Otto Viktor Frölicher (5 June 1840 in
Solothurn – 2 November 1890 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 ...
) was a Swiss landscape painter.
Life
His father worked for the local government. In 1859, he enrolled at the
Academy of Fine Arts Munich
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, ...
, and became a student of landscape painting under
Johann Gottfried Steffan
Johann Gottfried Steffan (December 13, 1815 – June 16, 1905) was a Swiss landscape artist,Franz Zelger. Steffan, Johann Gottfried. ''Grove Art Online'' (Oxford University Press; 2003) regarded as one of the most important Swiss landscapists ...
.
Four years later, he moved to
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 ...
, where he came under the influence of
Oswald Achenbach.
After going home to Solothurn, he found that he was unable to earn a living as a painter there and returned to Munich and discovered a new influence,
Adolf Heinrich Lier
Adolf Heinrich Lier (21 May 1826, Herrnhut - 30 September 1882, Vahrn) was a German landscape painter.
Life and work
He was the son of a goldsmith from Mecklenburg. At the age of fifteen (after a problematic youth that included three years i ...
.
In 1876, he travelled to Paris on the recommendation of Lier, but was not able to adapt to big city life and, a year later, returned to Munich which, at that time, had barely 200,000 people.
He was a member of several major artists' associations and served as a judge for exhibitions at the
Glaspalast. Also, he was chairman of an organization devoted to the interests of Swiss artists residing in Munich.
At the age of thirty-nine, he suffered a bout with
diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
, which left him in permanent ill-health. Later, he was diagnosed with cancer.
Contemporary sources, however, give his cause of death as a "groin disease" (contracted while painting in the wild?) that led to
jaundice
Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a yellowish or greenish pigmentation of the skin and sclera due to high bilirubin levels. Jaundice in adults is typically a sign indicating the presence of underlying diseases involving abnormal heme meta ...
.
Selected paintings
File:Froelicher muehle.jpg, Mill on a Stream
File:Froelicher solothurn.jpg, View of Solothurn
File:Frölicher Hübeli Attisholz 1868.jpg, Hübeli (Bowil
Bowil is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
Bowil is first mentioned in 1299 as ''Bonwile''.
The village was once part of the ''Herrschaft'' of Signau and the Freiherre ...
), near Attisholz
References
Further reading
* Roswitha Hohl-Schild: ''Otto Frölicher. Ein Schweizer Maler des 19. Jahrhunderts auf der Suche nach seiner Landschaft.'' Graduate thesis,
University of Zürich, 1987.
*
Hermann Uhde-Bernays
Hermann Uhde-Bernays (31 October 1873 – 7 June 1965) was a German German studies scholar and art historian.
Life
Born in Weimar, Uhde-Bernays was the son of the journalist Hermann Uhde (1845-1879) and stepson of Michael Bernays. He attended ...
: ''Otto Frölicher. Sein Leben und Werk.'' Biography. Schwabe, Basel 1922.
* Gottfried Wälchli: ''Otto Frölicher 1840-1890.'' Biography. Gassmann, Solothurn 1950.
External links
ArtNet: More paintings by Frölicher
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frolicher, Otto
19th-century Swiss painters
Swiss male painters
1840 births
1890 deaths
Landscape painters
19th-century Swiss male artists
Düsseldorf school of painting