Otto Altenkirch (2 January 1875,

Ziesar Ziesar () is a town in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated south-west of the city of Brandenburg. Demography Local council Following local elections held on 26 May 2019: * SPD 5 seats * CDU 4 seats * Freie ...

– 20 July 1945,

Siebenlehn Siebenlehn is a district of the town Großschirma in Landkreis Mittelsachsen. Until 2003 it was a separate town. Upon fusion with the neighbouring rural municipality Großschirma on 1 September 2003, the town privileges were transferred to the j ...

) was a German

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 ...

painter and set designer.

Life and work

Otto Altenkirch Kornpuppen am Hellergut 1937

He was the sixth child born to Johann Christian Friedrich Altenkirch, a Master saddler, and his wife Dorothea Wilhelmine Auguste née Müller. In 1889, after completing primary school in Zeisar, he went to Berlin to serve a four-year apprenticeship as a

decorative painter A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is to imp ...

. He remained there, as a journeyman, while taking drawing lessons from Hugo Händler (1861 – c. 1941). This was followed by military service in Eastern Europe, and a study trip. He returned to Berlin in 1897. In 1898, he enrolled at the University of the Arts, where his primary instructor was . After 1900, he was a full-time student of Eugen Bracht. In 1902, when Bracht moved to the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, Altenkirch went with him and became his assistant. His first showing was at an Academy exhibition in 1903, and he was awarded a silver medal. He finally completed his studies in 1906; settling in Dresden and becoming a free-lance artist. He became a founding member of the (artists' association) in 1910. He was also one of the artists who worked at the Dresden Opera House. That same year, he was named Court Painter for the . His work there included sets for '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'' in 1913, the 100th anniversary of the birth of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

. In honor of his services, King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony awarded him the title of Professor in 1917. In 1920, he retired from all of his professional positions, and settled in the small town of Siebenlehn, where he had inherited a house from his father-in-law. It was there that he created most of his familiar landscapes. For two decades, one of his favorite subjects was the avenue of linden trees in Reinsberg. In 1941 and 1943, his works were represented at the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung; a display of Nazi approved art in Munich. A few weeks before his death, he created one of his largest paintings, depicting the garden of the Saint Romanus Country Inn, near his home.

References

Sources

''Otto Altenkirch''
Website

@ the Siebenlehn website *

External links

More works by Altenkirch
@ ArtNet * {{DEFAULTSORT:Altenkirch, Otto 1875 births 1945 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German landscape painters German scenic designers Berlin University of the Arts alumni People from Potsdam-Mittelmark 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists