Christian Wilhelm Allers (August 6 1857 – October 19 1915) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
and printmaker.
Allers, the son of a merchant, was born in
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
. He first worked as a lithographer, and in 1877 he moved to Karlsruhe where he continued to work as a lithographer. In the Kunstakademie (state academy of fine arts) he was a scholar of Prof. Ferdinand Keller.
From 1880-81 he served in the
German navyThe Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial Navy was the German Navy created by the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded the Navy, causing a naval arms race between the German...
in
KielKiel is the capital and most populous city of the northern German state Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of over 236,000 .Kiel is approximately to the north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore...
where
Anton Alexander von WernerAnton Alexander von Werner was a German painter in the Kingdom of Prussia.Werner was born in Frankfurt in the Province of Brandenburg. He began painting in 1857 as a student painter, then studied painting at the Academy of the Arts in Berlin...
supported him.
Christian Wilhelm Allers (August 6 1857 – October 19 1915) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
and printmaker.
Biography
Allers, the son of a merchant, was born in
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
. He first worked as a lithographer, and in 1877 he moved to Karlsruhe where he continued to work as a lithographer. In the Kunstakademie (state academy of fine arts) he was a scholar of Prof. Ferdinand Keller.
From 1880-81 he served in the
German navyThe Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial Navy was the German Navy created by the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded the Navy, causing a naval arms race between the German...
in
KielKiel is the capital and most populous city of the northern German state Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of over 236,000 .Kiel is approximately to the north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore...
where
Anton Alexander von WernerAnton Alexander von Werner was a German painter in the Kingdom of Prussia.Werner was born in Frankfurt in the Province of Brandenburg. He began painting in 1857 as a student painter, then studied painting at the Academy of the Arts in Berlin...
supported him. In Kiel he got to know
Klaus GrothKlaus Groth , Low German poet, was born at Heide in Schleswig-Holstein.After studying at the seminary in Tondern , he became a teacher at the girls school in his native village, but in 1847 went to Kiel to qualify for a higher educational post. Ill health interrupted his studies and it was not...
, who became a friend of his.
Allers became well-known when he published his collection of prints "Club Eintracht" in 1888. Several other books and maps (collections of prints) followed, for the sake of example about
BismarckOtto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck was a Prussian German statesman and aristocrat of the 19th century. As Ministerpräsident of Prussia from 1862–1890, he oversaw the unification of Germany. In 1867 he became Chancellor of the North German Confederation...
, so at the beginning of the 1890s he was able to build a villa on
CapriCapri is an Italian island off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of southern Italy...
. He lived there for many years, also spending some time in Hamburg,
KarlsruheKarlsruhe is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border....
, and travelling around the world.
In autumn 1902, there was a scandal.
Friedrich Alfred KruppFriedrich Alfred Krupp was a German steel manufacturer of the company Krupp.- Biography :Krupp was born in Essen, Germany. His father was Alfred Krupp. In 1887, Friedrich took over the leadership of his father's company. He married Margarethe Krupp...
, another famous person living in Capri, was accused by some Italian newspapers of
homosexualityHomosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
and
pederastyPederasty or paederasty is a relationship between an older man and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family...
. Some weeks later, Allers was accused, by court. Krupp died some weeks later, presumably a suicide. Allers managed to escape before the lawsuit began, which led to a sentence of 4½ years imprisonment, pronounced
in absentiaIn absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use it usually pertains to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.-In absentia in common law legal systems:...
. According to Tito Fiorani
(Le dimore del mito, La Conchiglia, Capri 1996, pp. 23 e 24), "Allers had distinctly homosexual tendencies, and liked to surround himself with boys, whom he often used as models".
Allers left Capri and began travelling around the world for more than 10 years, staying some time in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
,
SamoaSamoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa , is a country governing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and Savai'i...
, and
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
. During this time, he often used the pseudonym "W. Andresen", and earned money by making portraits of wealthy people. He died in 1915 in Karlsruhe some months after returning to Germany.
Arts
Allers was a
naturalistNaturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting. The Realism movement of the 19th century advocated naturalism in reaction to the stylized and idealized depictions of subjects in Romanticism, but many painters have adopted a similar approach over the centuries...
. His drawings are rich in detail and are of realistic style, so they often lack emotions.
Although the drawings look realistic, Allers sometimes added persons to scenes who were never at that location.
In this respect, he was not a realist.
Technically, Allers often used pencil.
To start with, his colored drawings were usually in pencil and were colored later (pastel, oil, ...).
His subjects were:
- Everyday life scenes (e.g. Club Eintracht, Spreeathener, Hochzeitsreise)
- Travel reports (e.g. La Bella Napoli, Rund um die Welt, Unter deutscher Flagge)
- Portraits
Books and Collections of prints
- 1887 Hinter den Coulissen
- 1888 Club Eintracht - Eine Sommerfahrt
- 1889 Eine Hochzeitsreise durch die Schweiz
- 1889 Spreeathener. Berliner Bilder
- 1890 Die Meininger
- 1890 Die silberne Hochzeit
- 1891 Unsere Marine
- 1891 Backschisch
- 1892 Capri
- 1892 Fürst Bismarck in Friedrichsruh
- 1893 La bella Napoli
- 1896 Hochzeitsreise nach Italien
- 1898 Das deutsche Jägerbuch
- 1898 Rund um die Erde
- 1898 Unser Bismarck. Gedächtnis-Ausgabe
- 1900 Unter deutscher Flagge
- 1902 Das deutsche Corpsleben
External links