Franz Von Stuck | Symbolist painter

Franz Stuck (February 23, 1863 - August 30, 1928) was a German painter🎨, sculptor, printmaker, and architect.

In 1906, Stuck was awarded🎨 the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown and was henceforth known as Franz Ritter von Stuck.

• Life and career

Born at Tettenweis near Passau, Stuck displayed an affinity for drawing and caricature from an early age. To begin his artistic education he relocated in 1878 to Munich, where he would settle for life.

From 1881-1885 Stuck attended the Munich Academy.

He first became well known by cartoons for Fliegende Blätter, and vignette designs for programmes and book decoration.

In 1889 he exhibited his first paintings at the Munich Glass Palace, winning a gold medal🎨 for The Guardian of Paradise.

In 1892 Stuck co-founded the Munich Secession, and also executed his first sculpture, Athlete.

The next year he won further acclaim with the critical and public success of what is now his best known work, the painting The Sin.

Also during 1893, Stuck was awarded🎨 a gold medal for painting at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and was appointed to a royal professorship.

In 1895, he began teaching painting at the Munich Academy.

In 1897 Stuck married an American widow, Mary Lindpainter, and began work designing his own residence and studio, the Villa Stuck.

His designs for the villa included everything from layout to interior decorations; for his furniture Stuck received another gold medal🎨 at the 1900 Paris World Exposition.

Having attained a high public profile by this time, Stuck was ennobled on December 9, 1905, and would receive further public honours from around Europe during the remainder of his life.

He continued to be well respected among young artists as professor at the Munich Academy, even after his artistic styles became unfashionable.

His students over the years included Paul Klee🎨, Hans Purrmann, Wassily Kandinsky🎨, Alf Bayrle and Josef Albers.

He was a member of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers.

Franz von Stuck died on August 30, 1928, in Munich; his funeral address memorialized him as "the last prince of art of Munich's great days".

He is buried in the Munich Waldfriedhof next to his wife Mary.

• Style

Stuck's subject matter was primarily from mythology, inspired by the work of Arnold Böcklin🎨.

Large forms dominate most of his paintings and indicate his proclivities for sculpture.

His seductive female figures are a prime example of popular Symbolist content.

Stuck paid much attention to the frames for his paintings and generally designed them himself with such careful use of panels, gilt carving and inscriptions that the frames must be considered as an integral part of the overall piece

Ritter von Stuck's Kämpfende Amazone (fighting Amazon), created in 1897, graced Hermann Göring's Carinhall. | © Wikipedia

Franz Von Stuck [1863-1928], pittore Tedesco e scultore, nasce nel 1863 a Tettenweis, in Baviera. Frequenta la scuola di Arte applicata di Monaco, dove è allievo di Ferdinand Barth. Si iscrive poi all'Accademia di Monaco. Dal 1887-1892 collabora alla rivista “Fliegende Blätter” e dal 1896-1901 alla rivista “Jugend”.

Nel 1892 cofonda, insieme ad altri artisti, il movimento modernista della Secessione di Monaco.

Dal 1895 è professore all'Accademia delle Arti figurative di Monaco. Tra i suoi allievi figurano personaggi di grandissimo spicco come Kandinsky, Paul Klee 1879-1940, Kubin, Purrmann ed Albers. Nel 1906 riceve il titolo nobiliare.

A dare a Stuck gli stimoli più determinanti per il suo sviluppo artistico furono Wilhelm von Diez, Arnold Böcklin e Franz von Lenbach. Le sue opere più note rimangono: Il guardiano del Paradiso 1889, Lucifero 1889-1890, L'assassino o le Erinni 1890, Il Peccato-Die Sünde 1893, Il bacio della Sfinge 1895, L'amazzone ferita 1905, Salomè 1906, Giuditta e Oloferne 1927.

Come Lenbach, anche Stuck si stabilì in una villa fatta costruita su un proprio progetto. Proprio questa villa, oggi sede di un museo, mette in luce le doti dell'artista e la sua capacità di pensare nelle dimensioni dell'opera d'arte totale. La sua universalità artistica gli fruttò un riconoscimento straordinario all'Esposizione Universale del 1900.

Stuck è considerato uno dei fautori più significativi della corrente dello Jugendstil più ispirata al simbolismo, di cui è diventato sicuramente l'esponente più popolare.

Le raffigurazioni di Stuck si avvalgono di figure della mitologia antica, come Pan, Ninfa o Centauro, che per la prima volta vengono staccate completamente dalla loro funzione storica ed utilizzate come mediatori estetici di una concezione più aperta dell'eros.