Max Frey (April 16, 1874 – March 11, 1944) was a German painter and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

associated with the

Symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sy ...

and

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, who ...

movements. Some of his works contained elements of

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...

Life

He was born to a family of merchants and began his education at the Arts and Crafts school in Karlsruhe. For a short time, he worked as a theater painter in Berlin then, from 1893–1903 studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe under Ferdinand Keller, Gustav Schönleber and

Leopold von Kalckreuth :' Leopold Karl Walter Graf von Kalkreuth (15 May 1855 – 1 December 1928) was a German painter, known for portraits and landscapes. Biography A direct descendant of field-marshal Friedrich Adolf Graf von Kalckreuth, Leopold was born at Düsse ...

. While there, he participated in the activities of numerous art associations. Max Frey moved to

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

in 1904 and married the daughter of a manufacturer. Later, in 1906, they moved to

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 ...

. In 1907, he became a teacher in graphic design and painting at the

Dresden Academy of Fine Arts The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institution is the product o ...

and taught a newly created class especially for women. Among his students were Margarete Wendt and Margarete Kühn, who went on to create the firm of Wendt & Kühn. He was appointed a Professor in 1910. His other students included

Hans Grundig Hans Grundig (February 19, 1901 – September 11, 1958) was a German painter and graphic artist associated with the New Objectivity movement. He was born in Dresden and, after an apprenticeship as an interior decorator, studied in 1920–1921 ...

, Willy Wolff and

Oscar Cahén Oscar Cahén (sometimes spelled Oscar Cahen) (February 8, 1916 – November 26, 1956) was a Canadian painter and illustrator. Cahén is best known as a member of Painters Eleven, a group of abstract artists active in Toronto from 1953-1960, ...

. Max Frey was a member of the

Deutscher Künstlerbund The Deutscher Kuenstlerbund (Association of German Artists) was founded in 1903 the initiative of Count Harry Kessler, promoter of arts and artists, Alfred Lichtwark, director of the Hamburg Art Gallery and the famous painters Lovis Corinth, Ma ...

and the Dresden Art Cooperative. He also was a founding member of the artists' group Grün-Weiß and the Dresdner Künstlergruppe 1913. He was called up during the

First World War 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 ...

and returned to Dresden after being mustered out of service. He stayed at the Academy until 1934, then retired to

Bad Harzburg Bad Harzburg (; Eastphalian: ''Bad Harzborch'') is a spa town in central Germany, in the Goslar district of Lower Saxony. It lies on the northern edge of the Harz mountains and is a recognised saltwater spa and climatic health resort. Geograph ...

. Four years later, his marriage ended in divorce. The following year he married a former pupil, Editha von Froebel, who was considerably younger. They had one son. Max Frey died at home on 11 March 1944. He was buried at a cemetery in the Tolkewitz district of Dresden.

Works

Graphic works

His graphic work was inspired by the

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 ...

movement. File:Max Frey - Staedtisches Vierordtbad Karlsruhe, um 1900.jpg, Poster, 1900 File:Max Adolf Peter Frey - Jubiläums-Ausstellung für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe Karlsruhe 1906.JPG, Exhibition poster, 1906 File:Plakat - Emil Richter Kunstausstellung - Gruppe Gruen-Weiss, 1910.jpeg, Exhibition poster, 1910 File:Max Frey - Ex Libris Dr. med. W. Weber.jpg, Bookplate, around 1910 File:Max Frey - Postkarte - Gruß Vom Dresdner Margarittentag, 13-Mai-1911.jpg, Postcard, 1911

Paintings

His paintings during the late 1920s and 1930s were influenced by the

movement under the style of Magic realism. File:Max Frey - Akt mit Spiegel 1930.JPG, Scene from
''

Die ägyptische Helena ''Die ägyptische Helena'' (''The Egyptian Helen''), Op. 75, is an opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on 6 June 1928. Strauss had written the title role with ...

'' File:Max Frey - Poseidon auf Fabelwesen.JPG,

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...

File:Max Frey - Meerestiefe ca. 1926.JPG, Sea-creature File:Max Frey - (Selbstportrait) Weiter! Aufwärts! 1934.jpg, Continue! Upwards!
(Self-portrait)

Notes

References

* Holger Schlegel: ''Die vergessene Welt des Malers Max Frey''. In: ''Goslarsche Zeitung. Ausgabe Bad Harzburg'', 231 (2015) No. 171, pp. 18
full text online
. * Gernot Klatte: ''Frey, Max''. In: ''Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker (AKL)'', 44 (2005) pp. 521, * Joseph August Beringer: ''Frey, Max''. In: Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker: ''Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart'', 12 (1916) pp. 442 * Joseph August Beringer: ''Badische Malerei im neunzehnten Jahrhundert'' (1913) pp. 128–129 * Friedrich Jansa: ''Frey, Max Adolf Peter''. In: Deutsche Bildende Künstler in Wort und Bild (1912) pp. 169

External links

* Gernot Klatte:
Max Frey (1874–1944)
'. In: Sächsische Biografie (German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Frey, Max 1874 births 1944 deaths 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters Artists from Dresden People from the Kingdom of Saxony Magic realist artists German military personnel of World War I