920

References

Bibliography

* Adam, Peter. ''Art of the Third Reich''. New York City: Harry N. Abrams. 1992. . * Gibson, Michael. ''Symbolism''. Köln: Benedikit

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comics, pu ...

Verlag. 1995. . * Mendgen, Eva. ''Von Stuck''. Köln: Benedikt

Verlag. 1995. .

External links

Collection of Works by Franz von Stuck

Museum Villa Stuck (in German)

The Gallery of Franz von Stuck

Franz von Stuck: Living Images

{{DEFAULTSORT:von Stuck, Franz 1863 births 1928 deaths People from Passau (district) Bavarian nobility 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German Symbolist painters Academy of Fine Arts, Munich faculty Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Art Nouveau painters Art Nouveau sculptors Art Nouveau architects Symbolist sculptors Burials at Munich Waldfriedhof 20th-century sculptors 19th-century sculptors Members of the Vienna Secession Olympic competitors in art competitions