Heinrich Bank

Heinrich Bank, ca.1905

Plaque at the birthplace in Dux

Heinrich Bank (born November 23, 1834 in Dux / Northern Bohemia; † March 1, 1923 in Graz ) was a German-Bohemian history painter and professor at the Technical University in Graz .

Life

Heinrich Bank's father, Johann Gerhard Bank, was a master pewter and immigrated from Braunschweig to northern Bohemia, where he married the daughter of a carpenter from Leitmeritz in Dux in 1834. In the same year their son Heinrich was born in the house next to the town hall. After attending secondary school in his home country, he studied at the Academy in Prague from 1855 to 1862 with professors Eduard von Engerth , Max Haushofer and Bernhard Grueber . In 1860 he took part in an exhibition in Prague for the first time and was immediately successful with the oil painting The acid test . On March 1, 1864, he became an assistant at the Imperial and Royal German High School in Prague, in August he married at St. Aegyd in Prague, and the following year he applied for an advertised apprenticeship at the Technical College at the Joanneum in Graz. The decision between him and the professor at the Landeskunstschule Hermann von Königsbrunn (1823–1907) ultimately turned out in his favor, from October 1, 1865 he took up his position as a teacher of figure drawing in Graz, later he became professor and finally dean Faculty of Architecture. In 1906 he retired, but lived in Graz until he was 88 years old.

meaning

The Neuthor in Graz, watercolor by Heinrich Bank (around 1875)

Reproduced watercolor from Hilnteich

In Styria there was a vacuum in painting in the second half of the 19th century, which made it easy for Heinrich Bank to assume a leading position. He was also known as Graz Rudolf von Alt . His watercolors of historical buildings were particularly popular, such as those of the New Gate in Graz, which was demolished in 1883. With his retirement and the rise of Impressionism , he lost its importance and was eventually forgotten. Apart from the large number of students at the Technical University, Heinrich Bank had only a few students:

• Josef von Arbesser (1850–1928)
• Adolf Brunnlechner (1863–1960)
• Anton Reckziegel (1865–1936)
• Anton Marussig (1868–1925)
• Luigi Kasimir (1881–1962)

Works

During his time in Prague, Bank mainly created oil paintings:
Friedrich the Beautiful with his blind wife in Mauerbach , 1861
Landsknechte playing dice , 1862
A long working day comes to an end , 1865

In Graz he then devoted himself entirely to watercolor. The motifs for this came from Graz, the rest of Styria, Carinthia, Bavaria, Switzerland, Italy and Dalmatia. His pictures of animals were also used to illustrate two books.
The Austro-Hungarian monarchy in words and pictures , from 1887
The animal life of the Austro-Hungarian plains , 1897

During his lifetime he was regularly represented in exhibitions, especially those of the Steiermärkischer Kunstverein and the Association of Fine Artists, for example in 1900 in the Old University in Graz (30 watercolors), later only in 1984 in Dux (30 works) and most recently in Straßengel (2008 and 2010 watercolors from Alt-Graz). A large number of his pictures are in museums and archives ( Joanneum , Graz City Museum, Styrian Provincial Archive, Carinthian Provincial Museum, Regional Museum Teplitz) and in private ownership.

literature

Heinrich Bank is represented in almost every art dictionary, starting with Wastler (Steirisches Künstlerlexikon 1883) to Saur (Allgemeine Künstler-Lexikon 1992), but stubbornly with the wrong year 1864 for the beginning of his teaching activity in Graz, since Prof. Wastler is already there was wrong by a year.
Sarah Schimeczek: Life and Work of the Painter Heinrich Bank Diploma Thesis, Graz 2010

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Bank  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Short biography (Czech)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bruno Binder: Heinrich Bank - the nestor of the Styrian artists. In: Art and Fashion, No. 3 1922
2. ^ Association of visual artists: Exhibition catalog from 1900