Fedor Fyodor, Fedor () or Feodor is the Russian-language form of the originally Greek-language name "Theodore" () meaning "God's gift" or "god-given". Fedora () is the feminine form. "Fyodor" and "Fedor" are two English transliterations of the same Ru ...

Alexis Flinzer (4 April 1832 in

Reichenbach im Vogtland Reichenbach im Vogtland is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district of Saxony in eastern Germany. With a population of 20,108, it is the second-largest town in the Vogtlandkreis after Plauen. It is located close to the A72 between Plauen (at c. 18&n ...

– 14 June 1911 in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

) was an author, educator and one of the greatest

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

illustrators of the

Gründerzeit The (; ) was a period of Economic history of Europe (1000 AD–present), European economic history in mid- and late-19th century German Empire, Germany and Austria-Hungary between Industrialization in Germany, industrialization and the great P ...

, who was called Raphael of Cats.

Early life

Since 1849 Flinzer visited the

Dresden Academy of Fine Arts The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German language, German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institutio ...

. His teachers were i.a.

Adrian Ludwig Richter Adrian Ludwig Richter (September 28, 1803June 19, 1884) was a German painter and etcher, who was strongly influenced by Erhard and Chodowiecki. He was a representative of both Romanticism and Biedermeier styles. He was the most popular, a ...

and

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (26 March 1794 – 24 May 1872) () was a German painter, chiefly of Biblical subjects. As a young man he associated with the painters of the Nazarene movement who revived the florid Renaissance style in religious ...

. From 1859 he held a position as an art teacher in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

, where he also was one of the founders of the ''Kunsthütte'' (art cabin) and a member of the

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

''Zur Harmonie'' (to the harmony). In 1862 Flinzer married Marie Wolfram, a niece of the composer

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

Art teacher and municipal inspector of art education in Leipzig

1876 – shortly after he took office as a municipal inspector of

art education Visual arts education is the area of learning that is based upon the kind of art that one can see, visual arts—drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and design in jewelry, pottery, weaving, fabrics, etc. and design applied to more practi ...

and after the beginning of his work as an art teacher at the Petrischule in Leipzig – Flinzer summarized his accumulated practical knowledge in his textbook called ''Lehrbuch des Zeichenunterrichts'' (Bielefeld/Leipzig 1876). This work made him known also in other European countries and in

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Because of his textbook Flinzer was referred as a forerunner of the so-called ''Kunsterziehungsbewegung'' (Art education movement), part of the

Progressive education Progressive education, or educational progressivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. T ...

movement. Flinzer joined issues with the leading representatives of this movement. In consequence of the ''Kunsterziehungsbewegung'' his influence waned.

Artist

Rooted in the art of

Biedermeier The Biedermeier period was an era in Central European art and culture between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle classes grew in number and artists began producing works appealing to their sensibilities. The period began with the end of th ...

and

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

, Flinzer later created works with clear traces of

Historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

and with hints of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

. His artistic preference was for the animal world, his passion were

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

s. This was the reason for his nicknames ''Katzen-Flinzer'' (Cat Flinzer) or Saxon Raphael of Cats. Characteristic for Flinzer's art is the humanized and satirical depiction of animals, partly in the style of

Wilhelm von Kaulbach Wilhelm von Kaulbach (15 October 18057 April 1874) was a Germans, German painter, noted mainly as a muralist, but also as a book illustrator. His murals decorate buildings in Munich. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Bio ...

and Grandville. In Flinzer's early years

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

s and

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

s emerged such as for the ''Webschule'' (weaving school) in Chemnitz. Examples for his commercial art work are the ''Cat'', a world-famous brand for

Hoffmann's Stärkefabriken Hoffmann's Stärkefabriken (''English: Hoffman's Starch Factories'') was a German company that produced starch and food chemicals. It was founded in 1850 and ceased operations in 1990. It was the oldest industrial company in Bad Salzuflen, Nor ...

Bad Salzuflen Bad Salzuflen () is a town and thermal spa resort in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. At the end of 2013, it had 52,121 inhabitants. Geography Bad Salzuflen lies on the eastern edge of the Ravensberg Basin, at the confluenc ...

