Gustav Kraus

Munich, Oktoberfest anniversary procession, image 1 of 24 lithographs by Gustav Kraus from 1835

Gustav Kraus (born August 30, 1804 in Passau , † November 15, 1852 in Munich ; also: Gustav Friedrich; Gustav Wilhelm ) was a Bavarian lithographer of the Biedermeier period .

Live and act

Munich, Frauenkirche, lithograph by Gustav Kraus from 1839

Parade area for the maneuvers of the VIII Federal Army Corps near Heilbronn, lithograph by Gustav Kraus from 1840

Ludwigstrasse in Munich when Princess Marie of Prussia moved in , lithograph by Gustav Kraus from 1842

His parents came from Rothenburg ob der Tauber . After his father was transferred to Passau as a Bavarian soldier, Gustav was born there and spent his childhood there. With the next transfer, the family moved to Donauwörth in 1812 . When the father died there in 1815, the family returned to Rothenburg. When the mother died in 1817, an uncle took Gustav and his two younger siblings in with him. A few drawings and watercolors (landscape, vedutas) by Gustavus have survived from his youth in Rothenburg. He completed an apprenticeship as a printer and came to Munich in 1824 . Here he was a student of Wilhelm von Kobell's landscape class, which existed until 1826, at the Academy of Fine Arts and was accepted as a member of the Munich Art Association. From Kobell he took over the aerial perspective and the type of figure staffage, a further development of Kobell's encounter images.

He dedicated himself entirely to the young lithography technique and saw himself less as an artist than as a commercial artist. You can also find it as such in Munich address books. Successful in business, he bought a house in Löwenstrasse (today: Schellingstrasse) in 1836, where he also founded his own publishing house. In 1848 he joined the Artists' Freikorps.

His numerous, often large-format lithographs, often based on templates by Heinrich Adam , but also based on his own drawings and watercolors from southern Germany and especially Munich - city and architecture vedutas, event photos (including maneuver pictures, parades, processions, inauguration ceremonies), portraits of court and aristocracy, costumes and uniforms - but were also published by other publishers, especially in Adolph von Schaden's travel guides , which - repeatedly published - earned Gustav Kraus the reputation of "photo reporter of the Biedermeier period" ( Eugen Roth ) between 1825 and 1850 , especially since in his pictures he reconciled topographical accuracy with artistic quality. Around 1840 he stayed again in Rothenburg, where he produced a series of 16 Rothenburg views, which he published himself and which were sold in the LM Beck's bookstore in Rothenburg.

His last known lithograph shows the unveiling of the Bavaria in 1852, an occasion on which the new technology of photography was already used .

So far there has been only one major exhibition on his rich work, namely in 1977 in the Munich City Museum on the occasion of the publication of Christine Pressler's monograph on the artist. Today his sheets are an irreplaceable source for the cityscape of Munich in the second quarter of the 19th century. His main work is likely to be the Oktoberfest procession from 1835 with its 24 colorful lithographs.

