Alexander Frenz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arcadian landscape with a temple and a goatherd

Alexander Frenz (born October 13, 1861 in Rheydt , † April 14, 1941 in Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth ) was a German painter of symbolism and modernism .

Live and act

After his school days in Rheydt, Frenz studied from 1879 at the Düsseldorf Art Academy with a focus on landscape painting , illustrations and etchings , which influenced him from the Düsseldorf School of Painting . At the academy he was soon one of the best students of his year. After completing his studies, Frenz switched to Franz von Lenbach in Munich as a private student for a year , but then returned to Düsseldorf. It was to be his most creative years, in which, among other things, his illustrations for biographies and tone poems by other artists were created, such as by Houston Stewart Chamberlain , Engelbert Humperdinck , Eufemia von Adlersfeld-Ballestrem . During this time he undertook several study trips, including to Capri , Rome and Naples , which inspired him to work on ancient themes from classical models. After these journeys the paintings The Golden Age , The Siren Song , The Young Man at the Crossroads , The Night , Birth of Venus , Coronation of the Victor , Last Paradise (1899) and others were created.

In 1902 Frenz accepted a call to the RWTH Aachen , where he was taken on as the successor of the late Franz Reiff as professor for figure and landscape drawing as well as for watercolor painting at the TH Aachen. His areas of work were watercolor pictures and drawings with decorative content, lithographs , etchings and illustrations. But as early as 1909, frustrated by the constraints of a regulated university schedule with a fixed curriculum and what he saw as a provincial city, he left the university voluntarily and was replaced by August von Brandis . After that he worked again mainly in Düsseldorf, but also for a time as a painter and graphic artist in Bonn. Frenz now increasingly switched to mythological fantasy representations and large murals with his motifs . In Essen , for example, large murals were created for private houses and, on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, large allegorical murals in the Essen jury court room. He also worked for private houses in Elberfeld and for the Elberfeld Theater .

During the time of National Socialism , things became quiet around Alexander Frenz, and the sources do not give any clear information about his stay and work. Frenz was married to the sister of the painter Arthur Kampf from Aachen, with whom he had the son Hermann (1880–1955), who was also a painter, illustrator and cartoonist . Hermann Frenz lived and worked mainly in Berlin . In 1887 Frenz married Lydia Spatz, the sister of the painter Willy Spatz and Mathilde Spatz (1869–1950), the wife of Arthur Kampf. The historian and author Barbara Frenz is a great-granddaughter of Alexander Frenz.

Alexander Frenz was, like Willy Spatz, Arthur and Eugen Kampf, a member of the “St. Lukas Club ”and the artists' association Malkasten , where he contributed to events with illustrations.

Frenz, a highly talented artist by birth with a reputation for Rhenish cheerfulness, never strived for realism in art , as embodied by his brother-in-law or his former Munich teacher Lenbach, but rather felt like floating, unreal representations from the realm of the Fable and allegorical-symbolist designs by Franz von Stuck inspired what made him famous beyond Düsseldorf and earned him the reputation of a "Rhenish Franz von Stuck". Frenz showed an inexhaustible imagination in his numerous etchings, large stone drawings, watercolors, diplomas and all these semi-illustrative works that modern art and the increased need for graphic and painterly jewelry demanded.

Works (selection)

  • Spring kisses the earth , oil on canvas, 1894, 1911 from the legacy of Franz Schoenfeld , in the Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
  • Illustration for Chamberlains: Richard Wagner , ink on cardboard, 1895, in the National Archives of the Richard Wagner Foundation Bayreuth
  • Engelbert Humperdinck: Young songs. No. 6 , with symbolic drawings by Alexander Frenz, published in "Trifolium" 1898
  • Eufemia von Adlersfeld-Ballestrem: Empress Augusta - A picture of life . With portraits, historical illustrations and drawings by Alexander Frenz. First edition. Berlin, Grotesche Verlagbuchhandlung, 1902. 318 p
  • Beheading of John the Baptist , oil on canvas, 1904, Reiff-Museum Aachen
  • Dante's encounter with Beatrice , 1911, Clemens Sels Museum ,

Literature and Sources

Web links

Commons : Alexander Frenz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Civil status of the mayor's office in Düsseldorf - marriage vows, on April 15th: painter Alexander Frenz a. Lydia Spatz , in Düsseldorfer Volksblatt (No. 103) of April 19, 1887
  2. ↑ Art Note at Ed. The St. Lukas artist club has now organized its annual exhibition again. , in Düsseldorfer Volksblatt (No. 343), 2nd sheet of December 20, 1899
  3. ↑ Specialitäten-Bühne I. Ranges, illustration by Alexander Frenz , poster Malkasten, for December 18, 1896
personal data
SURNAME Frenz, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German modern painter and art professor at RWTH Aachen University
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Rheydt
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1941
Place of death Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth