Frank Duveneck
Encyclopedia
Frank Duveneck was an American figure and portrait painter.
, the son of German immigrant Bernard Decker. Decker died when Frank was only a year old and his widow remarried Joseph Duveneck. By the age of fifteen Frank had begun the study of art under the tutelage of a local painter, Johann Schmitt and had been apprenticed to a German firm of church decorators. While having grown up in Covington, Duveneck was a part of the German community in Cincinnati, Ohio
, just across the Ohio River
. However, due to his Catholic
beliefs and German heritage, he was an outsider as far as the artistic community of Cincinnati was concerned. In 1869 he went abroad to study with Wilhelm von Diez and Wilhelm Leibl
at the Royal Academy of Münich
, where he learned a dark, realistic and direct style of painting. He subsequently became one of the young American painters—others were William Merritt Chase
, John Henry Twachtman
, Willis Seaver Adams
and Walter Shirlaw
—who in the 1870s overturned the traditions of the Hudson River School
and started a new art movement characterized by a greater freedom of paint application.
and elsewhere about 1875, attracted great attention, and many pupils flocked to him in Germany
and Italy
, where he made long visits. Henry James
called him "the unsuspected genius" and at the age of 27 he was a celebrated artist. In 1878 Duveneck opened a school in Munich, and in the village of Polling in Bavaria
. His students, known as the "Duveneck Boys", included Twachtman, Otto Bacher, Julius Rolshoven
, and Herman Wessel.
In 1886 Duveneck married one of his students who was much admired by Henry James
, Boston-born Elizabeth Boott. They lived in Bellosguardo
for two years where she produced a son, Frank Boott Duveneck
. She died later in Paris of pneumonia. Duveneck was devastated. After returning from Italy to America, he gave some attention to sculpture
, and modelled a fine monument to his wife, now in the English cemetery
in Florence
. Despite this activity, Elizabeth's death marked a slowing in his productivity; a wealthy man, he chose to lead a life of relative obscurity. He lived in Covington until his death in 1919 and taught at the Art Academy of Cincinnati
, where some pupils of note were John Christen Johansen
, M. Jean McLane
, Edward Charles Volkert
and Russel Wright
.
In later years, he often spent summers in Gloucester, Massachusetts
.
Among his most famous paintings are Lady with Fan (1873) and The Whistling Boy (1872), both of which reveal Duveneck's debt to the dark palette and slashing brushwork of Frans Hals
. His work can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York City, the National Gallery of Art
in Washington, DC, the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston, the Cincinnati Art Museum
, the Richmond Art Museum
and the Kenton County Library in Covington, Ky. A portrait, Young Man with Tousled Hair (the Street Urchin), now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum
, was previously in the collection of Kurt Vonnegut
.
Duveneck is buried at the Mother of God Cemetery
, in Covington
, Kenton County.
A life-size bronze statue depicting Duveneck stands in a small park at the intersection of Pike and Washington streets in Covington, Kentucky.
Youth
Duveneck was born in Covington, KentuckyCovington, Kentucky
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 43,370 people, 18,257 households, and 10,132 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,301.3 people per square mile . There were 20,448 housing units at an average density of 1,556.5 per square mile...
, the son of German immigrant Bernard Decker. Decker died when Frank was only a year old and his widow remarried Joseph Duveneck. By the age of fifteen Frank had begun the study of art under the tutelage of a local painter, Johann Schmitt and had been apprenticed to a German firm of church decorators. While having grown up in Covington, Duveneck was a part of the German community in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, just across the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. However, due to his Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
beliefs and German heritage, he was an outsider as far as the artistic community of Cincinnati was concerned. In 1869 he went abroad to study with Wilhelm von Diez and Wilhelm Leibl
Wilhelm Leibl
Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl was a German realist painter of portraits and scenes of peasant life.Leibl was born in Cologne and in 1861 began his first training with Hermann Becker, a local painter. He entered the Munich Academy in 1864, subsequently studying with several artists including Carl...
at the Royal Academy of Münich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, where he learned a dark, realistic and direct style of painting. He subsequently became one of the young American painters—others were William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase was an American painter known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons The New School for Design.- Early life and training :He was born in Williamsburg , Indiana, to the family...
, John Henry Twachtman
John Henry Twachtman
John Henry Twachtman was an American painter best known for his impressionist landscapes, though his painting style varied widely through his career. Art historians consider Twachtman's style of American Impressionism to be among the more personal and experimental of his generation...
, Willis Seaver Adams
Willis Seaver Adams
Willis Seaver Adams was a landscape painter who studied under James Abbott McNeill Whistler. He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium and was part of the Tonalism movement, which took place in the late 19th century....
and Walter Shirlaw
Walter Shirlaw
Walter Shirlaw was a Scottish-American artist.-Biography:Shirlaw was born in Paisley, Scotland, and moved to the United States with his parents in 1840. He worked as a bank-note engraver, and his work was first exhibited at the National Academy in 1861.He was elected an academician of the Chicago...
