Rudolf Hellgrewe (6 October 1860 – 1935) was a German

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compo ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

. He taught for a long time at the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. He is the most famous painter of Germany's colonies. Hellgrewe was born in

Hammerstein Hammerstein is a municipality on the river Rhine in the district of Neuwied in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member ...

in the

Province of Prussia The Province of Prussia (; ; pl, Prowincja Prusy; csb, Prowincjô Prësë) was a province of Prussia from 1829 to 1878. Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1829 from the provinces of East Prussia and West Prussi ...

. He attended the ''Königstädtische''

Realschule ''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola' ...

and later the ''Andreas'' Realschule in Berlin before studying under

Eugen Bracht Eugen Felix Prosper Bracht (3 June 1842 – 5 November 1921) was a German landscape painter. Biography Bracht was born in Morges, Waadt (near Lake Geneva in Switzerland) of German parents. His family later moved to Darmstadt, Germany, where ...

and

Christian Wilberg Christian Wilberg (20 November 1839 in Havelberg – 3 June 1882 in Paris) was a German painter. Wilberg was born in 1839 in Havelberg in the Margraviate of Brandenburg (nowadays Saxony-Anhalt) where he lived until 1861. He was originally a house ...

at the

Berliner Kunstakademie The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fou ...

(Berlin Art Academy). He was drawn to landscape painting, and became known as the "painter of Brandenburg's lakes and sunsets" (''Maler märkischer Seen und Sonnenuntergänge''). In 1885–86 Hellgrewe travelled to

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the histori ...

, where he made numerous paintings. He later illustrated the books of the African explorers

Carl Peters Carl Peters (27 September 1856 – 10 September 1918), was a German colonial ruler, explorer, politician and author and a major promoter of the establishment of the German colony of East Africa (part of the modern republic Tanzania). Life H ...

and

Hermann von Wissmann Hermann von Wissmann may refer to: * Hermann Wissmann (1853–1905), German explorer and administrator in Africa ** ''Hermann von Wissmann'' (steamship), a German steamer ** Hermann von Wissmann (ship, 1940), became in 1950 the Belgian Kamina * He ...

, and produced dioramas of life in Germany's tropical colonies for use in schools. In 1888 at Berlin he published many of his works as a book, ''Aus Deutsch-Ostafrika''. He took part in the colonial exhibitions of 1896 and 1907, and was one of the founding members of the

Deutsches Kolonialmuseum The German Colonial Museum (; 1899 - 1915) was a museum in the Berlin district of Moabit that existed from 1899 to 1915. The museum aimed to inform the German public about the German colonies overseas. Its collection consisted of more than 70,0 ...

(German Colonial Museum) in 1899. He also joined the Berliner Schriftsteller-Klub (Berlin Writers' Club). In 1903 the great

Deutsche Kolonialhaus The German Colonial House (; 1986–1914) was a German company of the Berlin merchant Bruno Antelmann for products from the German colonies. It had its headquarters at Jerusalemer Strasse 28, but, in 1903, it was moved to Lützowstraße 89-90 ...

(German Colonial House) was constructed based on the native architecture of the colonies. Hellgrewe provided the ceiling paintings. Hellgrewe received Medal for Art and Science (''Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft'') from the

Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a territory in Northern Germany held by the House of Mecklenburg residing at Schwerin. It was a sovereign member state of the German Confederation and became a federated state of the North German Co ...

and the Honorary Medal of the Geographical Society of Jena (''Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena''). He died at Berlin in 1935. By his wife, Anna Lagatz, whom he married 2 April 1887, he left three children: Joachim (born 30 December 1887), Anne Marie (born 23 February 1891) and Wolf Dietrich (born 20 July 1894). Joachim followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a landscape painter and art restorer. Joachim died 30 March 1956.

Sources

External links

Rudolf Hellgrewe Bildergalerie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hellgrewe, Rudolf 1860 births 1935 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists People from Człuchów County People from the German colonial empire