Ernst Toepfer (4 June 1877 – 6 August 1955) was a German painter. Toepfer was born in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Hesse-Nassau The Province of Hesse-Nassau () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944. Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the ...

. From 1893 to 1895, he attended the ''Zeichen-, Mal- und

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for thes ...

'', a private artist's school led by H. Bouffier, where he was commended for his diligence ("''recht gutes Auffassungsvermögen und recht gutes Können, gepaart mit großem Fleiße''"), then studied at the ''Großherzogliche Akademie der bildenden Künste'' in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, led by Leopold Graf von Kalckreuth, until mid-1898. Starting in 1898, Toepfer then studied at the ''Königlich-Akademische Hochschule der bildenden Künste'' in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...

for ten years, from which he graduated in late 1908 as a master student with his own studio. Toepfer married Maria Theresia Klaus, who he had met during a stay in

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...

, in

in 1909; the couple then moved to Idstein in 1910 after finding a suitable house, the "''Heerhof''" (also "''Höerhof''"; Obergasse 15), complete with antique furniture. After serving as a soldier during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Toepfer in 1918 returned to his home region in Hesse and resumed painting, often depicting the region in which he grew up. His realist impressionist pictures are influenced by the works of

Lovis Corinth Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Sec ...

Wilhelm Leibl Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl (October 23, 1844 – December 4, 1900) was a German realist painter of portraits and scenes of peasant life. Biography Leibl was born in Cologne, where his father was the director of the Cathedral choir. He was a ...

, Carl Schuch and Karl Blechen. Toepfer died in Idstein on 6 August 1955. A street in Idstein is named after him.

Literature

* Christel Lentz; Gerhard Lampe: ''Der Maler Ernst Toepfer: Leben und Werk'', 2002, ,

External links

Ernst Topfer on artnet

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toepfer, Ernst 1877 births 1955 deaths German Army personnel of World War I 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists People from Wiesbaden People from Hesse-Nassau