William Unger
William Unger , also Wilhelm Unger (born September 11, 1837 in Hanover , † March 5, 1932 in Innsbruck ), was a German etcher and engraver.
Life
Unger was a son of the lawyer and art historian Friedrich Wilhelm Unger . When he was a toddler, the family moved to Göttingen . Like his older sister Johanna , who later ran a painting school for women in Munich, the young William was also artistically gifted. He tried to etchings while still at school. Unger studied from 1854 at the Düsseldorf Art Academy under Joseph von Keller and from November 3, 1858 at the Royal Academy of Arts in Munich under Julius Thaeter . In 1859 he first returned to Göttingen. There the father decided to finance a further period of study in Düsseldorf for him. This period, 1860 to 1863, was marked by disappointments, self-torture and material difficulties. An apprenticeship that he began with the Düsseldorf copper engraver Franz Paul Massau did not help him. Work failed and the feeling that he still had to be a burden on his father tormented him. Brighter moments in the artists' association Malkasten brought only a few interruptions to his gloomy mood. Finally he got sick. Taking care of his sister Johanna enabled him to return to his parents' house after difficult weeks.
After this period of depression he visited Kassel, Dresden, Vienna and Venice. Around 1863 Unger came to Leipzig to look for orders from the local publishing houses. The work for EA Seemann's magazine for fine arts , published from 1866 on, lasted several years. He also published albums with reproductions of famous works of painting, including from the art galleries in Braunschweig and Kassel.
Unger married in January 1870. In 1871 he was appointed professor at the Grand Ducal Saxon Art School Weimar by the Grand Duke of Saxony-Weimar .
He spent the period from autumn 1871 to spring 1872 and from 1874 to 1877 in the galleries of Holland. He later settled in Vienna, where in 1881 he took over the direction of the School of Applied Arts of the Imperial and Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry .
In 1884 he was elected a member of the Swedish Academy of Arts. In 1894 he was appointed professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna . In 1928 William Unger's autobiography From My Life was published in Vienna .
His son Arthur (not to be confused with Arthur Wilhelm Unger ) also became an etcher.
Fonts
- William Unger: From my life . Society for Reproductive Art, Vienna 1929.
literature
- Carl von Lützow: history of the kais. Academy of visual art. Festschrift for the opening of the new academy building Carl Gerold's Sohn, Vienna 1877.
- Unger, William . In: Friedrich von Boetticher : painter works of the nineteenth century. Contribution to art history . Dresden 1898, Volume 2, p. 909.
- Unger, William . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 33 : Theodotos vacation . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1939, p. 575-576 .
- Walter Wagner: The history of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna . Rosenbaum Brothers, Vienna 1967.
- Marlite Halbertsma: Charles Rochussen 1814-1894. Een veelzijdig kunstenaar . Waanders, Zwolle 1997.
- Jef Schaeps (Ed.): Rembrandt brought in prent. Uit de collectie van het Prentenkabinet . Leiden University, Leiden 2006.
- Ellen Hastaba: Unger, William. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 15, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1957–2013, p. 105 f. (Direct links on p. 105 , p. 106 ).
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Unger, William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Unger, Wilhelm |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-Austrian etcher and engraver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 11, 1837 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hanover |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 5, 1932 |
| Place of death | innsbruck |