Gummersbach
Gummersbach () is a town in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, being the district seat of the Oberbergischer Kreis. It is located east of Cologne.
History
In 1109 Gummersbach was mentioned in official documents for t ...
- 25 September 1874,
Eagle Pass, Texas
Eagle Pass is a city in and the county seat of Maverick County, Texas, United States. Its population was 28,130 as of the 2020 census. Eagle Pass borders the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, which is to the southwest and across the ...
She was the first of six children born to the paint and wine merchant, Heinrich Daniel Theodor Heuser (1767–1848), and his wife, Katharina Luisa née Jügel (1776–1841). Her grandfather, , was the founder of a large trading company.''Heinrich Daniel Theodor Heuser'' genealogy @ Heidermanns Her aunt,
Henriette Jügel
Henriette Elisabetha Jeanette Jügel (11 January 1778, Remagen - 12 March 1850, Gummersbach) was a German landscape and portrait painter.
Life and work
She was the fifth child born to Johann Friedrich Jügel, a chemist and calico manufacture ...
, taught her how to paint and draw, and her mother taught her how to play the harp. Her sisters,
Adeline
Adeline may refer to:
People
*Adeline (given name)
*Yves-Marie Adeline (born 1960), French Catholic writer
Places
*Adeline, Illinois, village in Maryland Township, Ogle County, Illinois, US
Arts and entertainment
*Adeline Records, recording lab ...
and Alwine also became painters. Another sister, Ida (1817-1880), married the painter
Karl Friedrich Lessing
Karl Friedrich Lessing, also known by Carl Friedrich Lessing (15 February 1808 – 4 January 1880), was a German historical and landscape painter, grandnephew of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and one of the main exponents of the Düsseldorf school o ...
in 1841.
In 1824, she married Dr. Peter Wilhelm Leopold Wüste (1795–1832), a frequent guest for musical evenings at the Heuser household. They had two daughters and a son. After Peter's death, she and her children went to live with her parents. There, she established a small painting school for girls. In 1848, after her father's death, she went to live with her daughter, Adeline (1828-1912), who had married an estate manager, Heino Staffel (1818–1904). It was then she decided to take formal art lessons. She therefore went to
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
Karl Ferdinand Sohn
Karl Ferdinand Sohn (10 December 1805 in Berlin – 25 November 1867 in Cologne) was a German painter of the Düsseldorf school of painting.
Biography
He was born in Berlin and started his studies at the age of eighteen under Friedrich Wilhelm ...
, and her brother-in-law, Lessing.
Adeline and her family emigrated to the United States in 1851; settling in
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...
. Through the remainder of the 1850s, she lived in
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 ...
. Then, in 1859, her other daughter, Emma, also emigrated to the United States; settling in Pleasanton, near San Antonio. She soon followed, and went to live with Adeline again. There, she opened a portrait studio. She also devoted herself to sketching Texan and
Mexican-American
Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...
scenes.
The outbreak of the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
severely reduced her income, but she was able to buy a small house in Eagle Pass, not far from her son, Daniel (1830-1882), who had also emigrated and become a merchant. Her later sketches focus on the people and places along the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
. Most of her works are in private collections, or still in the possession of their subjects' families. The largest public collection is held by the
Witte Museum
The Witte Museum ( ) is a museum located in Brackenridge Park in San Antonio, Texas, and was established in 1926. It is dedicated to telling the stories of Texas, from prehistory to the present. The permanent collection features historic artifac ...
, in San Antonio.
References
Further reading
* Jochen Schmidt-Liebich: ''Lexikon der Künstlerinnen 1700–1900''. K. G. Saur Verlag, München 2005, , pg.197 Online
* Pauline A. Pickney: ''Painting in Texas: The Nineteenth Century''. University of Texas Press, Austin/TX 1967
* Doris O. Dawdy: ''Artists of the American West''. Vol. I, Swallow Press, Chicago 1974
* Hans Paffrath (Ed.): ''Lexikon der Düsseldorfer Malerschule 1819–1918.'' Vol.3: ''Nabert–Zwecker.'' Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf and the Galerie Paffrath, Bruckmann, Munich 1998, , pg. 242
Texas State Historical Association
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...