Publications with works by Gustav Kraus

• Adolph von Schaden: Alpenröslein or 24 picturesque views of different castles, areas, lakes, etc. in the Salzkammergut, then in the Salzburg, Berchtesgaden and Tyrolean areas. With French and German texts. Lindauer, Munich 1836, 1 sheet, 21 pp., 2 sheets, with 24 lith. Panels by Gustav Kraus,
• Adolph von Schaden: Alpine flowers or twenty-five picturesque views of interesting mountains, lakes, cities, castles, valleys, etc. in the Bavarian highlands. Lindauer, Munich 1837, 34 p. With 25 (1 folded) lithographed. Plates by G. Kraus.
• Adolph von Schaden: Munich forget-me-nots or memory of the stay in Athens, Germany. Twenty newly recorded pictorial representations of the excellent buildings, streets and public spaces of the royal Bavarian capital and royal seat of Munich. Lindauer'sche Buchhandlung, Munich 1833 (also as a facsimile reprint, 20 lithographs by Gustav Kraus, 24 pages and 20 plates and notes by the publisher, Munich: Gerber Verlag GmbH 1985).
• Adolph von Schaden: The latest paperback for travelers through the Bavarian and Tyrolean highlands, then through Berchtesgaden and Salzburg's regions, along with descriptions of Hohenschwangau, Gastein, the Salzkammergut and Lake Constance. with a steel engraving, 6 folded lithographs by Gustav Kraus, 1 folding table and a folded travel map, surrounded by 18 small marginal views, Joseph Lindauer, Munich 1833, 184 p. (The title without "Neustestes", 2nd, revised edition, Munich: Joseph Lindauer 1836, IV, 267 p., With 8 (6 folded) lithographic plates by Gustav Kraus, feather lithographic plate, 2 steel engraved plates, 2 folding cards (1 engraved, 1 lithographed) and folding table).
• Adolph von Schaden: Mountain album or the latest collection of picturesque views from Tyrol and Vorarlberg newly recorded from nature. Album du Tyrol. Lindauer, Munich 1840, 45 p. With lithograph. Frontispiece and 30 lithographic plates by A. Podesta, J. Werner and Gustav Kraus.
• Munich in old graphics, Cologne: Bachem 1972, 54 sheets with 49 views (including by Gustav Kraus, from the holdings of the Munich City Museum).
• Adolph von Schaden: Paperback for travelers through Bavaria and Tyrol's highlands. Reprint, Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich 1985, 186 pp.

literature

• Eugen Roth: Gustav Wilhelm Kraus. A photo reporter from the Biedermeier period. In: The Bayerland . Year 52 (1941–1942, also as a special edition).
• Karl Birkmeyer: Gustav Wilhelm Kraus. Painter and lithographer. In: Upper Bavarian Archive. 90, 1968, pp. 114-127.
• Paul Ernst Rattelmüller: Gustav Wilhelm Kraus. Lithographs on contemporary history under King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Munich 1969
• Christine Pressler: Gustav Kraus 1804-1852. Monograph and critical catalog. Wölfle, Munich 1977, 416 p. With 433 illustrations (almost all lithographs)
• Gustav Kraus. Historical events and customs in Bavaria. Image selection u. Texts by Christine Pressler. Wölfle, Munich 1977, [4] pp., 24 sheets, ill., ISBN 3-87913-099-X
• Christine Pressler:  Kraus, Gustav. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 687 ( digitized version ).
• Gustav Kraus 1804-1852. To the 200th birthday, catalog 98–2004, Robert Wölfe Buch- und Kunstantiquariat, Munich 2004 (short description of 70 works with ill., Woelfle-kg.de PDF).
• Gustav Kraus. A sales exhibition. Book u. Kunstantiquariat E. u. R. Kistner, Nürnberg 1990, 48 p., Numerous. Fig. U. Taf.
• Elisabeth Eckel: Upper Franconian costumes graphics of the 19th century. Inventory, analysis, classification. Inaugural dissertation in the Faculty of History and Geosciences of the Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg 2001 ( opus-bayern.de PDF).
• Kraus, Gustav . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 21 : Knip – Kruger . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1927, p. 451-452 .
• Lexicon of Munich painters. Volume 2, pp. 382–384, Fig. 548.
• Siegmund Michael Westerholz: Gustav Kraus and his Schrobenhausener Reportage-Lithos / T. 1–2, In: Heimat-Blätter. 16, 5, Ingolstadt 2002, p. 4, 6, p. 1.
• Hellmuth Möhring: Changes in art in Rothenburg through mediatization in 1802/03. In: Jahrbuch des Verein Alt-Rothenburg eV 2003, pp. 158–190, on p. 196–226 Fig. 14–94.
• Siegmund Michael Westerholz: How an early reporter saw Pfaffenhofen and the surrounding area / T. 2–3: Painter and lithographer Kraus made popular subjects out of pictures by teacher Schwarz; coveted collector's items today. In: Our home. Pfaffenhofen 143, 4, 2002, pp. 4, 144, 1, 2003, pp. 2-4, 2, pp. 1-2.
• Richard Schaffner: Gustav Kraus - born 200 years ago in Passau. The "Biedermeier photo reporter" captures the time of King Ludwig I in pictures. In: home bells. 11, Passau 2004.

Web links

Commons : Gustav Kraus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files