Otto Viktor Frölicher (5 June 1840 in
Solothurn
Solothurn ( ; ; ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains.
The town is ...
– 2 November 1890 in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
) was a Swiss landscape painter.
Life
His father worked for the local government. In 1859, he enrolled at the
Academy of Fine Arts Munich
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany.
In the second half of the 19th centur ...
, and became a student of landscape painting under
Johann Gottfried Steffan
Johann Gottfried Steffan (December 13, 1815 – June 16, 1905) was a Swiss landscape artist,Franz Zelger. Steffan, Johann Gottfried. '' Grove Art Online'' (Oxford University Press; 2003) regarded as one of the most important Swiss landscapists ...
.
Four years later, he moved to
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
, where he came under the influence of
Oswald Achenbach.
After going home to Solothurn, he found that he was unable to earn a living as a painter there and returned to Munich and discovered a new influence,
Adolf Heinrich Lier.
In 1876, he travelled to Paris on the recommendation of Lier, but was not able to adapt to big city life and, a year later, returned to Munich which, at that time, had barely 200,000 people.
He was a member of several major artists' associations and served as a judge for exhibitions at the
Glaspalast. Also, he was chairman of an organization devoted to the interests of Swiss artists residing in Munich.
At the age of thirty-nine, he suffered a bout with
diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacteria, bacterium ''Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild Course (medicine), clinical course, but in some outbreaks, the mortality rate approaches 10%. Signs a ...
, which left him in permanent ill-health. Later, he was diagnosed with cancer.
Contemporary sources, however, give his cause of death as a "groin disease" (contracted while painting in the wild?) that led to
jaundice
Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a yellowish or, less frequently, greenish pigmentation of the skin and sclera due to high bilirubin levels. Jaundice in adults is typically a sign indicating the presence of underlying diseases involving ...
.
Selected paintings
File:Froelicher muehle.jpg, Mill on a Stream
File:Froelicher solothurn.jpg, View of Solothurn
File:Frölicher Hübeli Attisholz 1868.jpg, Hübeli (Bowil
Bowil is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
Bowil is first mentioned in 1299 as ''Bonwile''.
The village was once part of the ''Herrschaft'' of Signau and the Freiherren ...
), near Attisholz
References
Further reading
* Roswitha Hohl-Schild: ''Otto Frölicher. Ein Schweizer Maler des 19. Jahrhunderts auf der Suche nach seiner Landschaft.'' Graduate thesis,
University of Zürich
The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...
, 1987.
*
Hermann Uhde-Bernays
Hermann Uhde-Bernays (31 October 1873 – 7 June 1965) was a German German studies scholar and art historian.
Life
Born in Weimar, Uhde-Bernays was the son of the journalist Hermann Uhde (1845-1879) and stepson of Michael Bernays. He attended ...
: ''Otto Frölicher. Sein Leben und Werk.'' Biography. Schwabe, Basel 1922.
* Gottfried Wälchli: ''Otto Frölicher 1840-1890.'' Biography. Gassmann, Solothurn 1950.
External links
ArtNet: More paintings by Frölicher
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frolicher, Otto
19th-century Swiss painters
Swiss male painters
1840 births
1890 deaths
Swiss landscape painters
19th-century Swiss male artists
Düsseldorf school of painting