Wilhelm Gentz
Karl Wilhelm Gentz (born December 9, 1822 in Neuruppin , † August 23, 1890 in Berlin ) was a German painter .
Life
Karl Wilhelm Gentz was the second child of the businessman Johann Christian Gentz . Initially enrolled at the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin, he decided to study painting at the age of 21. He attended the renowned Atelier Kloeber and in 1845 studied for nine months at the Antwerp Art Academy, after which he went to the art metropolis Paris via London in 1846 . There he entered Paul Delaroche's student studio , which was then under the direction of Charles Gleyre . In 1847 he traveled to Spain and Morocco . In February 1848 he returned to Paris, where he painted the picture The Prodigal Son in the Desert , a life-size figure. In 1850 he then went via Marseille and Malta to Egypt and the Sinai . His way back took him through Asia Minor, the Greek archipelago, Constantinople and Vienna .
In 1852 he lived temporarily in Berlin. It was there that his first pictures of oriental life were created: the slave market and the Egyptian school . Not satisfied with this, Gentz went back to Paris and this time joined Thomas Couture's atelier . During this time he painted two religious pictures with life-size figures, Christ and Magdalena with Simon and Christ among the tax collectors . Later he did not take up the presentation of biblical subjects.
Back in Berlin in 1858, he created a long series of oriental, mostly Egyptian depictions, which, thanks to their characteristic conception and brilliant coloring, met with unanimous approval at the major exhibitions of the Berlin Art Academy. The overall oeuvre of the painter is very large. Sometimes the landscape is, sometimes the figures are predominant, but in all of them the character of the country and its people is sharply developed. The most important works are:
- Transporting slaves through the desert
- Mecca caravan camp
- Prayer of the Mecca Caravan
- Two caravans meet in the desert
- Nile landscape with flamingos (1870)
- Storyteller near Cairo
- Festival of the Dead near Cairo
- Village school in Upper Egypt
- Snake Charmer (1872)
- The entry of the Crown Prince of Prussia into Jerusalem, November 4, 1869 (1876, Berlin National Gallery)
In preparation for the latter picture, he traveled to Jerusalem in 1873 on behalf of the Prussian Crown Prince. The picture received the large gold medal at the Great Academic Exhibition in Berlin and the small silver medal in Munich.
Between 1874 and 1890 Gentz was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in Berlin. In 1881 he was appointed professor by Kaiser Wilhelm I. Gentz was considered a colorist of the first order, who knew how to depict the effects of sunlight with great mastery. He was later able to expand his field of study through several trips to Egypt and Palestine.
Wilhelm Gentz died in Berlin in 1890 at the age of 67 and was buried in the Old St. Matthew Cemetery in Schöneberg . The grave has not been preserved.
His son Ishmael also became a painter.
Works
- Women's life in the caliph city . In: The Gazebo . Volume 41, 1867, pp. 651–654 ( full text [ Wikisource ]). With illustration as a woodcut based on the original drawing.
literature
- Nina Struckmeyer: Gentz, Wilhelm Karl In: Savoy, Bénédicte and Nerlich, France (ed.): Paris apprenticeship years. A lexicon for training German painters in the French capital. Volume 2: 1844-1870. Berlin / Boston 2015.
- Irina Rockel: Wilhelm Gentz . Stapp Verlag, Berlin 1997 ISBN 3-87776-180-1
- Irina Rockel: Wilhelm Gentz. Life and work . Dissertation A, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin 1996
- Irina Rockel (Ed.): Wilhelm Gentz. Letters from a trip to Egypt and Nubia 1850/51 . Berlin 2004. ISBN 3-89626-322-6
- Irina Rockel: Wilhelm Gentz. Biographical summary, little guide through the permanent exhibition of the museum of his hometown Neuruppin . Neuruppin 1990
- Irina Rockel: Neuruppin Temple Garden. From the royal garden to an oriental gem. Edition Rieger, Berlin-Karwe 1996
- Bolko Stegemann (ed.): The letters of the oriental painter Wilhelm Gentz to his brother Alexander in Neuruppin . Krefeld 2002
- Bolko Stegemann: In the footsteps of the oriental painter Wilhelm Gentz. His works, his letters . ISBN 3-923772-13-0
- Bolko Stegemann: On the genesis of the painting "Entry of the Crown Prince of Prussia into Jerusalem 1869" by Wilhelm Gentz . ISBN 3-923772-29-7
- Wilhelm Gentz: Letters from a trip to Egypt and Nubia 1850-1851 (Cognoscere, Vol. 13) (Trafo Verlag, Berlin 2004)
Web links
- MOZ.de historical from 23 August 2020: "The Orient was Wilhelm Gentz's world"
- Literature by and about Wilhelm Gentz in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin tombs . Haude & Spener, Berlin 2006. p. 301.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gentz, Wilhelm |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gentz, Karl Wilhelm (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 9, 1822 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Neuruppin |
| DATE OF DEATH | 23 August 1890 |
| Place of death | Berlin |