Fritz von Uhde

Fritz von Uhde (born Friedrich Hermann Carl Uhde, May 22, 1848–February 25, 1911) was a German painter of genre and religious subjects. His style lay between Realism and Impressionism.

Biography

He was born in Wolkenburg, Saxony. In 1866 he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden, but later that year he left his studies for military service, and from 1867 to 1877 he was a professor of horsemanship to the regiment of the assembled guard. He moved to Munich in 1877 to attend the Academy of Fine Arts. In Munich he particularly admired the Dutch old masters, and in 1879 he travelled to Paris where his studies of the Dutch painters continued. In 1882 a journey to Holland brought about a change in his style, as he abandoned the dark chiaroscuro he had learned in Munich in favor of a colorism informed by the works of the French Impressionists. [Forster-Hahn, et al., 2001, p. 178]

His work was often rejected by the official art criticism, and by the public, because his representations of ordinary scenes were considered vulagar or ugly. The critic Otto Julius Bierbaum was more sympathetic; in 1893, he wrote, "As a painter of children, for example, Uhde is extraordinarily distinguished. He does not depict them as sweetly as used to be popular; in other words not as amusing or charming dolls, but with extreme, very strict naturalness." [Forster-Hahn, et al., 2001, p. 178]

In about 1890, Uhde became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He was, with Max Slevogt and Lovis Corinth, one of the leading figures in the Munich Secession, and later joined the Berlin Secession as well. He died in Munich in 1911.

Notes

References

*Forster-Hahn, Françoise, et al. (2001). "Spirit of an Age: Nineteenth-Century Paintings From the Nationalgalerie, Berlin". London: National Gallery Company. ISBN 1-85709-981-8