Franz Josef Thiele, or František Thiele (9 March 1868,

Frýdlant Frýdlant (, also known as Frýdlant v Čechách; ) is a town in Liberec District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,400 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Cz ...

- 23 May 1945,

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) was a Czech painter and university professor.

Life and work

His father, also named Franz, was a weaver. After completing his primary education in 1883, he received a scholarship, sponsored by the family, and went to Vienna. Following a year of introductory courses at the School of Applied Arts, he studied at the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

with August Eisenmenger,

Franz Rumpler Franz Rumpler (4 December 1848, Tachov, Tachau - 7 March 1922, Klosterneuburg) was an Austrian Genre art, genre and landscape painter. Biography He was the son of Johann Baptist Rumpler (1807–1876), a wood carver, and brother of Johann Rumpl ...

and

Christian Griepenkerl Christian Griepenkerl (17 March 1839 – 22 March 1916) was a German painter and professor, best known for rejecting Adolf Hitler's application to train at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Biography Griepenkerl was born to one of Oldenburg (cit ...

. In 1892, he was awarded a stipend to study in Italy. In 1894, he established himself in Vienna. He made numerous trips throughout Western Europe and visited

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. He became a member of the in 1896 and was one of the founding members of the

Hagenbund The Hagenbund or Künstlerbund Hagen was a group of Austrian artists that formed in 1899. The group's name derived from the name Herr Hagen, the proprietor of an inn in Vienna which they frequented. Early history The group's most prominent member ...

in 1900. Two years later, he was appointed an associate professor at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Prague The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (; AVU) is an art college in Prague, Czech Republic. Founded in 1799, it is the oldest art college in the country. The school offers twelve master's degree programs and one doctoral program. History Starting ...

, and became a full professor in 1905; a position he would hold until 1938. He volunteered for service in 1916 and worked as a

war artist A war artist is an artist either commissioned by a government or publication, or self-motivated, to document first-hand experience of war in any form of illustrative or depictive record.Imperial War Museum (IWM)header phrase, "war shapes lives" ...

on several fronts for a year. During this period, he received several awards, including the Knight's Cross of the

Order of Franz Joseph The Imperial Austrian Order of Franz Joseph () was founded by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria on 2 December 1849, on the first anniversary of his accession to the imperial throne. Classes The order was originally awarded in three classes: ''G ...

, the

Order of the Iron Crown The Order of the Iron Crown () was an order of merit that was established on 5 June 1805 in the Kingdom of Italy by Napoleon Bonaparte under his title of Napoleon I, King of Italy. The order took its name from the ancient Iron Crown of Lombard ...

, and the

Order of Saint Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, on 14 February 1735, in hono ...

. He was married twice; in 1909 to Maria Starou then, in 1927, to the painter, Inge Peschka (1903-1993), with whom he had a son. He retired in 1938, following the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia 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 ...

. His next work was a propaganda poster, showing

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

in front of a cheering crowd. Some of his paintings were purchased by Hitler and

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

."Franz Thiele - Oslava záboru Sudet (1938)"
F. Thiele-Celebration of the Sudeten State Of 1938 @ Honvisa Near the end of the war, he and Inge were sent to a detention center operated by Czech patriots. He did not survive. Some sources indicate he may have been lynched. He was buried in a mass grave near Prague.

References

* "Thiele, Franz". In: Hans Vollmer (Ed.): ''Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart'', Vol.33: Theodotos–Urlaub. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1939, pg.24

External links

*
"Franz Thiele"
entry @ AbART
"Franz Thiele (1868-1945)
, entry at the

Moravské zemské muzeum Moravské zemské muzeum (English: ''Moravian Museum'') is a museum in Brno in the Czech Republic. It is the second-largest and second-oldest museum in the country. Its collections include several million objects from many fields of science and cu ...

, Muzejní authority {{DEFAULTSORT:Thiele, Franz 1868 births 1945 deaths Czech painters Genre painters Czech landscape painters Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni Academic staff of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague People from Liberec District Painters from Austria-Hungary Czechoslovak painters