, and designs for toys of the Dresdner Werkstätten. Flinzer also illustrated oval

Playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

s. Apart from this the illustrator Flinzer worked for an adult audience, as in the family magazines

Die Gartenlaube (; ) was the first successful mass-circulation German newspaper and a forerunner of all modern magazines.Sylvia Palatschek: ''Popular Historiographies in the 19th and 20th Centuries'' (Oxford: Berghahn, 2010) p. 41 It was founded by publisher ...

and ''Daheim''. Over and above, illustrations for hundreds of children, youth and picture books came into being. Flinzer's main work is the

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

''König Nobel'' (1886), a continuation of the famous

Reynard the Fox Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, ...

published in collaboration with the German author Julius Lohmeyer (1834–1903). Other writers, with whom Flinzer worked, are Frida Schanz (1859–1944), Victor Blüthgen (1844–1920),

Georg Christian Dieffenbach Georg Christian Dieffenbach (4 December 1822 Schlitz, Hesse - 10 May 1901 Schlitz) was a German poet and theologian. Biography Dieffenbach was educated at Giessen Giessen, spelled in German (), is a town in the Germany, German States of Germa ...

, Johannes Trojan (1837–1915), Edwin Bormann (1851–1912) and

Georg Bötticher Georg Bötticher (20 May 1849 – 15 January 1918) was a German graphic artist, writer and publisher. Life Born in Jena, Bötticher was the second son of the pastor Hans Adam Bötticher (1811–1849), who died in March 1849 in Görmar near ...

, the father of

Joachim Ringelnatz Joachim Ringelnatz is the pen name of the German author and painter Hans Bötticher (7 August 1883 in Wurzen, Saxony – 17 November 1934 in Berlin). From 1894 to 1900 he lived with his family in the Gottschedstrasse 40 in Leipzig. Profile Hi ...

. Finally, Flinzer's contributions to the influential youth magazine ''Deutsche Jugend'' have to be mentioned; for example, he illustrated the first edition of

Theodor Storm Hans Theodor Woldsen Storm (; 14 September 18174 July 1888), commonly known as Theodor Storm, was a German-Frisian writer and poet. He is considered to be one of the most important figures of German realism. Life Storm was born in the small t ...

's story ''Lena Wies'' for this periodical. Further, Flinzer contributed to a well-known British publication for young people called '' Aunt Judy's Magazine''. Flinzer was a member of the Leipzig artist association ''Leoniden''. Among his pupils were the

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

Hans Domizlaff (1892–1971), the

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...

(1857–1929), the sculptor (1887–1950) as well as the artist and

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

agent (1891–1990).

Aftermath

Inspired by a picture-book illustration of Flinzer, the Austrian artist Christian Ludwig Attersee created his provocative work ''Kinderzimmertriptychon'' (Nursery Triptych; dated 1971). In 1989

Nayland Blake Nayland Blake is an American artist whose focus is on interracial attraction, same-sex love, and intolerance of the prejudice toward them. Their mixed-media work has been variously described as disturbing, provocative, elusive, tormented, siniste ...

combined a drawing by Flinzer from the ''Deutsche Jugend'' (1973, volume 2, page 186) with a phrase he wrote and laid out in type. This work is, without any hint on Flinzer's authorship, in the collection of the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

today.

Memorial and medal

Flinzer's grave was located in the New St. John's Cemetery in Leipzig. In 1914 the sculptor Johannes Hartmann (1869–1952) completed his Fedor Flinzer monument for this grave. The medailleur

Adolf Lehnert Adolf Lehnert (20 July 1862 – 6 January 1948) was a Leipzig sculptor and medal designer. Life Family Franz Robert Adolf Lehnert was born in Leipzig, the second of his parents' twelve recorded children. His father, also called Adolf Lehne ...

(1862–1948) designed a medal in Flinzer's honor.

