Richard Lorenz (9 February 1858 – 4 August 1915) was a German artist known for his paintings of scenes from the Western United States. He specialized in painting horses.
Early life
Richard Lorenz was born on 9 February 1858 in
Voigtstedt
Voigtstedt () is a village and a former municipality in the district Kyffhäuserkreis, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the town Artern
Artern is a town in the Kyffhäuserkreis district, Thuringia, Germany. The former ...
, Germany.
At 15 years old he was sent to the Royal Academy of Art in
Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...
, Germany, to study sculpture and drawing with
Heinrich Albert Brendel
Albert Heinrich Brendel, who was born in Berlin in 1827, studied in the Prussian Academy of Arts under Wilhelm Krause. In 1851 he went to Paris, and studied under Couture and Palizzi; thence to Italy, and home to Berlin in 1853, completing his ...
who specialized in drawing horses and other animals.
In Weimar, Lorenz also studied art as a student of German artist
Theodor Hagen.
He spent eight years in the Weimar Art School and he won the Carl Alexander art prize twice.
He moved to
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
, Wisconsin, in 1885.
Career
In 1885 Lorenz began working with a group of panoramist artists in Milwaukee. His contribution on the large canvases was to paint horses,
and he became a specialist in painting them.
In 1887 Lorenz left the group and traveled in the western United States sketching scenes from the west. When he returned to Milwaukee in 1891, he taught at the Milwaukee School of Art and began painting scenes based on his sketches.
In 1906 he won the Osborn Prize for the best painting (American Subject).
The prize came with a $1000 award.
He was a member of the Society of Western Artists.
The
American Museum of Western Art – The Anschutz Collection The American Museum of Western Art – The Anschutz Collection is a non-profit museum located in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 2010, it is the permanent home for The Anschutz Collection, a formerly private collection of paintings that surveys the ar ...
houses his most famous painting, which is called ''
Burial on the Plains
''Burial on the Plains'' ( 1890) is a painting by Richard Lorenz. The painting was exhibited in Munich in 1891 and it is part of the collection at the American Museum of Western Art – The Anschutz Collection. It is in the genre of Western Amer ...
'' ( 1890).
Lorenz took risks to get the best perspective for paintings. In 1896 he climbed a tree to sketch some workers cutting down trees in
Star Lake, Wisconsin
Star Lake is an unincorporated community located in Vilas County, Wisconsin, United States. Star Lake is located on the northeast shore of Star Lake northwest of Eagle River. It is one of two unincorporated communities in the town of Plum Lake ...
. One of the trees that was cut down fell in Lorenz's direction: he jumped from the tree and broke his leg. The ''Chicago Tribune'' reported that Lorenz jumped a distance of twenty feet in order to escape instant death.
Death
Lorenz died on 4 August 1915 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after suffering a
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
.
Lorenz was 57 years old when he died and he was not married.
In 2005 he was posthumously awarded a Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Award.
Gallery
File:Richard Lorenz (1858-1915), Indian Chief, c. 1890s, oil on canvas, 38 x 27.jpg, Indian Chief, c. 1890s oil on canvas
File:Richard Lorenz-(1858-1915), Chasing the Line (1907) painting.jpg, Chasing the Line (1907)
File:Burial on the Plains by Richard Lorenz 1890.jpg, Burial on the Plains by Richard Lorenz 1890
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorenz, Richard
1858 births
1915 deaths
German artists
Artists from Milwaukee
Artists from Thuringia