Albert Weisgerber (21 April 1878 – 10 May 1915) was a German painter whose work forms a bridge between

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and early

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

Biography

He was born in

Sankt Ingbert St. Ingbert (; sometimes spelled in full as Sankt Ingbert; or ''Dimbert'') is a town in the Saarpfalz district in Saarland, Germany with a population of 34,971 (2021). It is situated approximately 10 km north-east of Saarbrücken and 10&n ...

. From 1897 to 1901 he studied at the

Munich Art Academy The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. In the second half of the 19th centur ...

under

Franz von Stuck Franz Ritter von Stuck (February 23, 1863 – August 30, 1928), born Franz Stuck, was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, and architect. Stuck was best known for his paintings of ancient mythology, receiving substantial critical acclaim with ...

. He became friends with artists

Hans Purrmann Hans Marsilius Purrmann (10 April 1880 – 17 April 1966) was a German artist. He was born in Speyer where he also grew up. He completed an apprenticeship as a scene painter and interior decorator, and subsequently studied in Karlsruhe and Mu ...

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...

Max Slevogt Max Slevogt (8 October 1868 – 20 September 1932) was a German Impressionist painter and illustrator, best known for his landscapes. He was, together with Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann, one of the foremost representatives in Germany of t ...

, and

Karl Arnold Karl Arnold (21 March 1901 – 29 June 1958) was a German politician. He was Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1947 to 1956. Early life and education Arnold was born in Herrlishöfen in Württemberg on 21 March 1901. He was tr ...

. In 1898, he set up his own artists' group, ''Sturmfackel'', with his friend

Alfred Kubin Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (10 April 1877 – 20 August 1959) was an Austrian artist, printmaker, illustrator, and occasional writer. Kubin is considered an important representative of Symbolism and Expressionism. Biography Kubin was born i ...

. He earned his living making illustrations for the magazine '' Jugend''. In 1904 he was very active in the Munich café scene, where he met Margaret Pohl, who was also a painter and the daughter of a successful Jewish banker in Prague. They married in 1907. In 1913 he became founding president of the artists' collective; ''Münchner Neue Secession'', with members such as

Alexej von Jawlensky Alexej Georgewitsch von Jawlensky (; 13 March 1864 – 15 March 1941), surname also spelt as Yavlensky, was a Russian expressionist painter active in Germany. He was a key member of the New Munich Artist's Association ( Neue Künstlervereinigung ...

and

Alexander Kanoldt Alexander Kanoldt (29 September 1881 – 24 January 1939) was a German Magic realism, magic realist painter and one of the artists of the New Objectivity. Early life and education Alexander Kanoldt was born on 29 September 1881 in Karlsruhe i ...

. According to the RKD, he is known today for his cartoons and illustrations as well as his paintings.Albert Weisgerber
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...

He was close friends with

Theodor Heuss Theodor Heuss (; 31 January 1884 – 12 December 1963) was a German liberal politician who served as the first president of West Germany from 1949 to 1959. His civil demeanour and his cordial nature – something of a contrast to German nati ...

, who later became the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. Heuss' young face can often be found within Weisgerber's paintings. He joined the German army in World War I and was promoted to the rank of major before being shot and killed on 10 May 1915 in the

Battle of Fromelles The Attack at Fromelles ( (Battle of Fromelles, Battle of Fleurbaix or ) 19–20 July 1916, was a military operation on the Western Front during the First World War. The attack was carried out by British and Australian troops and was subsidiary ...

, west of Rijsel. In the months before his death, Weisgerber was Commanding Officer of the 1st Company of RIR 16 - the List Regiment. Technically, therefore, Weisgerber was Adolf Hitler's commanding officer when he died (although Hitler was assigned to Regimental HQ at the time). Weisgerber was only 37 years old. His body was initially buried in

Fournes-en-Weppes Fournes-en-Weppes () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Hitler spent nearly half of his wartime service in World War I here. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of ...

, then exhumed and reburied in Nordfriedhof cemetery in Munich.

Selected paintings

File:Weisgerber, Albert - Pulakt se zlutymi kalhotami (1910).jpg, Half-nude in Yellow Pants Weisgerber gartenfest.jpg, Garden Party File:Prozession in St Ingbert Albert Weisgerber.jpg, Procession in

File:Weisgerber, Albert - David a Golias (1914).jpg,

David and Goliath Goliath ( ) was a Philistine giant in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's immense stature vary among biblical sources, with texts describing him as either or tall. According to the text, Goliath issued a challenge to the Israelit ...

References

Sources

External links

Albert Weisgerber
on

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City. It is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly-traded company based in Berlin that is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Ex ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weisgerber, Albert 1878 births 1915 deaths People from Sankt Ingbert German military personnel killed in World War I 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters German Army personnel of World War I