Franz Wilhelm Johann Bunke (3 December 1857,

Schwaan Schwaan is a municipality in the Rostock district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is also the seat of the Schwaan Township, serving another six municipalities. The town is famous for being a traditional art colony. Geography The area a ...

- 6 July 1939,

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

) was a German landscape painter.

Life

He was the son of a mill builder. In 1871, he began drawing lessons with Paul Tischbein in

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...

and attended a trade school after Tischbein's death.Kunstmuseum Schwaan: Biography of Bunke
/ref> In 1878, he entered the

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and late ...

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 ...

but, later that same year, he moved to the

Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School The Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School, Weimar (German:Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunstschule Weimar) was founded on 1 October 1860, in Weimar, Germany, by a decree of Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. It existed until 1910, when i ...

. From 1882 to 1884 he was a Master Student of the landscape painter Theodor Hagen and became a teacher of landscape painting himself in 1886. Beginning in 1892, he spent the summers in his home town of Schwaan and founded an art colony there. Every year, some of his students would accompany him and engage in

plein-air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

painting. Occasionally, his fellow artists from the Academy would join him. Prior to 1890, his works showed heavy influence from the

Dutch Masters Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Repub ...

. His later works are notable for an almost reverential approach to depicting nature in detail. Among his favorite subjects were Schwaan, the surrounding villages and scenes along the Warnow River. From 1903 to 1914, he exhibited regularly at the Glaspalast (Munich).

Honors

* 1880: Gold Medal for Fine Arts of the Karl-Alexander Foundation of

. * 1910: Appointed a Professor in 1910, by authority of Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst. * 1911: Grand Medal for Arts and Sciences of Friedrich Franz IV, in

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as of the region of Mecklenburg, after Rostock. It ...

. * 1927: Made an honorary citizen of Schwaan, with a street named after him.

References

External links

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More works by Bunke
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Bunke, Franz 1857 births 1939 deaths Landscape painters Prussian Academy of Arts alumni 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists

Life

Honors

References

Further reading

External links