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 (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

) was a German

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

painter.

Life

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

Paul Tischbein Paul Ludwig Philipp Wilhelm Tischbein (12 July 1820, Rostock - 17 May 1874, Rostock) was a German illustrator and painter; primarily of landscapes and genre scenes. He was a member of the Tischbein family of artists. Biography His father was t ...

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

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 () was a state arts academy first established in 1694 by prince-elector Frederick III of Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg in Berlin, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Kingdom of ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

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 ...

. 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 language, 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 ai ...

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 Republi ...

. 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) The ''Glaspalast'' (Glass Palace) was a glass and iron exhibition building located in the Alter Botanischer Garten (Munich), Old botanical garden in Munich modeled after the Crystal Palace in London. The Glaspalast opened for the first General G ...

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 (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...

. * 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 German 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 German artists

Life

Honors

References

Further reading

External links