Ernst Kreidolf or Konrad Ernst Theophil Kreidolf (9 February 1863 – 12 August 1956) was a Swiss

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

largely known for illustrating children's books about flower fairies.

Early life and education

Konrad Ernst Theophil Kreidolf, the second eldest child of the Kreidolf family, was born on 9 February 1863 in

Berne, Switzerland Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. The family relocated to

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

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 ...

, where his father opened a toy shop. Ernst Kreidolf was raised by his grandparents in

Tägerwilen Tägerwilen is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. Geography Tägerwilen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 47.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 37.4% is forested. Of the r ...

, Switzerland. In Konstanz, he began an apprenticeship as a lithographer at the ''Lithographische Anstalt Schmidt-Pecht'' (Lithographic Institute JA Pecht) while simultaneously studying drawing. Following the completion of his apprenticeship, Kreidolf kept working for Schmidt-Pecht as an assistant in order to provide for his family following the bankruptcy of his parents' shop. In

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, he attended the

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 the ...

. He supplemented his income by working as a lithographic draftsman. Beginning in 1885, he studied art at Paul Nauen's private art school. On his second application in 1887, the

Akademie der Bildenden Künste München 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 ...

accepted Kreidolf as a student. He studied under

Gabriel von Hackl Gabriel (von) Hackl (24 March 1843 – 5 June 1926) was a German historicist painter. Life and work He was born in Maribor, Lower Styria, Austrian Empire. A surgeon's son, he attended the gymnasium in his home town and the city school in Graz ...

and

Ludwig von Löfftz Ludwig von Löfftz (21 June 1845 – 3 December 1910) was a German genre and landscape painter. Biography He was born at Darmstadt. He was a pupil of August von Kreling and Karl Raupp at Nuremberg, then of Wilhelm von Diez at the Academy ...

Career

He was a leading figure in the

Jugendstil (; "Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany, Austria and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German and Austrian cou ...

movement. His work as picture books demonstrates a high level of technical proficiency as well as exact

botanical Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

zoological Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

knowledge. Almost all of his illustrations include animals and plants given human characteristics. Kreidolf's work often features

dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers ...

in significant or prominent roles. The

Dachshund The dachshund ( or ; German: 'badger dog'), also known as the wiener dog or sausage dog, badger dog, doxen and doxie, is a short-legged, long-bodied, hound-type dog breed. The dog may be smooth-haired, wire-haired, or long-haired, with varie ...

belonging to Kreidolf's friend and author Leopold Weber, whom he met in Partkirchen, served as inspiration for a large number of quite varied sketches, watercolors, paintings, and a whole illustrated book.

Death

Kreidolf died on 12 August 1956 in Berne. He is interred in Bern's

Schosshalden cemetery The Schosshalden cemetery (in German language, German: Schosshaldenfriedhof) is a cemetery at Ostermundigenstrasse 116 in Bern. Overview It lies on the border to the Ostermundigen municipality, has been opened in 1877 as a replacement for the ...

Gallery

References

19th-century Swiss painters Swiss male painters 20th-century Swiss painters 1863 births 1956 deaths 19th-century Swiss male artists 20th-century Swiss male artists {{Switzerland-painter-stub