Rudolf Cronau

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Rudolf Cronau, 1882

Rudolf Daniel Ludwig Cronau (born January 21, 1855 in Solingen , Rhine Province ; † October 27, 1939 in North Tarrytown , Westchester County , New York ) was a German-American journalist , author of travel reports as well as historical and political treatises, painter of the Düsseldorf School and Illustrator . He is regarded as one of the best Indian and Western painters and as a champion for the preservation and development of a German-American identity in the United States .

Life

Eltz Castle , illustration after a drawing from 1872 in the journal Die Gartenlaube , 1873
Sitting Bull , illustration after a drawing from 1881 in the magazine Die Gartenlaube , 1882

Cronau, son of the tax officer Rudolf Cronau from Berleburg and his wife Helene Wilhelmine, née Waldeck, were orphaned at the age of ten and twelve. He then grew up with various family members. He broke off attending the high school in Solingen (1866–1869). He then took part in the Franco-German War for the Red Cross . In 1871 he enrolled at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in the elementary class with Andreas Müller , where he soon left to go to a private studio. As a landscape painter , he traveled to various areas in Germany and Austria. Drawings of the Harz , Riesengebirge and Saxon Switzerland as well as views of the Elbe and Oder were made. At the same time, with the support of local history researcher Franz Wilhelm Oligschläger , he began to write articles on historical topics for the Solinger Kreis- Intellektivenblatt. A picture of Eltz Castle created in 1872 resulted in first contact with the journal Die Gartenlaube . From 1877 he lived in Leipzig , where he worked as an illustrator and author for the Illustrirte Zeitung and the magazine Die Gartenlaube . From there he made long trips to North Africa and the United States, where his half-brother and half-sister had emigrated.

In January 1881 he traveled to the United States for the first time, married the American Agnes Fast, whom he had met in Düsseldorf , and made two major tours by 1882. On one of these tours he accompanied the adventurer Paul Boyton (1848-1924) on a boat trip on the Mississippi River . He reported for the German magazine Die Gartenlaube and was also a correspondent for the North American Rundschau . Cronau became friends with the Lincoln advisor Carl Schurz and with the Sioux chief Sitting Bull . He also met other famous Indians, including Crow King, Gall , Hump and Rain in the Face . In 1883 he returned to Germany because of a kidney disease. In 1886 he took some Sioux Indians to Völkerschauen to Europe. In 1888 he married the soprano Margarethe Tänzler (1865–1944) from Crimmitschau , who had their daughter Margarethe Hildegard († 1978) in Leipzig in 1892 , daughter Elisabeth († 1980) in Washington, DC in 1896 and their son Rudolph Wolfgang ( † 1980) in Manhattan in 1900 ( † 1978) gave birth. In 1893 he reported on the Chicago World's Fair . In 1894 he moved to the United States as a reporter for the Kölnische Zeitung and became a citizen in 1901. As such, he also wrote and published books on political and social issues that were published in English. He also worked for the New York State Newspaper . In 1901 he was among the founders of the German American National Federal (National German-American Alliance) , 1919 he founded in New York, the Steuben Society of America . In 1936 he became an honorary member of the Bergisches Geschichtsverein . Cronau found his final resting place in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery .

Fonts (selection)

Title cover Our Wastful Nation , 1908
  • The history of the Solingen blade industry (1885)
  • Journeys in the Land of the Sioux (1886)
  • From wonderland to wonderland. Landscapes and Life Images from the States (1886/87)
  • The book of advertising. History, nature and practice of advertising (1887–1889)
  • In the wild west. An artist's journey through the prairies and rocky mountains of the Union (1890)
  • America: The Story of Its Discovery (1892)
  • Illustrative Cloud Forms for the Guidance of Observers in the Classification of Clouds (1897)
  • Our Wasteful Nation. The Story of American Prodigality and the Abuse of Our National Resources (1908, digitized )
  • Three Centuries of German Life in America (1909)
  • Do We Need a Third War of Independence (1914)
  • The British Black Book (1915, digitized )
  • England, a Destroyer of Nations (1915)
  • Our Hyphenated Citizens: Are They Right or Wrong? (1916)
  • Woman triumphant. The Story of Her Struggles for Freedom, Education, and Political Rights (1919, digitized )
  • The Army of the American Revolution and its Organizer (1923, digitized )
  • The Germans as the Founders of New Amsterdam / New York and as the Originators and Supporters of American Freedom (1926)
  • Prohibition and the Destruction of the American Brewing Industry (1926)

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Rudolf Cronau  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Rudolf Cronau  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. No. 246 in the finding aid 212.01.04 Student lists of the Art Academy Düsseldorf , website in the portal archive.nrw.de ( State Archive North Rhine-Westphalia )
  2. ↑ Don Heinrich Tolzmann: The Gravesite of Carl Schurz in Sleepy Hollow needs care , article in the portal wochenpostusa.com (North American Weekly Post), accessed on February 26, 2018
  3. ^ Rudolf Daniel Ludwig Cronau , website in the findagrave .com portal
personal data
SURNAME Cronau, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cronau, Rudolf Daniel Ludwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, author, painter and illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH January 21, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Solingen , Rhine Province
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 1939
Place of death North Tarrytown , Westchester County , New York