Adam Adolf Oberländer (1 October 1845,

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

29 May 1923,

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

) was a German

caricaturist A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures. List of caricaturists * Abed Abdi (born 1942) * Abril Lamarque (1904–1999) * Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003) * Alex Gard (1900–1948) * Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977) * Alfre ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

and early

comics artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literar ...

Biography

He was born at Regensburg, but after 1847 lived in

. He studied painting at the Munich Academy under

Karl von Piloty Karl Theodor von Piloty (1 October 1826 – 21 July 1886) was a German painter, noted for his historical subjects, and recognised as the foremost representative of the realistic school in Germany. Life and work Piloty was born in Munich. His fath ...

beginning in 1861, but found that

historical painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bi ...

did not suit his particular talent. He soon discovered that the true expression of his genius was in the field of

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

and comic drawings, revealed in a humorous cartoon published in 1863 in the ''

Fliegende Blätter The ' ("Flying Leaves"; also translated as "Flying Pages" or "Loose Sheets") was a German weekly humor and satire magazine appearing between 1845 and 1944 in Munich. Many of the illustrations were by well-known artists such as Wilhelm Busch, Cou ...

''. He joined the staff of the ''Fliegende Blätter'', to which he became a constant contributor and leading artist. Unlike

Wilhelm Busch Heinrich Christian Wilhelm Busch (14 April 1832 – 9 January 1908) was a German humorist, poet, illustrator, and painter. He published wildly innovative illustrated tales that remain influential to this day. Busch drew on the tropes of f ...

, whose aim was the utmost simplicity of line, and whose drawings form a running commentary on the caption, Oberländer's work is essentially pictorial, and expressive in itself, without the extraneous aid of the written line. Among his best drawings are his parodies on the style of well-known painters, such as the ''Variations on the Kissing Theme''. Other subjects are taken from mythology, fairy lore, fables, animal life and the customs and habits of the German middle class. His works were collected in the ''Oberländer-Album'', published by Braun and Schneider in Munich (1879–1901), and reprinted a number of times, most recently by Rosenheimer in 1982 (). He was also a painter of some note, and pictures of his are in the galleries of Munich, Berlin, Dresden and other cities of Germany and in private collections.

Selected drawings from ''Fliegende Blätter''

File:Fliegende Blaetter 85 37 b1.jpg File:Fliegende Blaetter 85 36 b1.jpg File:Fliegende Blaetter 85 36 b2.jpg File:Fliegende Blaetter 85 35 b2.jpg

Notes

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberlander, Adolf 19th-century German illustrators 20th-century German illustrators German caricaturists German humorists German magazine cartoonists German magazine illustrators German comics artists 1845 births 1923 deaths Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni