German-American Artists and Lithographers in Early Cincinnati

GERMAN-AMERICAN ARTISTS AND LITHOGRAPHERS IN EARLY CINCINNATI

incinnati at the beginning of the including pictures of the Ohio countryside nineteenth century has been described and the White Mountains of New Hamp- Cas "an oasis of intellectual and creative shire. With his brothers George and talent west of the Appalachians."1 A good Gustavus, he created an immense panoramic part of this talent was concentrated in the painting of Niagara Falls which was rolled area of art, and by the middle of the last from one spindle to another while a lecture century Cincinnati had evolved into a was read. Another brother, John Peter major national art center. Because Frankenstein, was an eccentric portrait artist Cincinnati attracted many German who also modeled portrait busts. Their two immigrants during this period, it is not sur- sisters, Marie and Elizabeth, taught art at a prising that many of the artists who were girls' school in Springfield.4 active in early Cincinnati were either Henry J. Koempel and Gerhardt German-born or of German descent. Mueller were two minor local artists who One of the first German artists to settle opened a studio in 1840 for painting altar- in Cincinnati was the painter and sculptor pieces. William Lamprecht (b. 1838) was a Frederick Eckstein (1787-1832). A native of painter of historical and religious subjects Berlin, Eckstein received training at the who was active in Cincinnati at least from Berlin Academy. After arriving in 1853. Lamprecht returned to Germany during Cincinnati in 1823 he was an early teacher the 1860s to study in Munich but was back of the celebrated local sculptor Hiram in the United States by around 1867. He Powers. Eckstein's sister, Louis Eckstein was at one time in partnership with George Addelsterren, appears to have been the first Lang, another German-born painter in notable woman artist in Cincinnati.2 Cincinnati. In 1868 both he and Lang were The Swiss-born John Caspar Wild (c. engaged to do paintings for the church of St. 1804-1846) was another important immi- Romuald D'Echemin in Quebec Province. grant artist in frontier Cincinnati. Although Lamprecht was involved with the Institute of he was an accomplished painter of portraits Catholic Art in Lexington and decorated a and landscapes, Wild is best remembered number of Benedictine churches. At one time for his work as a lithographic artist. After Lamprecht was also in partnership with working in Cincinnati during the 1820s he Philip Lang, a German-born portrait painter left to work in St. Louis and Davenport.3 in Cincinnati who later settled in Rockport, 5 A remarkable group of artists in early Indiana. One wonders, of course, whether Ohio was the Frankenstein family, who George Lang and Philip Lang were related came to Cincinnati from Germany in 1831 or perhaps even the same person, but the and later settled in Springfield, Ohio. The record on this point is unclear. outstanding talent in the family was Louis Schwebel, Jr. (b. 1833) was a Godfrey Frankenstein (1820-1873), who minor German-born portrait artist who was 6 supported himself mainly by portrait com- active in Cincinnati in 1850. The engraver missions but also painted landscapes, Cincinnati Artists______

Hubert Kollmer (b. ca. 1828) was active Several drawings and paintings by there about the same time.7 The Swiss-born Richard Andriessen, an artist born in Rudolf Tschudi (1855-1923) established Ratibor, Prussia in 1856, have turned up in himself in Cincinnati as a popular painter of Cincinnati, where he was active at the end idyllic landscapes who also painted portraits of the last century. Little is known about and historical subjects. The Cincinnati him, except that he was married in Germany Historical Society has six of his works and and may have studied in Munich.9 Anthony the Glarus Kunstverein in Switzerland also Biester (1837-1917) was a painter of por- has a number of his paintings.8 traits and landscapes who came to America

Figure 1: Godfrey Frankenstein (1820-1873), shown here in a self-portrait, was the most noteworthy member of a family of artists in Ohio (Photo courtesy of William Coyle, Delray Beach, Florida).

—50— ______Merrill in 1870 after having received instruction in lithographers, including Ferdinand von Cleve and Dusseldorf.10 Laer, who came to North America from German-trained craftsmen to a great Berlin around 1850. Peter Ehrgott and extent introduced the lithographic process, Gustav Forbrigger were also employed by which was invented in Germany at the end Onken but later organized their own firm, of the eighteenth century, into the United Ehrgott and Forbrigger, which produced 13 States. With the advent of chromolithogra- chromolithographs of Civil War battles. phy in 1826, lithography quickly took hold Gustav Herrlein, another German-born as both an artistic medium and a commer- lithographer in Cincinnati, was active about 14 cially important technology. Although the the same time. Christian Fabronius, who lithographic industry in the United States had earlier worked in New York was active 15 first developed in Philadelphia and other in Cincinnati from 1858 to 1873. eastern cities, German-run lithography By the end of the nineteenth century a shops soon began to appear in such generation of American-born artists of Midwestern cities as Cincinnati and German descent was coming of age in Milwaukee. As elsewhere in the United Cincinnati. We may start by mentioning States, the early lithography industry in three of these artists who achieved national Cincinnati had a palpably German charac- recognition: Robert Frederick Blum (1857- ter.11 1903), Frank Duveneck (1848-1919), and The earliest lithographic firm in John Henry Twachtmann (1853-1902). Cincinnati was the partnership of Blum's father was a native of Klauprecht and Menzel, established some Rohrbach, Bavaria, who came to the United time prior to 1840. Emil Klauprecht (1815- States in the 1850s. Blum's mother was also 1896) was a journalist and writer while of German extraction. Blum himself was Adolphus Menzel was a skilled lithograph- born in Cincinnati, where he began his er.12 The firm produced many chromolitho- career as a lithographer. He worked for a graphic views of Cincinnati and other Ohio time in Philadelphia and eventually settled towns. In addition it published illustrated in New York, where he was known as both a German-language periodicals for which painter and prolific illustrator. Blum spent Klauprecht was the editor and Menzel was some time in Europe and in 1890 visited in charge of the illustrations. The lithog- Japan, where he painted many street scenes.16 rapher Charles Menzel, who was active in Frank Duveneck was one of the most Cincinnati in the 1840s, was presumably important American painters of his time and related in some way to Adolphus Menzel. was also remarkable as a teacher of wide- Klauprecht and Menzel employed persons ranging influence. He was born in named Gustavus A. Menzel and Herman G. Covington, Kentucky, just across the Ohio Menzel, and by 1856 the name of the firm River from Cincinnati. His name was origi- had been changed to G. H. Menzel and nally Frank Decker and he acquired the Company. The firm disappeared during or name Duveneck from his stepfather. Both just after the Civil War. his father, Bernard Decker, and his mother Otto Onken's lithographic establish- (nee Katherine Seimers) came from a small ment, which existed from about 1848 to town near Vechta in Oldenburg. As a young 1850, employed several German immigrant —51—

