August Weber

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August Weber in 1853; by Bernhard Höfling (1817-1871)
Forested River Landscape

Johann Baptist Wilhelm August Weber (10 January 1817, Frankfurt am Main - 11 September 1873, Düsseldorf) was a German painter; associated with the Düsseldorfer Malerschule.

Life and work[]

He began studying landscape painting in his hometown, with Carl Heinrich Rosenkranz (1801-1851), then moved to Darmstadt in 1835, where he continued his studies with the court painter, Johann Heinrich Schilbach. This was followed by a study trip to Switzerland.

Upon returning to Frankfurt, he studied at the Städelschule until 1838. In that year, he went to Düsseldorf, where he spent a year at the KunstAkademie, and soon became a teacher himself. His notable students included Theodor Martens,  [de] and John Robinson Tait. Due to his proven ability, he was appointed a Professor by King Friedrich Wilhelm III.

In 1844, he was one of the co-founders of the  [de], and later became a member of the progressive artists' association "Malkasten" (Paintbox). In 1863, he was named an honorary member of the Düsseldorfer Künstler-Liedertafel (Round Table) and, the following year, he became an Honorary Master of the  [de] in Frankfurt. In 1871, he developed an eye condition that left him unable to paint for over a year. In 1873, shortly after he had resumed painting, he died of pneumonia.

Although his works are realistic in appearance, most of them are composed of imaginative or idealistic elements. The art historian,  [de], described his work as expressing a "Post-Romantic" sensibility, inspired by Salomon van Ruysdael. In addition to landscape paintings, he also created watercolors and lithographs.

A large number of his works were damaged or destroyed during World War II. Many of the paintings subsequently sold as his were actually the work of a Swiss artist, also named August Weber, who lived from 1898 to 1957.[citation needed]

Sources[]

  • Hermann Arthur Lier (1896), "Weber, August", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), 41, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, p. 282
  • "Weber, August". In: Friedrich von Boetticher: Malerwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts. Beitrag zur Kunstgeschichte, Vol.2/2, Saal–Zwengauer, Boetticher’s Verlag, Dresden 1901, pg.979 (Online)
  • "Weber, August", In: Richard Klapheck: Die Kunstsammlungen der Staatlichen Kunstakademie zu Düsseldorf. Strucken, Düsseldorf 1928
  • "Weber, August", In: Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Vol. 35: Waage–Wilhelmson, pp.215-216, E. A. Seemann, Leipzig, 1942

External links[]

Media related to August Weber at Wikimedia Commons

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