, ro, Reșița), Resicabánya Dist., Krassó-Szörény Co,

Bánság Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of ...

, Royal Hungary,

Imperial and Royal The phrase Imperial and Royal (German: ''kaiserlich und königlich'', ), typically abbreviated as ''k. u. k.'', ''k. und k.'', ''k. & k.'' in German (the "und" is always spoken unabbreviated), ''cs. és k. (császári és királyi)'' in Hungari ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

(now

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

) , death_date = , death_place =

Vevey Vevey (; frp, Vevê; german: label=former German, Vivis) is a town in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne. The German name Vivis is no longer commonly used. It was the seat of the district of ...

, VD,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, nationality =

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Hungarian German German Hungarians (german: Ungarndeutsche, hu, magyarországi németek) are the German-speaking minority of Hungary, sometimes called Danube Swabians (German: ''Donauschwaben'', Hungarian: ''dunai svábok''), many of whom call themselves "Shwo ...

, occupation =

Art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

Julius Meier-Graefe (10 June 1867 – 5 June 1935) was a

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

and

. His writings on

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

Post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

as well as on art of earlier and more recent generations, with his most important contributions translated into French, Russian and English, are considered to have been instrumental for the understanding and the lasting success of these artistic movements.

Biography

Meier-Graefe was born in Reschitz, Banat, Hungary, then part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, and now located in modern Romania. He was the grandson of ( he, מוריץ הרמן אדוארד מאייר‎), and son of , a government civil engineer, and Marie Theresie (Marie-Thérèse) Meier née (1835, Halle/Saale1867, Resicabánya) who died giving birth to him. The family, including his brother , moved to a small town near

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

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 the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He chose the hyphenated surname Meier-Graefe to honour the mother he never knew. After studying engineering in

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 ...

in 1888 and marrying Clotilde Vitzthum von Eckstädt (who was related to the art historian Georg Vitzthum von ), he moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where, in 1890, he took up the study of history in general and art history in particular. He began his literary career as a fiction writer with two novellas, ''Ein Abend bei Laura'' (1890) and ''Nach Norden'' (1893), His first work of art criticism, regarding

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, ''The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dr ...

, was published in 1894. In 1895 he was among the founders of the arts and literary periodical ''Pan'', but he left the magazine after a year and founded the

Jugendstil ''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...

(

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 ...

) magazine ''

Dekorative Kunst ''Dekorative Kunst'' (meaning ''Decorative Art'' in English) was a German avant-garde art magazine published from October 1897 to 1929. The magazine promoted the Jugendstil or Art Nouveau style and was founded by Julius Meier-Graefe. The publisher ...

'' in 1897 and soon thereafter opened La Maison Moderne in Paris, a gallery that showcased Art Nouveau works. The gallery closed in 1903. The centennial exhibition of German art in the National Gallery in Berlin in 1906 featured Meier-Graefe's presentation of previously little-known works, and through his efforts, the art of

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscape ...

was first introduced to a wider audience. Similarly, his 1910 book ''Spanische Reise'' ("Spanish Journey") led to the "rediscovery" of

El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...

and the positioning of the artist as a forerunner to the Expressionists. Relocating to Paris, Meier-Graefe turned his attention on 19th century French painting; his 3-volume history of modern art (1904 and 1914–24) canonized the importance of French Impressionism. He wrote important biographies of many artists, including

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...

and

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

. When

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 ...

broke out, he volunteered in the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. He was sent to the Eastern front in 1915 and was captured and interned in a Russian POW camp in early 1915. Upon his return to Germany in late 1915, he divorced his first wife and married his second wife, Helene Lienhardt. The couple lived in Dresden, but travelled often, and considered France, especially Paris, a second home. Meier-Graefe's third marriage was to Anna Marie Epstein (1905 - 1994), an illustrator and painter about 38 years his junior.Library_of_Congress
_name_authority_file.html" ;"title="Library of Congress">Library of Congress
name authority file">Library of Congress">Library of Congress
name authority file/ref> A wealthy heiress, she was the only child of a Jewish couple, Else Kohn (22 March 1880 - ?) and Walter Epstein (11 May 1874 - 3 February 1918); her maternal grandparents were Adolf Kohn, a prominent German-Jewish banker, and Anna Michaelis. In 1930, Meier-Graefe and Epstein rented an estate called La Banette in Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer and they stayed there to escape the rise of the Nazi movement in Germany, where he was under attack for his promotion of what the National Socialists called "Degenerate Art." Meier-Graefe and Epstein encouraged and helped the landscape painter Walter Bondy and the writer

René Schickele René Schickele (4 August 1883 – 31 January 1940) was a German-French writer, essayist and translator. Biography Schickele was born in Obernai, Alsace, the son of a German vineyard owner and police officer and a French mother. He studied literat ...

to relocate to the area as well, and they were a decisive impetus in the formation of a large German-Jewish refugee arts-colony in neighboring

Sanary-sur-Mer Sanary-sur-Mer (, literally ''Sanary on Sea''; oc, Sant Nari), popularly known as Sanary, is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 16,696. Sanary-sur-Mer ...