Cincinnati Artists______man in Cincinnati, Duveneck worked as an There were numerous other artists who assistant to the church decorator William were born into German families in Lamprecht, discussed above. Duveneck was Cincinnati. William Jacob Baer (1860- also a friend of the Cincinnati painter 1941) began as a lithographer but turned to Rudolf Tschudi, whose portrait he painted. painting after study in Munich. He is known During a long stay in Munich, Duveneck particularly for his miniatures, portraits, and was influenced by the realism of such genre scenes. Edward G. Eisenlohr (1872- painters as Wilhelm Leibl and Wilhelm von 1961) studied at the academy in Karlsruhe Dietz.17 and eventually settled in Texas, where he John Henry Twachtmann, who was painted western subjects. John Rettig (1860- born in Cincinnati, was the son of immi- 1932) was a pupil of the Cincinnati Art grant parents from Hannover. He studied School whose entire life was spent in under Duveneck in Cincinnati after Duve- Cincinnati. The sculptor Charles Henry neck's return from Munich, but soon put Niehaus (1855-1935) came from a German aside Munich realism in favor of an impres- immigrant family and went to study in sionist and tonalist style.18 Munich after studying at the McMicken — Peter C. Merrill Florida Atlantic University —52—

NOTES

1Arthur R. Schultz, German-American Relations and International Publications, 1985), 155. For German Culture in America: A Subject Menzel, see Groce and Wallace, 438. Bibliography (Millwood, New York: Kraus 13Martin W. Wiesendanger, "Lithographic Lives," International Publications, 1984), Vol. 1, 506. American-German Review, Vol. 9 (June 1943), 2Ophia D. Smith, "Frederick Eckstein, the Father of 7-10. Cincinnati Art," Bulletin of the Historical and 14Groce and Wallace, 311. Philosophical Society of Ohio, Vol. 9 (1951), 15Groce and Wallace, 218. 266-282. 16Bruce Weber, "Robert Frederick Blum (1857- 3Judith A. Barter and Lynn E. Springer, Currents of 1903) and his Milieu." 2 vols. (Dissertation, Expansion: Painting in the Midwest 1820- City University of New York, 1985). 1940 (St. Louis: The St. Louis Art Museum, l7Allen Johnson and Duman Malone (eds.), 1977), 71, 176. Dictionary of American Biography (New York: 4William Coyle, The Frankenstein Family in Charles Scribner's 1957), Vol. 3, 558-561. Springfield (Springfield, Ohio: Clark County 18 Wanda M. Corn, The Color of Mood: American Historical Society, 1967). Tonalism 1900-1910 (San Francisco: M. H. 5For information on Koempel and Lamprecht, see DeYoung Memorial Museum, 1972). William H. Gerdts, Art Across America: Two 19Biographical information on many of these artist Centuries of Regional Painting (New York: can be found in Peter Hastings Falk (ed.), Who Abbeville Press, 1990), Vol. 2, 185. For infor- Was Who in American Art (Madison, mation on Gerhardt Mueller, see George C. Connecticut: Sound View Press, 1985) and in Groce and David H. Wallace, The New York Mantle Fielding, Mantle Fielding's Dictionary Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in of American Painters, Sculptors, and America, 1564-1850 (New Haven and London: Engravers. Second revised edition, Glen B. Yale University Press, 1957), 459. Opitz, ed. (Poughkeepsie, NY: Apollo Book, 6 1986). Groce and Wallace, 565. 20 7 On the passing of the German cultural scene in Groce and Wallace, 383-384. Cincinnati, see particularly Guido A. Dobbert, 8 Karl Brun, Schweizerisches Kunstler-Lexikon "The Cincinnati Germans, 1870-1920: (Frauenfeld: Huber, 1905-1917), Vol. 3, 341. Disintegration of an Immigrant Community," 9Barter and Springer, 107. Bulletin of the Cincinnati Historical Society, Vol. 23 (1965), 224-242. On the vitality of 10Edna Marie Clark, Ohio An and Artists Cincinnati's artistic legacy, see Cincinnati Art (Richmond: Garrett and Massie, 1932), 443. Galleries, Panorama of Cincinnati Art 1850- 11 Benjamin F. Klein, Lithography in Cincinnati, 2 1950 (Cincinnati: Cincinnati Art Galleries, vols. (Cincinnati: Young and Klein, 1858- 1986). Arthur R. Schultz, German-American 1959). Relations and German Culture in America: A l2For information on Klauprecht, see Robert Ward, A Subject Bibliography (Millwood, New York: Bio-Bibliography of German-American Kraus International Publications, 1984), Vol. 1, Writers (White Plains, New York: Kraus 506.