—who in the 1870s overturned the traditions of the Hudson River School
Hudson River school
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism...
and started a new art movement characterized by a greater freedom of paint application.
Success
His work, at first ignored, when shown in BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and elsewhere about 1875, attracted great attention, and many pupils flocked to him in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where he made long visits. Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
called him "the unsuspected genius" and at the age of 27 he was a celebrated artist. In 1878 Duveneck opened a school in Munich, and in the village of Polling in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. His students, known as the "Duveneck Boys", included Twachtman, Otto Bacher, Julius Rolshoven
Julius Rolshoven
Julius Rolshoven was a well-traveled American painter, with work firmly in the academic tradition.Rolshoven was born and raised in Detroit...
, and Herman Wessel.
In 1886 Duveneck married one of his students who was much admired by Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
, Boston-born Elizabeth Boott. They lived in Bellosguardo
Bellosguardo
Bellosguardo is a town and comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy.- The meaning of the name :The word "Bellosguardo" is made up of 2 parts: the first is "Bello" that means "beautiful, pretty"; the second "Sguardo" whose meaning is "view, landscape". In the...
for two years where she produced a son, Frank Boott Duveneck
Hidden Villa
Hidden Villa is a United States nonprofit educational organization teaching programs on environmental and multicultural awareness. In 1924, Frank and Josephine Duveneck founded this working organic farm and wilderness area on land comprising the upper Adobe Creek watershed on the foothills of Black...
. She died later in Paris of pneumonia. Duveneck was devastated. After returning from Italy to America, he gave some attention to sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
, and modelled a fine monument to his wife, now in the English cemetery
English Cemetery, Florence
The English Cemetery is in Piazzale Donatello, Florence, Italy.-History:In 1827 the Swiss Evangelical Reformed Church purchased land outside the medieval wall and gate of Porta a' Pinti from Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany for an international and ecumenical cemetery, Russian and Greek Orthodox...
in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. Despite this activity, Elizabeth's death marked a slowing in his productivity; a wealthy man, he chose to lead a life of relative obscurity. He lived in Covington until his death in 1919 and taught at the Art Academy of Cincinnati
Art Academy of Cincinnati
The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, in Cincinnati, Ohio...
, where some pupils of note were John Christen Johansen
John Christen Johansen
John Christen Johansen was a Danish-American portraitist, born in Copenhagen and died in New Canaan, Connecticut.-Background:...
, M. Jean McLane
M. Jean McLane
Myrtle Jean McLane sometimes styled Jean MacLane was an American portraitist, born in Chicago, Illinois and died in New Canaan, Connecticut....
, Edward Charles Volkert
Edward Charles Volkert
Edward Charles Volkert , was an American Impressionist artist best known for his colorful and richly painted impressionist landscapes. His trademark subject was that of cattle and plowmen. He has been referred to as America's cattle painter extraordinaire".The son of a hat merchant from Alsace,...
and Russel Wright
Russel Wright
Russel Wright was an American Industrial designer during the 20th century. Beginning in the late 1920s through the 1960s, Russel Wright created a succession of artistically distinctive and commercially successful items that helped bring modern design to the general public.-Designer:Russel...
.
In later years, he often spent summers in Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census...
.
Among his most famous paintings are Lady with Fan (1873) and The Whistling Boy (1872), both of which reveal Duveneck's debt to the dark palette and slashing brushwork of Frans Hals
Frans Hals
Frans Hals was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He is notable for his loose painterly brushwork, and helped introduce this lively style of painting into Dutch art. Hals was also instrumental in the evolution of 17th century group portraiture.-Biography:Hals was born in 1580 or 1581, in Antwerp...
. His work can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
in New York City, the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
in Washington, DC, the Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
in Boston, the Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum
The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of the oldest art museums in the United States. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies. Its collection of over 60,000 works make it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Midwest.Museum founders debated locating...
, the Richmond Art Museum
Richmond Art Museum
The Richmond Art Museum was founded in 1898 as the Art Association of Richmond, Indiana. Artist John Elwood Bundy was instrumental in the founding.- Permanent Collection :...
and the Kenton County Library in Covington, Ky. A portrait, Young Man with Tousled Hair (the Street Urchin), now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...
, was previously in the collection of Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
.
Duveneck is buried at the Mother of God Cemetery
Mother of God Cemetery, Covington, Kentucky
Mother of God Cemetery, Covington, Kentucky was first located at 26th Street & Madison Avenue in 1849 and was moved to its current location at 2701 Latonia Avenue in 1887. The old cemetery was also known as the Buena Vista Cemetery or St Joseph Cemetery...
, in Covington
Covington, Kentucky
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 43,370 people, 18,257 households, and 10,132 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,301.3 people per square mile . There were 20,448 housing units at an average density of 1,556.5 per square mile...
, Kenton County.
A life-size bronze statue depicting Duveneck stands in a small park at the intersection of Pike and Washington streets in Covington, Kentucky.
External links
- http://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org Works by Duveneck at the Cincinnati Art Museum.
- www.artistarchive.com Poole catalogue of 30 prints with a description of each and some images.