Otto von Faber du Faur

Portrait Otto von Faber du Faurs painted by Franz von Lenbach in Munich.

Adolph Eduard Otto von Faber du Faur (born June 3, 1828 in Ludwigsburg , † August 10, 1901 in Munich ) was a Württemberg officer and painter , best known for his virtuoso depictions of battles. His work is a synthesis of impressionist and expressionist work.

origin

Otto von Faber du Faur was the son of the Württemberg major general and battle painter Christian Wilhelm von Faber du Faur (1780–1857) and his wife Magarethe, née von Hierlinger (1788–1846).

Life

Fantasia (1883)

Soldier study , private collection

Faber du Faur received initial suggestions for drawing from his father. After finishing school, Faber du Faur joined the Württemberg army . Through his father he had made the acquaintance of the Munich history painter Alexander von Kotzebue and in 1851 he became his pupil for six months. In 1852 he received a one-year special leave and a scholarship from the Württemberg royal family to train himself in battle painting in Adolphe Yvon's studio in Paris . Here, however, he was enthusiastic about painters like Géricault , Decamps and especially Eugène Delacroix , with whom he was often compared in later years. After his return, he became adjutant to the commander of the Württemberg cavalry division, Prince Hermann von Sachsen-Weimar , and continued to have sufficient opportunities to continue his education at the Stuttgart art school .

Marie Benedict painted by Franz von Lenbach

Further study trips to Paris followed, which introduced him to Gustave Courbet , Théodore Rousseau and, above all, Adolphe Monticelli . In 1866 he served as Rittmeister in the German War . In the following year he said goodbye and finally swapped the at least financially secure officer career for the insecure profession as an artist, whereby he had to support a family of nine. In 1869 he joined the leading teaching studio of the history painter Karl von Pilotys at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (perhaps only at the request of the Württemberg royal family) . In 1876 Faber du Faur was awarded the Knight of Honor Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown .

In the seventies, several large-format paintings were created on behalf of the Royal Painting Collection in Stuttgart, which established his reputation as the most important German battle painter . But already the painting Battle of Coeilly from 1881 called a number of critics on the scene, who missed a conscientious working through ( the background appeared to the art historian Heinrich Theodor Musper like a premonition of Cézanne ).

The extraordinary success achieved by the panorama of the siege of Paris during the Paris World's Fair of 1878 gave the impetus to a whole series of panoramas, which were gradually painted and shown in various large cities. Starting in 1881, the city of Hamburg commissioned and together with Carl von Häberlin and Robert von Haug (1857–1922) the monumental circular painting of the Battle of Wörth and, in 1883, an episode from the Bavarian battle in Bazeilles .

Probably at the suggestion of Häberlin, who had already undertaken a study trip to Tunis in 1880, Faber du Faur traveled to Morocco for half a year in 1883. This trip had a great influence on the further artistic development. Fascinated by the brightness of the African summer light, the desert landscape and the Bedouin equestrian tribes, he developed a free, expressive colorism. For him, the actual themes were just a pretext for displaying color effects. Further trips to Spain followed in 1895.

The further Faber du Faur developed, the more he got into isolation and was avoided by his previous clients. He struggled for recognition, but both the official artistic circles - at that time still attached to naturalism - and the public could no longer follow him. Completely misunderstood and isolated, he died on August 10, 1901 in Munich.

family

Faber du Faur married the banker's and publisher's daughter Marie Benedict (1834–1907) on May 1, 1855 in Stuttgart. The couple had several children:

• Eberhard (1856–1895), Prussian Rittmeister

⚭ October 6, 1886 Armgard Gans zu Putlitz (1865–1887)

⚭ December 3, 1890 Luise Freiin von Harsdorf and Enderndorf (1866–1929), parents of Armgard von Faber du Faur (1894–1977) and Irmgard von Faber du Faur (1894–1955)

• Alexander (1857–1937), consul general ret. D. ⚭ 1886 Clara von Ranke (* 1860)
• Maria (* 1859) ⚭ Theodor von Zwehl (1849–1915), Bavarian general of the infantry
• Hans (1863–1940), German painter ⚭ 1893 Sophie von Ranke (1864–1917)
• Otto (1867–1932), Bavarian Colonel ret. D. ⚭ 1901 Frieda von Küchler (* 1880), sister of Georg von Küchler
• Hermann (* 1872), Bavarian lieutenant colonel ret. D. ⚭ 1902 Martha Freiin von Podewils (1874–1941)

Afterlife

In a sense, his final breakthrough came twenty years after his death, when Expressionism caught up with the Expressionist Faber du Faur. The high quality of his painting opened up to a younger generation, more mature in impressionism and more sensitive to color. Faber du Faur was honored posthumously in 1903 when four of his works (Halt, Moorish Music Corps on Horseback, Performance of the Winners and On the Hunt) were shown at the Venice Biennale . In 1927 the last major exhibition (160 of his paintings) took place in the National Gallery in Berlin . With the seizure of power by the National Socialists, his works disappeared in the depots of the museums and only the painter “large-format battle paintings” could be vaguely remembered in the next decades.

