Karl Rudolf son

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Karl Rudolf Sohn self-portrait in his studio (1894)

Karl Rudolf Sohn (also Carl Friedrich Rudolph Sohn or C. Sohn the Younger ) (* July 21, 1845 in Düsseldorf ; †  August 29, 1908 there ) was a German painter .

Life

Karl Rudolf Sohn was the son of the landscape painter Karl Ferdinand Sohn and Emilie Auguste (1805–1884), born von Mülmann, daughter of the chief forest master of Düsseldorf.

After his school days, most recently at the Königliches Gymnasium on Alleestrasse in Düsseldorf, his son was drafted into military service, but was postponed due to physical weaknesses and so began studying engineering at the Polytechnic in Karlsruhe in 1863 . There he joined the Teutonia fraternity in 1864 . In 1866 he successfully completed his studies in Karlsruhe, but never practiced this profession and went back to Düsseldorf . When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870 , he volunteered with the 2nd Westphalian Hussar Regiment No. 11 in Düsseldorf, but was also postponed here until further notice.

Shortly before the death of his father, he obtained approval to choose the profession of artist. After starting his training under his father's direction, he entered the Düsseldorf Academy . From 1867 to 1870 he was a student of Carl Müller in history painting and Julius Roeting in the technical painting class for figurative painting. However, his apprenticeship with his cousin Wilhelm Sohn , whose private pupil he became and with whom he went on numerous study trips, was decisive for his development as a portrait painter .

Else Sohn-Rethel (1873)

In 1873 Otto Wesendonck commissioned Karl Rudolf Sohn to paint portraits for his sons Hans and Karl for his collection of paintings.

“In the meantime, my portrait had met with great approval in Dresden and Mr. Wesendonc [k], the great art lover and husband of Mathilde Wesendonc [k], Richard Wagner's friend, saw it at a small company at Grandmother's. He immediately ordered two portraits of his sons, boys of around 12 and 16 years of age, and I received a very happy letter from Carl that this order laid the foundation stone for our marriage, so to speak, and that we could gradually think about the wedding. Soon afterwards he came to Dresden and the little room on Parkstrasse, in which I lived with Mama and which faced north, was set up for his painting. Wesendonc [k] s lived in a pretty villa on Wienerstrasse with an attached picture gallery, very close to us. […] The two sons were called, the meetings agreed, which began the next morning. [...] Mr. Wesendonck bought a small, very nice genre painting from Carl, depicting a mother at the cradle. "

- Else Sohn-Rethel : from the records of her memories from 1840 to 1893

On August 23, 1873, Karl Rudolf married his son Else Rethel in the Loschwitz Church and the celebrations took place in the summer house of the August Grahl family in Loschwitz on the Pillnitzer Landstrasse. After the honeymoon, Karl Rudolf Sohn and his wife moved into the furnished apartment on the first floor of the building on the corner of Immermannstrasse and Charlottenstrasse, with a view of the meadows and fields in Düsseldorf. His studio was at the Wehrhahn.

Son's gallery owner was Eduard Schulte and Sons in the art exhibition at Alleestraße 42 , as well as in Cologne and Berlin. In Paris his works were bought by the French art dealer Goupil & Cie . In 1874 he was appointed lecturer at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.

It was Benjamin Vautier's wife who pointed out that there was a house for sale at 23 Goltsteinstrasse . Vautiers' lived at Goltsteinstrasse 29. With the help of the Grahl family and the proceeds from commissioned portraits, the house was bought. Georg Saal made the plans for structural changes, because a studio had to be brought in.

Admired at the great courts of Europe, Karl Rudolf Sohn spent his career as a portrait painter far beyond the borders of his native Germany. From 1882 to 1886, Sohn was called to the British court on behalf of Queen Victoria . The portraits of the Duke of Albany , John Brown with Dog Spot (1883), Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice and many more were made at Windsor Castle . Queen Victoria only sat model for her likeness. Court ladies had to step into their robes and the headgear was given to Karl Rudolf Sohn to complete the portrait.

In the spring of 1888, Karl Rudolf Sohn was appointed juror for the III. International art exhibition in the Glaspalast (Munich) , with him from Düsseldorf the copper engraver Nikolaus Barthelmess , from Dresden his old friends Robert Diez and Paul Kießling (1836-1919) and from Berlin Fritz Schaper and many others.

Further business trips took him to Paris and Italy . Karl Rudolf Sohn, however, stayed in Düsseldorf all his life , where he was a member of the Malkasten artists' association from 1871 to 1908 . Karl Rudolf Sohn was also an early member of the German Association of Artists , as a son, Carl ... Goltsteinstr. 23 he is already listed in 1906 in its directory of members.

The painter Karl Rudolf Sohn died on August 29, 1908 in Düsseldorf at the age of almost 63. In September 1909 the city of Düsseldorf held a commemorative exhibition in the Städtische Kunsthalle in memory of Carl Rudolph Sohn. His grave is in the Düsseldorf North Cemetery .

family

The Sohn-Rethel family , photo by Constantin Luck , around 1900

Karl Rudolf Sohn was married to Else (Elisabeth Johanna Martha Maria), the daughter of the history painter Alfred Rethel (1816–1859) and granddaughter of the miniature painter August Grahl .

With her he had the sons Alfred Sohn-Rethel , the elder (1875-1958), Otto Wilhelm Sohn-Rethel (1877-1949), member of the artists' association Das Junge Rheinland , and Karli Sohn-Rethel (1882-1966), all of whom also known Düsseldorf painters . The daughter Mira Sohn-Rethel (1884–1974) married the painter and later professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy Werner Heuser in 1907 .

Karl Rudolf Sohn was the youngest of five siblings. The oldest were the twins Clara Emilie (* 1834), who married the composer and conductor Albert Dietrich in 1859 , and the genre painter Paul Eduard Richard Sohn (1834–1912). It was followed by Sophie Emilie (1837-1885), who in 1861 married his cousin and teacher, the painter Wilhelm Sohn , and finally before him Marie (1841-1891), who was married to the painter Karl Hoff .

Works (selection)

literature

Web links

Commons : Carl Rudolph Sohn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Benjamin Vautier, Goltsteinstrasse 29
  2. ^ Son, painter (owner), Goltsteinstrasse 23 , in the address book of the Lord Mayor's Office in Düsseldorf, 1882
  3. ^ Royal Collection, Osborne House
  4. ↑ s. List of members in the catalog of the 3rd German Artists Association Exhibition , Weimar 1906. P. 56 online (accessed on April 18, 2016)
personal data
SURNAME Son, Karl Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Son, Carl Friedrich Rudolph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH July 21, 1845
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH August 29, 1908
Place of death Dusseldorf