Willy Stöwer
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Willy Stöwer (22 May 1864 – 31 May 1931) was a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
artist,
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 ...
, and author during the Imperial Period. He is best known for nautical paintings and
lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
s. Many of his works depict historical maritime events such as the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'' in 1912.


Life

Willy Stöwer, the son of a sea captain, was born in
Wolgast Wolgast () is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the river (or strait) Peenestrom, vis-a-vis the island of Usedom on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast that can be accessed ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
on the
Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
coast. He originally trained as a metalworker and worked as a technician in the engineering offices of various German
shipyards A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involved ...
. He soon received commissions as a draftsman, illustrator and painter. His talent was recognized early and his painting technique was self-taught. In 1892 he married Henrietta Dettmann from a wealthy family, allowing him to devote himself exclusively to his work as an artist.
Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty ...
became an enthusiastic supporter and patron of the artist and Stöwer was said to be the Kaiser's favorite naval painter. Stöwer even accompanied the Emperor on several voyages between 1905 and 1912. He was a board member of the German Navy League () and was awarded an honorary
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
ship in 1907. The course of his life followed that of his patron and the fate of the
Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...
. As with contemporaries such as Hans Bohrdt, his most significant creative period concluded with the abdication of the Kaiser and the end of the Imperial era. His later career, being without Imperial favor, relied on a few commissions from steamship lines. He died in relative obscurity at his Berlin-Tegel villa on 31 May 1931, nine days after his 67th birthday. Stöwer is interred in Cemetery III of the
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
and New Churches in Berlin, where the grave remains preserved.


Career

Stöwer was a very prolific artist between 1892 and 1929, creating approximately 900 black-and-white and 335 color illustrations for 57 books, as well as posters, postcards, trading-cards, labels, brochures and calendars. An early example of his
Commercial art Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of promo ...
is a series of
trading cards 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 ...
from 1899 to 1900 which he made for the German chocolate producer Stollwerck entitled ''The New German Warships'' in ''Scrapbook No. 3, Series 132''. Stöwer's representation of the sinking of the in the magazine ''
Die Gartenlaube (; ) was the first successful mass-circulation German newspaper and a forerunner of all modern magazines.Sylvia Palatschek: ''Popular Historiographies in the 19th and 20th Centuries'' (Oxford: Berghahn, 2010) p. 41 It was founded by publisher ...
'' earned him a special popularity. He created the illustration shortly after the disaster in 1912 without detailed information; in particular, the fourth funnel did not eject black smoke as it was only for ventilation. However, the image became iconic despite minor errors and has been reprinted numerous times even to the present day. Stöwer, not known for portraiture, also painted a portrait of the Kaiser in a naval uniform, which along with some of his naval paintings, hang in the Kaiser's Room at Achilleion, the Kaiser's summer palace from 1907 to 1914 (currently a museum) on the Island of Corfu. Other examples of Stöwer's work currently in museums include
oil on canvas Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or copper for several centuries. ...
: ''Sinking of the Italian destroyer "Turbine" by Austrian destroyers on 24 May 1915.'' at the Military History Museum, Vienna, and: ''Speedboat ahead!'' at International Maritime Museum of Hamburg. In 1917, postcards were produced from some of his paintings for charitable aid to benefit wounded
U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
crew members and families of the deceased during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.


Gallery

File:Willy Stöwer Yacht Hohenzollern.jpg, Painting (ca. 1888)
SMY ''Hohenzollern I'' File:Die Gartenlaube (1893) b 197.jpg, Magazine illustration for '' Die Gartenlaube'' (1893)
"The walk to the Easter Water" File:Hansa ships of the XIVth and XVth centuries shipno4.png, Book illustration (1902)
"Lübeck ship"
From ''
Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...
Ships of the 14th and 15th Centuries'' File:Parseval-Broschuere-E1.png, Brochure illustration (1910)
For Luftfahrzeug-
GmbH (; ) is a type of Juridical person, legal entity in German-speaking countries. It is equivalent to a (Sàrl) in the Romandy, French-speaking region of Switzerland and to a (Sagl) in the Ticino, Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. It is a ...

"The military airship 'P II' reports by radio the approach of a
Wright Flyer The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown by brothers Wrigh ...
." File:Dampfer Cap Trafalgar 1899.jpg , Poster (ca. 1913)
'' Cap Trafalgar'' of the Hamburg-South America Line File:German submarine U-9, on return Wilhelmshaven, Germany, Artwork by Willy Stower, 1914 (30175417300).jpg , The return of '' U-9'' to Wilhelmshaven, Germany (1914) File:Willy Stöwer - Sinking of the Linda Blanche out of Liverpool.jpg , Attack of '' U-21'' on the ''Linda Blanche'' (1915) File:Stöwer U-Boot Truppentransporter.jpg, Postcard (1917)
"Sinking of a hostile armed troop carrier by German submarine in the Mediterranean Sea". File:Willy_Stöwer_-_Winterlager_der_Segler_in_Wolgast..jpg , Painting (1923)
(tempera on cardboard)
"''Winter Camp of the Sailors in
Wolgast Wolgast () is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the river (or strait) Peenestrom, vis-a-vis the island of Usedom on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast that can be accessed ...
''"


Published works

In addition to his works in the visual arts, he wrote, published or edited several German books, and is credited as co-author on many more. Books by Willy Stöwer include: * 1929 : ''To Sea with Brush and Palette.'' Includes reminiscences of the author's voyages with Kaiser Wilhelm II. * 1916 : ''German U-boat Actions, in Words and Pictures''. Published collection of reproductions of paintings of submarines; text in German on pages facing illustrations. * 1912 : ''Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Navy.'' Conceived in honor of 25th anniversary of the Kaiser's rule. * 1905 : ''The German Sailing Sport.'' (Editor) Stöwer's comprehensive compendium of the German sailing sport from the early heyday of yachting in the German Empire. * 1901 : ''Marine ABC.'' Children's alphabet book * 1900 : ''German Fleet Maneuvers: After Watercolors and Studies.'' * 1898 : ''Germany's Navy: With use of Official Materials for Original Watercolors.'' Biography (
monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...
) by Jörg M. Hormann: ''Marine Painter of the Empire, Willy Stöwer''


See also

* List of German artists


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stower, Willy 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German marine artists German illustrators 1864 births 1931 deaths People from Wolgast