Adolf Erbslöh (27 May 1881,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

– 2 May 1947,

Icking Icking is a municipality in the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen in Bavaria in Germany. People * Anita Augspurg, lived in Icking from 1916 until she fled the Nazis * Dieter Borsche, actor, lived in Icking in the beginning of the '60s. * Be ...

) was a German

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

painter; one of the founders of the

Neue Künstlervereinigung München The Neue Künstlervereinigung München (N.K.V.M.), ("New Artists' Association Munich") was an Expressionism art group based in Munich. The registered association was formed in 1909 and prefigured ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), the first ...

Biography

He was born to a merchant family; originally from

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

. His father, Gustav Adolf (1844-1900), was a junior partner in the export firm, Dieckerhoff, Raffloer & Co., and spent fifteen years at their New York office; returning to Barmen in 1887. Adolf received commercial training, although he displayed some talent for drawing.Hans Wille (Ed.): ''Adolf Erbslöh, 1881 bis 1947, Zeichnungen'', exhibition catalog, Städtisches Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm, 1986 The year after his father's death, he abandoned his business career to attend the

Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe The State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe or is an academy of arts in Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg in south-western Germany. History The Academy was founded in 1854 by Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, with the landscape painter Johann ...

, where he studied with and Ludwig Schmid-Reutte. In 1905, he continued his studies at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, 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, Germany. In the second half of the 19th centur ...

, with

Ludwig von Herterich Ludwig von Herterich (13 October 1856, Ansbach - 25 December 1932, Etzenhausen, today in Dachau) was a German painter and art teacher. He is best known as a painter of portraits and history paintings and is a representative of the Munich Schoo ...

. In 1907, he married his second cousin, Adeline Schuchard (1880-1974), the daughter of , who owned a large import-export business. The following year, he came up with the plan for the "Neue Künstlervereinigung München" (NKVM), which was chartered in 1909. He initially served as its Secretary. Their first informal showing was in Barmen, followed by a public exhibition at the Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser in Munich. Their first museum exhibition was in 1910, at what is now the

Von der Heydt Museum The Von der Heydt Museum is a museum in Wuppertal, Germany. The Von der Heydt Museum includes works by artists from the 17th century to the present time. History The museum is housed in the former city hall of Elberfeld, which in 1902 became ...

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

.Ulrike Becks-Malorny: ''Der Kunstverein in Barmen 1866–1946, Bürgerliches Mäzenatentum zwischen Kaiserreich und Nationalsozialismus'', J. H. Born, Wuppertal, 1992 That same year, he was elected the association's Chairman, upon the resignation of

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...

, who helped co-found a competing art group, "

Der Blaue Reiter ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (''The Blue Rider'') was a group of artists and a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name ...

". In 1913, he participated in creating the , with some of his associates from the NKVM and former members of the

Munich Secession The Munich Secession (German language, German Münchener Secession) was an association of visual artists who broke away from the mainstream Munich Artists' Association in 1892, to promote and defend their art in the face of what they considered ...

. They held their first exhibition in 1914. He was conscripted in 1915; serving in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

and France. The following year, he was chosen to be a war painter for the regimental staff in

Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...

but, as there was no such official position for non-commissioned officers, he was employed as an assistant clerk. His drawings from the field show portraits of his war comrades, forests and houses that had been destroyed. The colors of his oil paintings from that time were generally dull and pale.Andreas Erbslöh
"Adolf Erbslöh in den Familienberichten 1914–1918"
@ Erbslöh.org He returned to Munich in 1919. Shortly after, he and Adeline took a trip through

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

, where he composed an album of sketches. In the 1920s, he turned to the

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in ) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against German Expressionism, expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle Mannheim, Kunsthalle' ...

; an art movement that was a reaction against Expressionism. A major feature of the new style was a return to lighting and shading effects, which the Expressionists had disdained. His last solo exhibition during his lifetime took place in 1931. A joint exhibition was planned for 1934, but had to be cancelled because most of the works by former NKVM members were declared to be " Degenerate". In 1937, four of his paintings were confiscated from public collections and destroyed. After that, he retired to his home near Icking and avoided any publicity. He remained in seclusion until his death in 1947. 1923 Adolf Erbsloeh Positano

References

External links

More works by Erbslöh
@ ArtNet

@ the Erbslöh family history website
Biography and works
@ Art Directory * {{DEFAULTSORT:Erbsloh, Adolf 1881 births 1947 deaths German painters German Expressionist painters Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe alumni Artists from Wuppertal Painters from North Rhine-Westphalia German expatriates in the United States

Biography

References

Further reading

External links