Luise Begas-Parmentier (1843–1920) was an Austrian-German landscape and architecture painter and Salonière.

Life and work

Begas-Parmentier née Parmentier was born on 15 April 1843 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Following the example of her sister , she decided to become an artist. She received her first training with the landscape painter

Emil Jakob Schindler Emil Jakob Schindler (27 April 1842 – 9 August 1892) was an Austrian landscape painter. His eldest daughter was the author and composer Alma Mahler. Life He was born to a family of cotton spinning-mill operators that had been established in F ...

and the etcher

William Unger William Unger, or Wilhelm Unger (11 September 1837, Hanover – 5 March 1932, Innsbruck) was a German etcher and engraver. Biography His father was the jurist and art historian, . While he was still a toddler, his family moved to Göttingen. Bo ...

. By the age of twenty-two, she was exhibiting her works on rural themes at the

Vienna Künstlerhaus The Künstlerhaus in Vienna's 1st district has accommodated the Künstlerhaus Vereinigung since 1868. It is located in the Ringstrassenzone in between Akademiestraße, Bösendorferstraße and Musikvereinsplatz. The building was erected betwee ...

. Around 1875, she began a series of study trips to Italy, focusing on Venice. After 1876, her Italian-themed paintings were a regular sight in exhibitions at the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts () is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The academy's predecessor organization was founded in 1696 by Elector F ...

. In 1877 she married her fellow painter Adalbert Begas, who was fifteen years her senior and an equally fervent admirer of Italy. The couple moved into a luxurious house with a studio south of the Tiergarten in Berlin, where she created fans with Romantic motifs of flowers or Italian vines, as well as the usual canvas paintings, according to the current fashions. They also took repeated "study-trips" to Italy, especially Sicily,

Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...

and Venice. On one of these trips in 1888, Adalbert died of a lung ailment. She continued to travel and exhibit widely, however. Begas-Parmentier exhibited her work at the

Woman's Building The Woman's Building was a non-profit arts and education center located in Los Angeles, California. The Woman's Building focused on feminist art and served as a venue for the women's movement and was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago, graphic de ...

at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...

in Chicago, Illinois. For several years, she served on the board of the ''Verein der Berliner Künstlerinnen'', an artists' association for promoting art by women, who were not able to attend the official academies until 1919. In addition to her artistic activities, her home was famous as a literary salon. In 1900, the magazine ''Daheim'' stated, "She is one of the most popular and most honored phenomena of the Berlin artistic world; the center of a fine intellectual, casual, artistic sociability". Among the prominent people who were regular guests, one may mention

Isadora Duncan Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877, or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American-born dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance and performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the United States. Bor ...

Tilla Durieux Tilla Durieux (born Ottilie Godeffroy; 18 August 1880 – 21 February 1971) was an Austrian theatre and film actress of the 20th century. Early years Born Ottilie Helene Angela Godeffroy on 18 August 1880 in Vienna, she was the daughter of the ...

, Samuel Fischer,

Alfred Kerr Alfred Kerr (''né'' Kempner; 25 December 1867 – 12 October 1948, surname: ) was an influential German theatre critic and essayist of Jewish descent, nicknamed the ''Kulturpapst'' ("Culture Pope"). Biography Youth Kerr was born in Breslau ...

, Ernst von Wildenbruch and

Harry Graf Kessler Count Harry Clemens Ulrich von Kessler (''Harry Clemens Ulrich Graf von Kessler'' in German; 23 May 1868 – 30 November 1937), also known as Harry Graf Kessler, was an Anglo-German diplomat, writer, and patron of modern art. English translat ...

Begas-Parmentier died on 11 February 1920 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany.

References

External links

ArtNet: More paintings by Begas-Parmentier

@ Navigare/HvH {{DEFAULTSORT:Begas-Parmentier, Luise 1843 births 1920 deaths 19th-century German painters Austrian women painters Painters from Vienna 20th-century German painters Painters from Berlin Painters from Austria-Hungary Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to Germany 20th-century German women painters 19th-century German women painters