, whose members included

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. Feuchtwanger's J ...

, and Ludwig Marcuse. He died in Vevey, Switzerland at the age of 67.

Writings

* ''Ein modernes Milieu''. in Dekorative Kunst (1901) ** English translation: ''A Modern Milieu''. Ed. by

Markus Breitschmid Markus Breitschmid (born 20 April 1966, Lucerne, Switzerland) is a Swiss-American architectural theoretician and the author of several books on contemporary architecture and philosophical aesthetics. His most highly regarded books are ''Der bauen ...

and Harry Francis Mallgrave. Backsburg, 2007, * ''Entwicklungsgeschichte der modernen Kunst'': ''Vergleichende Betrachtung der bildenden Künste, als Beitrag zu einer neuen Aesthetik''. 3 vols. Hofmann, Stuttgart 1904 ** English translation: ''Modern Art: being a contribution to a new system of aesthetics.'' 3 vols. Heinemann, London; Putnam, New York 1908 ** 2nd revised and enlarged edition, Piper, Munich 1914 - 1922 * ''Der Fall Böcklin und die Lehre von den Einheiten''. Stuttgart 1905 * ''Impressionisten: Guys - Manet - Van Gogh - Pissarro - Cézanne, mit einer Einleitung über den Wert der französischen Kunst und sechzig Abbildungen''. Piper, Munich ¹1907 & Leipzig ²1907 ** Three of these chapters have been reprinted separately, revised and enlarged: *** ''Édouard Manet'' *** ''Vincent van Gogh''. Piper, Munich (Cover design after a drawing by

) **** 4. - 6. Td.; 50 ill. and facsimile of a letter. Piper, Munich 1912 (published in two printings with deferring illustrations!) **** 4th, improved edition; 50 ill. (not 40 ill., as stated on the title page!) and facsimile of a letter. Piper, Munich 1918 **** 5th, improved edition; 50 ill. and facsimile of a letter. Piper, Munich 1922 **** 6th, improved edition, 14. - 16. Td.; 54 ill. and facsimile of a letter. Piper, Munich 1929 *** ''Paul Cézanne''. Piper, Munich (Cover designed by Franz Marc, after a painting by

) **** 5th, totally revised edition, 7. - 10. Td.; 38 ill. Piper, Munich 1923 *
Auguste Renoir
', ''mit hundert Abbildungen.'' Piper, Munich 1911. ** 2nd edition 1920 * ''Courbet''. Piper, Munich 1921 ** Re-edited 1924 * ''Vincent''. 2 vols. 103 plates. Piper, Munich ²1922 ** Pre-release serialised in Der Neue Merkur 3 (1919/1920)& 4 (1920/1921): *** ''Vincent und Theo'', Der Neue Merkur 3 (1919/1920), special issue: "Werden", pp. 37–78 *** ''Van Gogh in Paris'', Der Neue Merkur 4 (1920/1921), pp. 143–169 *** ''Van Gogh in Arles'', Der Neue Merkur 4 (1920/1921), pp. 445–460 *** ''Das Gelbe Haus'', Der Neue Merkur 4 (1920/1921), pp. 523–532 *** ''Van Gogh und Gauguin'', Der Neue Merkur 4 (1920/1921), pp. 622–643 *** ''Fou-Roux (Der rote Narr)'', Der Neue Merkur 4( 1920/1921), pp. 685–696 *** ''Van Gogh in St. Remy'', Der Neue Merkur 4 (1920/1921), pp. 769–786 *** ''Das Ende Van Goghs'', Der Neue Merkur 4 (1920/1921), pp. 822–841 * ''Das Tage-Buch.'' ''Geständnisse meines Vetters. Novellen''. Rowohlt, Berlin 1923 * ''Vincent van Gogh, der Zeichner.'' 52 plates. O. Wacker, Berlin 1928 * ''Renoir''. , Leipzig 1929, with 407 illustrations and 10 plates

References

1865 births 1935 deaths 19th-century German male writers 20th-century German male writers German art critics Hungarian art critics Art Nouveau Technical University of Munich alumni Hungarian people of German descent Hungarian people of Jewish descent German people of Hungarian-Jewish descent German people of Jewish descent People from the Kingdom of Hungary People from Reșița {{Germany-writer-stub