Works (selection)

* ''Frau Kätzchen'', Chemnitz 1870 (with Emma Hilgenfeld) * ''Der

Froschmäusekrieg The ''Batrachomyomachia'' (, from , "frog", , "mouse", and , "battle") or ''Battle of the Frogs and Mice'' is a comic epic, or a parody of the ''Iliad''. Although its date and authorship are uncertain, it belongs to the Classical antiquity, c ...

'' ased on the Greek Batrachomyomachia">Batrachomyomachia.html" ;"title="ased on the Greek Batrachomyomachia">ased on the Greek Batrachomyomachia Frankfurt am Main 1878 (with Victor Blüthgen; modified reprint 1994) * ''Reineke Fuchs (Freie Nachdichtung des niederdeutschen Reinke de Vos.)'', Glogau 1881 (with Julius Lohmeyer and Edwin Bormann) * ''Jugendbrunnen'', Berlin 1883 (reprint 1990) * Contribution to ''The feathers & fur picture book'', London & New York 1884 * ''Poquito á poco'', Barcelona 1885 (with Anna Herding) * ''Glückliche Kinderzeit'', Bremen 1885 (with Georg Christian Dieffenbach; modified reprint 1989) * ''By little and little or first English lesson-book for children from five to ten years of age'', Breslau 1885 (with A. Herding) * ''Nuevas fábulas'', Barcelona 1886 (with Felipe Jacinto Sala) * ''Tommy Murr's diary'', London ca. 1886 * ''König Nobel'', Breslau 1886 (with Julius Lohmeyer; modified reprint 1979) * Reviews in ''Jahresberichte über das höhere Schulwesen'', Berlin 1886 ff. (editor Conrad Rethwisch) * ''Der Thierstruwwelpeter'', Breslau 1887 (with Julius Lohmeyer) * ''Des Kindes Wunderhorn'', Breslau 1889 * ''Struwwelpeter der Jüngere'', Stuttgart 1891 (with Johannes Trojan; English edition: ''Struwwelpeter junior'') * ''Eine Tierschule in Bildern'', Breslau 1891 (with Victor Blüthgen; modified reprint 1979) * ''Wie die Tiere Soldaten werden wollten'', Leipzig 1892 (with Georg Bötticher; modified reprint 1979) * ''Der Tanz'', Leipzig 1893 * Contribution to Juliana Horatia Ewing, ''Verses for Children and Songs for Music'', London 1895

Exhibitions (selection)

* 2003/2004 Troisdorf, Bilderbuchmuseum * 2004 Dresden, Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst * 2004

, Neuberin-Museum * 2004/2005

Bad Pyrmont Bad Pyrmont (, also: ; West Low German: ) is a town in the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont, in Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population close to 19,000. It is located on the river Emmer (Weser), Emmer, about west of the Weser. Bad Pyrmont is a popul ...

, Museum im Schloss * 2005

, Stadt- & Bädermuseum

Secondary literature (selection)

* ''Enciclopedia Universal Ilutrada Europeo-Americana'', Tomo XXIV, Madrid 1924, 83 * Fedor Bochow, Volker Ladenthin, Maria Linsmann: ''Kinder, Katzen, Kunst. Der Bilderbuchkünstler Fedor Alexis Flinzer (1832–1911).'' Burg Wissem – Bilderbuchmuseum, Troisdorf 2003, * Fedor Bochow: ''Flinzer, Fedor Alexis'', in: ''Saur Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker'', Bd. 41, München/Leipzig 2004, 254–256 * Fedor Bochow: ''Flinzer, Fedor'', in: ''Sächsische Biografie. Herausgegeben vom Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde'', bearb. von Martina Schattkowsky

Notes

External links

* *
Fedor Flinzer Bilderbuchwelt

Objects by Fedor Flinzer in OPAL (Online-Portal digitalisierter Kulturgüter in Niedersachsen)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flinzer, Fedor People from Reichenbach im Vogtland Artists from Chemnitz Painters from Saxony Painters from Leipzig 1832 births 1911 deaths German satirists Cat artists 19th-century German educators German illustrators 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists 19th-century German writers 20th-century German non-fiction writers 19th-century German male writers 20th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers