Gustav Schönleber (3 December 1851 in Bietigheim – 1 February 1917 in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

) was a German

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...

Biography

His father ran a small industrial plant and he received his primary education in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. A childhood accident left him blind in one eye. He originally studied

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

at the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart () is a research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany with programs in civil, mechanical, ind ...

, but he drew as a hobby and a cousin, who recognized his talent, suggested that he go to Munich to study at the private art school of Adolf Heinrich Lier. He studied landscape painting there from 1870 to 1873. In the later 1870s, he travelled extensively; to France, Holland and Italy as well as throughout Germany, providing illustrations for numerous books and other publications. From 1880 to 1917, he taught at 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 his notable students included Friedrich Kallmorgen,

Wilhelm Hasemann Wilhelm Hasemann (16 September 1850, Mühlberg – 28 November 1913, Gutach) was a German genre painter and illustrator. Life and career Hasemann was the only son of a mechanic and left school at the age of fifteen to work in his father's s ...

Paul Müller-Kaempff Paul Müller-Kaempff (1861–1941) was a German painter, illustrator and lithographer. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Biography Kaempff received his first training from 1883 to 1886 at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Ar ...

, , Max Wilhelm Roman and Max Frey. By 1888, he was sufficiently well-off to build his own villa next to the Academy. In 1895 he,

Fritz von Uhde Fritz von Uhde (born Friedrich Hermann Carl Uhde; 22 May 1848 – 25 February 1911) was a German Painting, painter of Genre art, genre and Religious Painting, religious subjects. His style lay in-between realism (art), Realism and Impressionism, ...

and

Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...

were chosen to represent Germany at the first

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. In the mid 1900s, he was paid 10,000 Goldmarks by the government of Baden to paint scenes of the , before they were destroyed to improve navigation and make room for power plant construction. He also served on the committee that selected artists to design

trading card A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other t ...

s for the

Stollwerck Stollwerck Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH is a German chocolate manufacturer based in Norderstedt. It was founded in 1839 and expanded internationally in Europe and America, becoming the second largest producer of chocolate in t ...

chocolate company of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, and was a member of the

Deutscher Künstlerbund The Deutscher Kuenstlerbund (Association of German Artists) was founded in 1903 on the initiative of Count Harry Kessler, a promoter of arts and artists; Alfred Lichtwark, director of the Hamburg Art Gallery; and the famous painters Lovis Corin ...

.kuenstlerbund.de: ''Ordentliche Mitglieder des Deutschen Künstlerbundes seit der Gründung 1903 / Schönleber, Gustav''
He was awarded the

Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts Pour is a name which can be used as a surname and a given name: * Kour Pour (born 1987), American artist of Iranian and British descent * Mehdi Niyayesh Pour (born 1992), Iranian footballer * Mojtaba Mobini Pour (born 1991), Iranian footballer * ...

in 1911 and, in 1912, received the Order of the Crown from King

William II of Württemberg William II (; 25 February 1848 – 2 October 1921) was the last King of Württemberg. He ruled from 6 October 1891 until the dissolution of the kingdom on 30 November 1918. He was the last German ruler to abdicate in the wake of the November Rev ...

Selected paintings

File:Gustav Schönleber Fischereihafen.jpg, Fishing Port File:Gustav Schönleber Partie in der Esslinger Altstadt 1880.jpg, View of the Old Town
in Esslingen Gustav Schönleber Aus Vlissingen 1880.jpg, View of

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an importan ...

File:Gustav Schönleber Sotto Marina bei Venedig.jpg, Marina in Venice

Bibliography

Art: * Schönleber, Gustav. ''66 Skizzen in Faksimilenachbildungen'' (Stuttgart: Stuttgarter Kunstverlag, 1925) * Schönleber, Gustav. ''Gustav Schönleber 1851–1917: Gemälde – Zeichnungen'' (Esslingen am Neckar: Stadt Esslingen, 1980) * Schönleber, Gustav. ''Gustav Schönleber'' (Karlsruhe: Städtische Galerie, 1990) * von Zügel, Heinrich et al. ''Ausstellung Heinrich von Zügel, 1850–1941, Gustav Schönleber, 1851–1917, Friedrich Eckenfelder, 1861–1938'' (Stuttgart: Kunsthaus Bühler, 2002) Biography, criticism and art history: * Miller-Gruber, Renate. ''Gustav Schönleber 1851–1917: Monographie und Werkverzeichnis'' (R. Miller-Gruber, 1990) * Mülfarth, Leo. ''Kleines Lexikon Karlsruher Maler'' (Karlsruhe, 1987, ) pp. 99–101 * Schulte-Wülwer, Ulrich. ''Künstlerkolonie Ekensund am Nordufer der Flensburger Förde'' (Heide, 2000) pp. 82–85 * "Schönleber, Gustav, Maler" in ''Badische Biographien'', 2 (1987), pp. 251 f.

References

External links

Landesbibliographie Baden-Württemberg
(German)
Page in Stadtwiki Karlsruhe
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Schonleber, Gustav 1851 births 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists 1917 deaths 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German landscape painters People from Bietigheim-Bissingen Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Academic staff of the Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe