Paul Müller-Kaempff (1861–1941) was a German painter, illustrator and
lithographer
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
. He is associated with the
Düsseldorf school of painting
The Düsseldorf school of painting is a term referring to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Academy (now the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf or Düsseldorf State ...
.
Biography
Kaempff received his first training from 1883 to 1886 at the
Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts, then at the Academy of
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
under
:de:Gustav Schönleber (1851–1917) and finally at the
Berlin Academy in the studio of
Hans Gude
Hans Fredrik Gude (March 13, 1825August 17, 1903) was a Norwegian romanticist painter and is considered along with Johan Christian Dahl to be one of Norway's foremost landscape painters. He has been called a mainstay of Norwegian National Roma ...
(1825–1903).
In 1905 he married his student, Else Schwager, and was appointed professor a year later. From 1908 he lived in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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, postal ...
, later becoming a member of the Hamburg Artists Association. In 1904 he and his wife were founder members of the Oldenburg Art Society.
Müller-Kaempff was a successful landscape artist. He produced watercolours, pastels and drawings as well as furniture designs and a multitude of postcards. He was also an accomplished lithographer and produced bird illustrations for the revised edition of
Naumann's ''"Naturgeschichte der Vögel Mitteleuropas"''. During his lifetime his works were acquired by museums in Rostock, Oldenburg, Kiel and Hamburg, and bought by numerous private collectors as far afield as
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and
China.
Prince Eitel Friedrich, the second son of
Emperor Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empi ...
, acquired several of Müller-Kaempff's pieces for the imperial court in 1908. Müller-Kaempff stayed in touch with his former fellow-student, Georg Müller vom Siel, and visited him at
Dötlingen
Dötlingen is a municipality in the district of Oldenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 6 km northeast of Wildeshausen, and 25 km southeast of Oldenburg at the Hunte river. It's one of Germany's richest villag ...
in June 1908.
On a hike in 1889 with his friend,
Oskar Frenzel (1855–1915), they discovered the secluded fishing village of
Ahrenshoop
Ahrenshoop is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula of the Baltic Sea. It used to be a small fishing village, but is today known for its tourism and as a holi ...
.
Müller-Kaempff was so inspired by the isolated hamlet that he moved there, built himself a house in 1892, and started the painting school of St. Lucas in 1894. Fellow artists followed his lead, and soon the artists' colony was home to
Anna Gerresheim (1852–1921),
Elisabeth von Eicken (1862–1940),
Friedrich Wachenhusen (1859–1925), (1850–1924), (1859–1922), (1866–1913) and (1854–1904).
Selected paintings
Paul Müller-Kaempff03.jpg, Farmstead with Cornfield
File:Paul Müller-Kaempf - Die Ostsee bei Ahrenshoop.jpg, The Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
near Ahrenshoop
File:Müller-Kaempf P.@Ahrenshop v Hohen Ufer.JPG, The High Path at Ahrenshoop
File:Paul Müller-Kaempff Darß Winter 21.jpg, Darß The Darß or Darss is the middle part of the peninsula of Fischland-Darß-Zingst on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The peninsula's name is of Slavic origin. There is a large forest in the ...
Winter
Sources
* Paul Müller-Kaempff: "Erinnerungen an Ahrenshoop" In: ''Mecklenburgische Monatshefte'', Schwerin, Bd. 2 (1926), 7, S. 333–336.
Digitalized
* Konrad Mahlfeld: ''Paul Müller-Kaempff. Begründer der Künstlerkolonie Ahrenshoop''. Hasenverlag, Halle (Saale) 2010, .
* Wolf Karge: Paul Müller-Kaempff : 1841 Oldenburg – Ahrenshoop – Berlin 1941. Mit einem Beitrag von Friedrich Schulz, Verlag Atelier im Bauernhaus, Fischerhude 2006, .
*Paul Müller-Kaempff. In: Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker u. a.: ''Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart''. Vol. XXV, E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1931, S. 245.
*Paul Müller-Kaempff. In: Hans Vollmer: ''Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts''. Vol. 5. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1961, S. 409
References
External links
website
@ the Mecklenburg Kunst Galerie.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller-Kaempff, Paul
1861 births
1941 deaths
19th-century German painters
19th-century German male artists
German male painters
20th-century German painters
20th-century German male artists
German lithographers
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf alumni
Prussian Academy of Arts alumni
20th-century German printmakers
20th-century lithographers
Düsseldorf school of painting