Alexander Koester

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alexander Max Koester (born February 10, 1864 in Neustadt (today Bergneustadt ), † December 21, 1932 in Munich ) was a German painter .

Life

The Villa Koester in Klausen, built in the first decade of the 20th century in Art Nouveau style

Alexander Koester was born in Bergneustadt as the son of a stocking manufacturer and, at the request of his parents, began his apprenticeship in a pharmacy in Wintzenheim near Colmar in 1882 . After completing his apprenticeship, he enrolled at the Karlsruhe Academy and began studying art there in 1885 with Karl Hoff , Claus Meyer .

Four ducks by the pond
Seven ducks at the ditch

From 1885 to 1895 he went on study trips to the Black Forest, the Vosges, Munich and Tyrol. Many of his sketches were made while hiking through the Inn and Ötztal valleys. As a student, he earned his living by painting portraits, and his interest was increasingly in genre painting and atmospheric landscapes. During his time in Tyrol he also visited the town of Klausen in the Eisack Valley, which was a meeting point for painters from home and abroad. There he met his future wife Isabella. Isabella Kantioler was the daughter of the inn owner "Zum Weisse Lamm". Koester often visited this inn. The marriage of the two took place in 1893. Finally, after finishing his studies, Koester moved to Klausen in 1896 and devoted himself entirely to painting. Many landscape paintings were created in the process and he discovered the duck as the subject of his study when he observed his father-in-law's duck population on his property. He painted his duck motif in a wide variety of ways. Because of his fascination with ducks, he studied their anatomy and soon learned their behavior. He soon became an expert on duck breeds and breeding. The duck as a portrait enjoyed great popularity in a very short time. In the same year the Darmstadt Academy recruited him, but Koester turned it down because he wanted to work as a freelance artist. In order to be closer to the Upper Bavarian landscapes, Koester rented a studio in Munich. There he painted mostly in the summer months. In addition to the depictions of ducks, Koester was fascinated by the play of light and shadow on the water. Therefore, from 1908 Koester traveled increasingly to the Lake Constance area to paint large areas of water in different weather moods. In 1915, when Klausen was declared a war zone and his house was confiscated, he set up a small studio in Dießen am Ammersee . The war also took away his son, who died at the beginning of the war. He now devotes himself more and more to depicting riverbank landscapes and still lifes with flowers, but the duck motif played a major role in his artistic work until his death.

His work shows a consistent development from a still very realistic, detailed representation in the 1890s to an increasingly freer, more generous painting style of the Impressionists . In the end he eschewed any detailing with heavy, rough brushstrokes. He was a member of the Munich Artists' Cooperative and participated in numerous exhibitions. Koester was friends with Spyridon Vikatos , who also painted a portrait of him.

Ever since Alexander Koester presented his first pictures of ducks embedded in the landscape in Berlin in 1899, he has also been known under the name "Enten-Koester". His ducks are most in demand on the art market, although the rule of thumb used to apply: the more ducks, the more expensive. The number of ducks shown is therefore always specified precisely. Kaiser Wilhelm II was also impressed by Koester's ducks and in 1900 bought the painting “Evening Sun”. In 1907 the Italian king also bought one of his works, “Ducks in Rest”. At the end of his life he increasingly occupied himself with colorful flower still lifes.

Awards

In 1902 he received a small gold medal and the Silver State Medal in Salzburg at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition . In 1904, the painter received a gold medal for the painting ducks at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition , the world exhibition in St. Louis . He received another gold medal from Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria for the painting “The Shore”. Museums in Graz, Munich, Chemnitz, Dessau and Breslau have some of his paintings, with most of Koester's estate being kept in the new Pinakothek in Munich.

Works (selection)

  • Alexander Koester: Ducks on a reed pond (ca.1890)

  • Alexander Koester: Eleven ducks in the water

  • Alexander Koester: Peony still life

  • Alexander Koester: Ducks at the lake fire

  • Alexander Koester: Forest Study

Exhibitions

  • 1933: Alexander Koester Memorial Exhibition of the Künstlerbund, Munich
  • 1985: Alexander Koester works from the Else Eckhard donation , Neue Pinakothek , Munich
  • 1996: Alexander Koester- oil paintings, pastels, drawings , Karl & Faber, Munich
  • 1999: Alexander Koester - oil paintings, grisaille, drawings by Karl & Faber, Munich

literature

  • Ruth Stein, Hans Koester: Alexander Koester 1864–1932. Life and work. Bongers, Recklinghausen 1988, ISBN 3-7647-0399-7 .
  • Alexander Koester: Works from the Else Eckhard donation. Exhibition in the Neue Pinakothek in Munich. Hirmer, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7774-3990-8 .

Museums in possession of his works

Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen (only a few of the approx. 200 oil paintings from an estate)

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Koester, Alexander. In: Kunsthaus Bühler. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Koester, Alexander. In: Kunsthaus Bühler. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Koester, Alexander. In: Kunsthaus Bühler. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Koester, Alexander. In: Galerie Paffrath. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Koester, Alexander. In: Kunsthaus Bühler. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Koester, Alexander. In: Galerie Paffrath. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Koester, Alexander. In: Lempertz. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Koester, Alexander. In: Lempertz. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Koester, Alexander. In: Galerie Paffrath. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Koester, Alexander. In: Galerie Paffrath. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Koester, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Koester, Alexander Max (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH February 10, 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Neustadt (today Bergneustadt )
DATE OF DEATH December 21, 1932
Place of death Munich