Louis Kolitz (5 April 1845, in

Tilsit Sovetsk (; ) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania. History Early history Tilsit, which received civic rights from Albert, Duke of Prussia in 1552,''Sło ...

– 24 July 1914, 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 ...

) was a German painter who worked in a wide variety of genres, including history painting, military art, portraits, landscapes and

vedute A ''veduta'' (; : ''vedute'') is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of a cityscape or some other vista. The painters of ''vedute'' are referred to as ''vedutisti''. Origins This genre of landscape originated ...

. For many years, he served as Director of the

Kunsthochschule Kassel Kunsthochschule Kassel (German; "Kassel College of Art") is a college of fine arts in Kassel, Germany. Founded in 1777, it is a semi-autonomous department of the University of Kassel. History Kassel Art Academy After the Seven Years' War (17 ...

Biography

From 1862 to 1864, he studied at 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 ...

in Berlin then, from 1864 to 1869, at the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Blinky Palermo, Ma ...

. His teachers included Oswald Achenbach,

Karl Ferdinand Sohn Karl Ferdinand Sohn (10 December 1805 in Berlin – 25 November 1867 in Cologne) was a German painter of the Düsseldorf school of painting. Biography He was born in Berlin and started his studies at the age of eighteen under Friedrich Wilhelm ...

and

Eduard Bendemann Eduard Julius Friedrich Bendemann (3 December 1811, in Berlin – 27 December 1889, in Düsseldorf) was a German-Jewish painter. Biography Bendemann was born in Berlin. His father, Anton Heinrich Bendemann, was a Jewish banker. His mother, Fan ...

. He served as a volunteer in both the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War (German: ''Preußisch-Österreichischer Krieg''), also known by many other names,Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Second War of Unification, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), ''Deutsc ...

and the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

. After that, he worked as a portrait painter in Düsseldorf from 1872 to 1879 and was a member of

Malkasten Malkasten (English: "Paintbox") is a progressive German artists' association, founded in Düsseldorf in 1848, during the German revolutions of 1848–1849, March Revolution. Since 1867, their headquarters have been in the Düsseldorf-Pempelfort, P ...

(paint box) a progressive artists' association. He also created several paintings based on his war experiences, which were criticized for being too dark and realistic. He married Louise Cohnitz who was born into a jewish merchant family in 1872 and they had five children, including the painter, Hans Kolitz (1874–1961). In 1879, he was named Director of the Kunsthochschule Kassel; a position he would hold until 1911. During his tenure, he was especially committed to the training of drawing teachers. Among his notable students were Heinrich Otto, Wilhelm Schmidthild and . He continued to paint portraits, but also created murals for public buildings, all of which were destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In addition, he travelled widely throughout Western Europe, painting urban scenes. Following his retirement, he moved to Berlin and died there, shortly before the beginning of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Most of his works were little known until 1920, when they were part of a 75th anniversary celebration at the

Galerie Heinemann The Heinemann Gallery, a Munich art dealership founded in 1872, was Aryanized under the Nazis by Friedich Heinrich Zinckgraf. The gallery before 1933 Originally located on Promenadeplatz in Munich, the gallery moved to Prinzregentenstraße, an ...

in Munich. Later, the New Gallery in kassel acquired a number of works from his daughter, Martha. Some of his paintings were displayed at the

documenta 14 Documenta 14 was the fourteenth edition of the art exhibition documenta which took place in 2017 in both Kassel, Germany, its traditional home, and Athens, Greece. It was held first in Athens from 8 April to 16 July, and in Kassel from 10 Ju ...

exhibit in 2017. As he was inconsistent about signing his works, many may still be unattributed.

Sources

''Kolitz, Louis''
In: Friedrich von Boetticher: ''Malerwerke des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Beitrag zur Kunstgeschichte''. Vol. I, Dresden 1895, pg.783. * Ulrich Schmidt (Ed.), Andrea Linnebach: ''Louis Kolitz 1845−1914.'' Katalog Staatl. Kunstsammlungen Kassel, Kassel 1990, . * Petra-Maria Jocks: ''Louis Kolitz (1845−1914) : ein Maler zwischen Tradition und Innovation''. Dissertation, Frankfurt am Main 1993. * Susanne Schunter-Kleemann: ''Cohnitz & Company : Lebenswege einer rheinischen Kaufmannsfamilie (1750-1950)'', Bremen, 2014.

External links

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More works by Kolitz
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolitz, Louis 1845 births 1914 deaths Artists from the Kingdom of Prussia 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists Military art German portrait painters German landscape painters Cityscape artists People from Tilsit German art directors 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists