Max Schröder-Greifswald
Max Schröder-Greifswald (born March 3, 1858 in Greifswald , † probably 1948 in Berlin ; full name: Max Johannes Carl Schröder ) was a German landscape and marine painter .
Life
Childhood and youth
Max Schröder-Greifswald, as he later called himself, was born on March 3, 1858 as the fifth child of master tailor Carl Johann Christian Schröder and his wife Wilhelmine Ulrike Johanna, nee. Beyer was born in Greifswald and was baptized in the local St. Nikolai Church on April 11th with the name Max Johannes Carl. His parents married on October 26, 1849 in Greifswald.
After graduating from school, Max Schröder started his apprenticeship with a surgical instrument maker in Greifswald. However, he himself disparagingly described this activity as “cleaning the amputee instruments”. His father persuaded him to do an apprenticeship as a tailor, which he did not finish. Instead, he went to his uncle, a Greifswald sailmaker , in his workshop. At his father's insistence, he applied as an apprentice in a lithographic establishment , where he first worked on the lithographic press. After a year the apprenticeship as a lithographer was supposed to take place, but this did not happen because it brought the company more advantages as a printer. Schröder therefore hired as a cabin boy on the three-masted schooner “Providentia”. The journey took him to the coasts of England , the Atlantic Ocean , the Ligurian Sea, the Gulf of Genoa , the Tyrrhenian - and the Ionian Sea . After the end of this trip and a three-month illness, he resumed his apprenticeship with his former teacher. After another year and a half of apprenticeship, he was able to persuade his father to join the navy in December 1877.
On May 31, 1878, Max Schröder was on the SMS Prussia . He was an eyewitness to the sinking of the SMS Großer Kurfürst , which was rammed by SMS König Wilhelm near Folkestone in the English Channel that day. After returning from vacation, he was commanded as steward's mate on the corvette SMS Prinz Adalbert .
The ship left the port of Kiel on December 14, 1878 for a world tour, which led via South America around Cape Horn and Hawaii to Japan , where the ships SMS Louise , "Wolf" and "Cyclop" united to form a squadron .
In the spring of 1880 the squadron was relocated to Shanghai , where there was unrest among the population because of the impending war between China and Japan over the Ryūkyū Islands . After the arrival of reinforcements ( SMS Vineta ) the journey home was started. On September 29, 1880, the corvette returned to the Kiel Fjord .
Artist career
After the end of the world tour, the "Prinz Adalbert" was taken out of service for a long time for maintenance and repair work. All sailors who had already served three years (Max Schröder was one of them) were stationed in the Kiel barracks. One of Schröder's closest friends was a certain Mr. Spitzler, with whom he shared a room in the barracks.
During this time Schröder was able to devote himself more intensively to his hobby, painting. Since he had neither a drawing board nor an easel , the back wall of a clothes locker had to take on this function. First of all, various impressions of the trip that remained in the memory were put on paper. Impressed by the steadily improving quality of the work, Spitzler took over the organization of the sale of the pictures. With the first money, both were able to rent a room in Kiel and Schröder bought an easel, various drawing boards and other painting utensils. Even after Spitzler had long since quit his naval service, he continued to sell Schröder's drawings.
In three years of intensive drawing, the desire grew to be trained in oil painting . Around 1883 Max Schröder went to Hamburg to have the director of the trade school there and the marine painter Franz Hünten (1822 Hamburg - 1887 Hamburg) issue certificates of his abilities and skills by submitting his drawings. It is possible that Hünten's work had a decisive influence on Schröder's later painting style.
With these certificates he went back to Greifswald to ask the mayor ( Hugo Helfritz ) for a scholarship to study painting. Since the application was initially rejected, despite the pictures and certificates presented, Schröder went to Berlin to convince the marine painter Hermann Eschke of his skills. After examining the submitted pictures, he stated:
"If you have educated yourself to the point that you can do something like this without taking any lessons, I will immediately accept you as a student, and I can also issue you with the best certificate for your achievements."