In autumn 2002, after a long time, an exhibition with works by Otto von Faber du Faur took place in the gallery in the Helferhaus in Backnang .

photos

Painting style

During his student years, Faber du Faur turned to history painting and became the most important battle painter. The central themes are the Napoleon Wars and the military conflicts I experienced myself at the end of the 19th century. After the trip to Morocco he also painted numerous scenes of oriental life. His works are characterized by their dynamic composition, dramatic gestures of the characters and a contrasting color scheme. His painting style is based on the great colorists of the French late romantic period . The oriental theme is characteristic of its later phase. As an oriental painter, he also prefers to devote himself to equestrian scenes. In the late work, the virtuoso applied color became the most important means of expression, behind which the pictorial content sometimes receded.

Works (selection)

• The escape of the winter king Friedrich V from the Palatinate after the battle of the White Mountains. (lost), oil / canvas , Kunstverein Barmen , Barmen .
• Attack by Dragoon Regiment No. 5 near Artenay October 10, 1870. undated; Oil on canvas, 71.5 × 150.5 cm, Bavarian Army Museum , Ingolstadt .
• French infantry. , Oil / cardboard, around 1892/94, National Gallery , Berlin .
• The holy three kings. Oil / canvas, 1876 (lost in World War II), Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
• 4 panoramic preliminary studies. Oil / canvas, 1881, Bavarian Army Museum, Ingolstadt
• Pulling horses. Oil / canvas, 1879, Neue Pinakothek , Munich .
• Moving artillery. Oil / cardboard, around 1897, Neue Pinakothek, Munich.
• Debris of the Great Army. 1812, oil / cardboard, 1901 (incomplete), Neue Pinakothek, Munich.
• Arab rider. Oil / cardboard, after 1883, Lenbachhaus , Munich.
• Troop revue. Oil / cardboard, Lenbachhaus, Munich.
• Hungarian horse herd. Oil / canvas, after 1883, Lenbachhaus, Munich.
• Bedouin with horse. Oil / canvas, 1890s, State Gallery, Regensburg.
• Arabs with flag. Oil / canvas, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart , Stuttgart .
• Mazeppa. Gouache, around 1880, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart.
• Moor with horse. Oil / wood, around 1890, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart.
• Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia. Oil / canvas, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.
• Horses at the edge of the forest. Oil / canvas, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.
• Equestrian. Oil / canvas, around 1890, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart.
• The Battle of Champigny. Oil / canvas, 1876, Staatsgalerie , Stuttgart.
• The Württemberger near Coeuilly. Oil / canvas, 1881, State Gallery, Stuttgart.
• Ambulance during a barricade fight. Oil / canvas, 1883, State Gallery, Stuttgart.
• Hungarian draft horses. Oil / canvas, State Gallery, Stuttgart.
• Three Arabs on horseback. Oil / cardboard, State Gallery, Stuttgart.
• Ophelia. Oil / canvas, (burned in 1945), formerly State Gallery, Stuttgart.
• French artillery. 1877, (burned in 1945), formerly State Gallery, Stuttgart.
• Return from the Russian train. Oil / canvas, Civico Museo Revoltella - Galleria d'Arte Moderna , Trieste .
• Battle for Vionville. Oil / canvas, around 1886, Museum Nuss , Weinstadt-Strümpfelbach .

The correspondence with his painter friend Carl von Häberlin is in the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart.

Quotes

“It wasn't the careful work on the detail that attracted him, but the stimuli themselves that were presented when looking. In doing so, he went all too quickly from Impressionism to Expressionism ; indeed, in some respects he anticipated this period of painting. ” (Julius Fekete, 1986)

literature

• Nina Struckmeyer: Faber du Faur, (Adolph Eduard) Otto von. In: Savoy, Bénédicte and Nerlich, France (eds.): Paris apprenticeship years. A lexicon for training German painters in the French capital. Volume 2: 1844-1870. Berlin / Boston 2015.
• Gertrud Seizinger: Otto von Faber du Faur: Studies on the work in oil. 2010. ( DNB archive server : http://elib.uni-stuttgart.de/opus/volltext/ )
• Axel Burkarth in: Claus Zoege von Manteuffel (Hrsg.): Art and artists in Württemberg. Stuttgart 1996, p. 85 ff.
• Julius Fekete in: Carl von Häberlin and the Stuttgart history painters of his time. Catalog of the exhibition in Esslingen and Konstanz, Sigmaringen 1986, p. 78 ff.
• Peter Wilhelm Pech: Carl von Häberlin. Tübingen 1982. In it excerpts from the correspondence Häberlin-Faber du Faur, p. 218 ff.
• Max Schefold:  Faber du Faur, Adolph Eduard Otto von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 724 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Theodor Musper in: Swabian Life Pictures. Stuttgart 1941, p. 123 ff.
• Catalog for the exhibition in the National Gallery in Berlin. February – April 1927, Verlag Hermann, Berlin.
• Eduard Engels in: The art of our time. Munich 1902, p. 53 ff.

Web links

Commons : Otto von Faber du Faur  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Otto von Faber du Faur in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Court and State Handbook of the Kingdom of Württemberg 1894. P. 34.