Johann Walter-Kurau, also known as Jānis Valters (Latvian) or Johann Walter, (3 February 1869 – 19 December 1932) was a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n painter.

Life

Walter was born in

Jelgava Jelgava () is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the ad ...

, south of

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, and had German citizenship through his

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

mother. He studied art at the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Imperial Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov, the founder of the Imperial Moscow University, under the name ''Academy of th ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

with

Janis Rozentāls Janis Rozentāls (March 18, 1866 – December 26, 1916) was a Latvian people, Latvian painter. Life Rozentāls was born in Bebri Farmstead, Saldus parish, Courland Governorate in the Russian Empire. He was the son of a blacksmith. He recei ...

and

Vilhelms Purvītis Vilhelms Purvītis (3 March 1872 – 14 January 1945) was a landscape painter and educator who founded the Latvian Academy of Art and was its rector from 1919 to 1934. Biography Vilhems Purvītis was born in Zaube Parish (now Cēsis Munici ...

, and built up an oeuvre that ranged from the academic realism of the 1890s, through a style inspired by

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

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 ...

, to the verge of

abstraction Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal (reality, real or Abstract and concrete, concrete) signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstraction" ...

with a peculiar non-objective vision of nature late in his career. At the turn of the 20th century Walter stood out as one of the most important emerging artists in Latvia, but left in 1906 to work in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, where he changed his last name to Walter-Kurau. He lived in Dresden for 10 years before moving to Berlin in 1916 or 1917. More than 120 of his works are in the collection of

Latvian National Museum of Art The Latvian National Museum of Art () is an art museum in Riga, Latvia. It contains the largest collection of national art in Latvia. The museum houses more than 65,000 works of art reflecting the development of professional art in the Baltic a ...

in Riga, including his most famous work from the pre-Germany era, ''

Bathing Boys ''Bathing Boys'' () is a painting by the artist Jānis Valters (later Johann Walter-Kurau) from 1900. Description The painting is oil on canvas, with dimensions . The painting belongs to the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga Riga ( ) ...

'' (1900). He is included in Latvian cultural canon. He died in

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 ...

in 1932.

Gallery

Valters pasportrets.jpg, Self portrait (1924) Johans Valters - Boys Bathing - Google Art Project.jpg, Boys bathing (1900) Johans Valters - Forest (Morning Sun) - Google Art Project.jpg, Forest (Morning sun) 1904 Tirgus Jelgavaa.jpg, Market in Jelgava (1897) Johans Valters - Ducks - Google Art Project.jpg, Ducks (1898) Johann Walter-Kurau Landschaft mit Birken.jpg, Landscape with birch trees (circa 1912)

References

External links

Sothebys

Walter-Kurau in Leicesters Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walter-Kurau, Johann 1869 births 1932 deaths People from Jelgava People from Courland Governorate Latvian people of Baltic German descent Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany 19th-century Latvian painters Latvian male painters 20th-century Latvian painters 20th-century Latvian male artists Painters from the Russian Empire