Carl Becker (marine painter)

Exhibition poster of the Altonaer Künstlerverein , 1911, Altonaer Museum (black-and-white illustration of the poster)

Carl Emil Rudolf Ludwig Becker (born August 31, 1862 in Hameln , † February 12, 1926 in Blankenese ) was a German marine painter .

Life

childhood and education

Becker was born the son of a military doctor in Hameln. As a result of the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1866 by the Kingdom of Prussia , his father was transferred to Altona , where Carl Becker grew up. He attended secondary school and received his first artistic training from the Hamburg marine painter Heinrich Leitner (1842–1913).

Career as a marine painter

Becker shaped the maritime environment for life; in Hamburg he experienced the motifs that recur in his work, such as the Elbe , the Hamburg harbor , ships, the sea and the surf of the North Sea . In 1887 Becker began studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy . Until 1893 he was a student of the landscape class of the German Baltic painter Eugen Dücker , who focused on northern German and maritime themes. Under this influence, Becker specialized in marine painting with great success. In 1891 he was trained in the engraving and etching class of Carl Ernst Forberg .

Gold medals at the Third International Art Exhibition in Vienna in 1894 and on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Berlin Academy of the Arts in 1896 at the International Art Exhibition in Berlin prove the artistic value. He was a member of the Hamburg Artists' Association from 1832 .

Around 1900, marine painting played an increasingly important and symbolic role, particularly encouraged in the efforts of Kaiser Wilhelm II to develop Germany into one of the world's largest sea powers. Up until this time, the maritime motifs attracted the interest of shipowners, captains, wealthy seamen and members of the navy, but political developments also resulted in increased demand inland. Carl Becker stayed in Düsseldorf after his studies and lived and worked in the Eiskellerberg . Here he was included in the list of members of the officers' association of the Landwehr district of Düsseldorf under Navy, Seewehr I. Aufgebot. He received numerous commissions, including painting the murals for the German shipping pavilion at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 . Carl Becker was a member of the Altona artist association .

family and friends

Carl Becker married Annette Otto, the daughter of the inventor Nicolaus Otto , which enabled him to lead an upper-class lifestyle and gave him enough freedom for his artistic development. In 1903 their son Claus was born. The following year the family moved to Nienstedten near Hamburg not far from the Elbe, and later to Blankenese. Her son Claus Becker showed his artistic talent at an early age and received appropriate training. In 1923 he portrayed father Carl and mother Annette Becker. Carl Becker was friends with the painter Carl Rathjen, who owned a house in Ahrenshoop. His son Claus Becker was also in Ahrenshoop for several months around 1943 and executed various paintings there.

style

Becker created his pictures with in-depth knowledge of seafaring, the types of ships and maneuvers shown . Carl Becker took longer voyages to North and South America. On his trips with fishing trawlers and sailors on the North and Baltic Seas , he got to know life on deck, he captured perspectives on port cities as well as sailors and fishermen moved by stormy seas.

In spite of the raging elements, many of the pictures are bathed in warm, green-brownish colors of a sunset up to a blue-green night mood in full moon light. Becker mastered the lighting effects over a seascape or, as it were, in connection with boats maneuvering in the sea. Stylistically, he developed the impressionistically inspired style of his teacher Eugen Dücker.

Works

• New National Gallery , Berlin
• German Maritime Museum , Bremerhaven
• Museum Kunstpalast , Düsseldorf , evening mood
• Altonaer Museum , Hamburg
• Museum of Hamburg History , Hamburg

literature

• Hermann Board : Becker, Carl . In: Ulrich Thieme , Felix Becker (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. tape 3 : Bassano – Bickham . Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1909, p. 149 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Axel Feuss: Becker, Carl . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 8, Saur, Munich a. a. 1993, ISBN 3-598-22748-5 , p. 156.
• Carl and Claus Becker. Painting. An exhibition by the Hamburgische Landesbank in cooperation with the Altonaer Museum in Hamburg - North German State Museum. (Exhibition catalog 2001)

Web links

Commons : Carl Becker (marine painter)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Carl Becker 1862-1926. ( Memento from September 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: galerie-herold.de , accessed on September 10, 2011.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rudolf Theilmann : The student lists of the landscape classes from Schirmer to Dücker. In: Wend von Kalnein : The Düsseldorf School of Painting. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-8053-0409-9 , p. 147.
2. ^ Carl Becker, Officers Association of the Landwehr District Düsseldorf: Dietz, 1898–1901.
3. ↑ Abendstimmung , Hugo Zieger (1864–1932) and Carl Becker (1862–1926), from the legacy of Franz Schoenfeld in 1911, on d: kult online , accessed on July 12, 2016.