Since Schröder was financially on his own, he sold his first works, which he said he would have preferred to keep for himself in order to earn a living.
In the meantime, through the mediation of a consul from the city of Greifswald, a scholarship has been granted based on Eschke's certificates. The studies at Eschke lasted three years, during which not only was drawing and painting in the studio, but a small study trip was also undertaken every year to paint from nature.
Since the circle of interested parties for depictions of ships of the Kriegsmarine was limited, but Schröder had to make a living with art, he also tried his hand at landscape and portrait painting. Numerous oil paintings offered at auctions are evidence of this.
Berlin as a central place of activity and center of life
Not only on the basis of the signatures on Schröder's pictures, but also the almost continuous entries in the Berlin address books prove that Schröder's center of life was Berlin after his departure from Greifswald and Kiel. He is proven here at least from 1887. For many years, two naval and art painters Max Schröder can be found in the address books at a different address. Whether this is a son of the same name, as indicated by numerous pictures signed with “Schröder-Greifswald jr.”, Or whether it was just a home and studio address, has not yet been clearly clarified.
The exact date and place of death have not yet been clarified. Previous information is based on oral traditions in the family.
Works
Illustrations from the book: “Memories and Pictures from Sea Life” by Reinhold Werner, General Association for German Literature, Berlin 1886
- The "Alma" on the move (1885)
- The "Alma" in a storm (1885)
- The turtle catch (1885)
- Thunderstorm gust at night (1885)
- In the roadstead of Anjer (1885)
- "Christian VIII." And the "Gefion" off Eckernförde (1885)
- The "Barbarossa" as a barracks ship in the port of Kiel (1885)
- In the officiers mess (1885)
- In the roadstead of Madeira (1885)
- "Friedrich Karl" in the roadstead of Barbados (1885)
- Coal takeover in Kingston Harbor (1885)
- The "Elisabeth" on her way to Spain (1885)
Scrapbook: "Germany's warships" after oil paintings, printed in 12 colors on cardboard paper Verlag Walter Peck, Berlin around 1902
- SMS "CHARLOTTE" in the hot zone (1898)
- SMS "GEFION" departure from Hong Kong (1898)
- SMS "SIEGFRIED" Weser lighthouse (1898)
- SMS "GNEISENAU" Norwegian coast (1898)
- SMS "WÖRTH" Mecklenburg coast (1898)
- SMS "KAISER" Port of Kiel (1898)
- Imperial yacht "HOHENZOLLERN" Norway (1899)
- SMS training ship "MARS" Artillery training ship (1899)
- SMS "IRENE" Floating Iceberg (1899)
- SMSS "BLÜCHER" and "BLITZ" with torpedo flotilla (1899)
- SM Small cruiser "SEEADLER" on the coral reefs (1899)
- SMS "SACHSEN" "MÜCKE" "OLDENBURG" Saxon class ships of the line with armored cannon boats (1899)
- SMLiner "KAISER FRIEDRICH III." Stormy seas (1900)
- SM Large cruiser "HERTHA" Moving Sea (1900)
- SM large cruiser "FÜRST BISMARCK" in China (1900)
literature
- Max Schröder Greifswald: From sailor to artist. Diary sheets of the marine painter Schröder-Greifswald, edited by H. Lehmann, self-published, printed by Walther Peck, Berlin 1902.
- Dr. Erich Gülzow : Three Pomeranian marine painters. In: Heimatleiw un Muddersprak. No. 37 of September 11, 1931.
- Ulrich van der Heyden : Max Schröder-Greifswald: From sailor to artist. Journal sheets by the marine painter Max Schröder Greifswald (Edition Falkenberg, Bremen 2015)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Baptismal register St. Nikolai Greifswald, year 1858, page 146, no58
- ↑ Wedding register St. Nikolai Greifswald, year 1849, page 224, No. 30
- ↑ military parent rolls in the city archives Greifswald, Rep. 3, no. 119, Vol. 1858/1878
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schröder-Greifswald, Max |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German landscape and marine painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 3, 1858 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Greifswald |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1948 |
| Place of death | Berlin |