Rudolf Höckner (28 July 1864,

Wolkenstein Wolkenstein is a town in the district Erzgebirgskreis, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Ore Mountains, on the river Zschopau, 22 km southeast of Chemnitz. The town is situated on a rocky spur near the confluence of Zschopau and ...

- 22 April 1942,

Bad Mergentheim Bad Mergentheim (; Mergentheim until 1926; East Franconian: ''Märchedol'') is a town in the Main-Tauber-Kreis district in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It has a population of around 23,000. An officially recognized spa town since 1926, B ...

) 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 ...

landscape and cityscape painter.

Biography

His parents were landowners and he was born on their estate near Wolkenstein. After the early death of his father in 1872, his family moved to Freiberg then, five years later, to

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

. There, he attended St. Thomas School, a liberal arts boarding school founded in the 13th century. He graduated in 1885.Sachs, Ramshorn; Die Lehrer der Thomasschule zu Leipzig 1832–1912, Die Abiturienten der Thomasschule zu Leipzig 1845–1912; Teubner, Leipzig 1912; S. 73 Following that, he initially studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

, then was briefly enrolled at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. After deciding on a career in art, he attended the Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School, Weimar, where his primary instructor was Theodor Hagen. He graduated in 1890, with a scholarship that enabled him to take study trips to Southern Germany and Italy. In 1891, he returned to Weimar, married Brigitte Ebsen, and became a free-lance artist. In 1895, financial difficulties forced him to move to

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

where he supplemented his artistic income by working as a sailing correspondent for the ''Nord-Ostsee-Zeitung''. In 1905, he moved his family again; this time to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

to work as a local affairs editor for the '. Two years later, he gave that up to make another attempt at being a free-lance artist; holding exhibits in Hamburg and Altona. In 1915, he and Brigitte finally settled in

Wedel Wedel is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, approximately south of Elmshorn, and west of Hamburg. History Foundation and Middle Ages The first known mention of ...

, on the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

, and remained there until her death in 1941. On the occasion of his 65th birthday, he was named an honorary member of the and, at the age of 75, became an honorary citizen of Wedel. After his wife's death, he moved to Southern Germany and died in the

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. H ...

of Bad Mergentheim. More than 250 of his paintings are owned by the city of Wedel. Others may be seen at the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the

Altonaer Museum Altonaer Museum is an art museum in the suburb of Altona in Hamburg, Germany. The museum association was established in 1863, when Altona was still part of Denmark. The museum has a collection of over 300 000 objects connected to the cult ...

. A collection of letters, diaries and newspaper clippings is kept at the .

Selected paintings

File:Hockner-Street.jpg, Street Scene with Children and Musicians File:Hockner-Altenwarder.jpg, Landscape Near

Altenwerder Altenwerder () is a quarter in the Harburg borough of the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg in northern Germany. The former village on an Elbe island became a port expansion area in the 1960s. In the 1970s the city of Hamburg announced the formal ...

File:Hockner-Port.jpg, The Port of Hamburg File:Hockner-Ruin.jpg, View of a Ruin

References

External links

More works by Höckner
@ ArtNet

@ Stadtansichten von Wedel {{DEFAULTSORT:Hockner, Rudolf 1864 births 1942 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German landscape painters German Impressionist painters People from Wedel People from Erzgebirgskreis 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links