Frederick Carl Gottwald (August 15, 1858 – June 23, 1941) was a traditionalist American

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

who was influential in the development of the Cleveland School of art, sometimes called the "dean of Cleveland painters". He taught at the Western Reserve School of Design for Women (later renamed to the Cleveland Institute of Art), and it has been said that he "contributed more than any other person to Cleveland's artistic development".

Life and career

Gottwald was born in Austria, to Frederick and Caroline Grosse Gottwald, and emigrated to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, as an infant. He first studied painting with Archibald Willard in 1874, with whom he would found the Cleveland Art Club in 1876. He then moved to New York City to continue his training at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

, followed by stints at the Royal Academy in Munich, the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

in Paris, and

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

back in New York. Upon his return to Cleveland in September 1885, he joined the faculty of the design school and would be associated with them for the next 41 years, including serving as director from 1889–91. His directorship was ended by a demotion to "headmaster" and there was such bad feeling between him and his replacement, Newton A. Wells, that the two men ended up in a fistfight. Although Gottwald was allowed to remain at the school as an instructor, he never regained the position of director. As an instructor, he taught a large number of Cleveland-based artists, such as Charles Burchfield,

Henry Keller Henry George Keller (April 3, 1869 – August 3, 1949) was an American artist who led a generation of Ohio watercolor painters of the Cleveland School. Keller's students at the Cleveland School of Art and his Berlin Heights, Ohio summer school i ...

, Abel Warshawsky, and Frank N. Wilcox. Gottwald - Italian landscape

The 1890s were Gottwald's most successful years as an artist. During this period he exhibited almost yearly at the National Academy of Design, and the Boston Art Club a few times. He also had two pieces at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. In 1897, he founded a summer art school in

Zoar Zoar may refer to: * Zoara, a city mentioned in Genesis as part of the Biblical Pentapolis Places ;Canada * Zoar, Newfoundland and Labrador ;England * Zoar, Cornwall ;South Africa * Zoar, Western Cape ;United States * Zoar, Delaware * Zoar, Ind ...

which relocated to Chagrin Falls in 1899. After his retirement from the school in 1926, he and his wife Myria Scott moved to Italy. They lived there for several years, returning to Cleveland in 1930, after which they retired to

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

in 1932. Gottwald died there in 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gottwald, Frederick 1858 births 1941 deaths Cleveland School (arts community) 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Artists from Cleveland American people of Austrian descent Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Cleveland Institute of Art faculty 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists