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Arthur Kampf
Study for an allegory of victory / - A virtuoso victory -

c. 1900

About the Item

Arthur Kampf (1864 Aachen - 1950 Castorp-Rauxel), Study to an allegory of victory, around 1900. Pencil on paper, 21 cm x 18 cm, signed lower left "A. Kampf". - slightly darkened, otherwise in good condition - A virtuoso victory - About the artwork The vertical-format sketch illustrates a plateau to which a staircase leads up from the right. Arthur Kampf thus takes up a typical baroque disposition for the depiction of allegories. And indeed, a female figure climbs the steps to hand the palm of victory to a figure that is probably also female. Other persons standing on the plateau pay homage to her, whereby the figure on the left edge of the picture may represent a warrior. The scene is framed by an ornamentally decorated arch field, which additionally emphasizes the allegorical-historical content of the depiction. An arch can also be seen under the staircase, suggesting that this may be a design for a supraport. The sheet could have been created in the wake of Arthur Kampf's appointment in 1899 as head of the studio for history painting at the Berlin Art Academy. The drawing style, which only outlines the idea of the picture and yet is determined by concise lines, corresponds to the sketchiness of the Baroque and testifies to Arthur Kampfs intensive study of this heyday of history painting. About the artist Arthur Kampf was the son of the Aachen painter and imperial court photographer August Kampf. His older brother Eugen and his son Herbert were also painters. Arthur Kampf studied at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art from 1879 under Eduard von Gebhardt and Peter Janssen the Elder, whose master pupil he was from 1883 to 1891. Influenced by the naturalistic paintings of Jules Bastien-Lepage, which Kampf saw on a trip to Paris in 1885, he created the painting "The Last Statement" in 1886, which was based on a personal experience. It shows a man mortally wounded by knife wounds. The oppressive drasticness of the almost life-size depiction caused a sensation and controversial criticism. The first successes were achieved: At the Berlin Jubilee Exhibition of 1886, Kampf received an honorable mention, and at the Munich Annual Exhibition of 1890, he was awarded a gold medal. Between 1886 and 1936, Kampf participated in all the major German exhibitions. In 1887 the artist painted his first fresco, which was the beginning of a series of monumental compositions. With the highly successful painting "The Burial of the Corpse of Kaiser Wilhelm I in the Berlin Cathedral" (1888), Kampf established himself as a painter of contemporary history, following in the footsteps of Adolph von Menzel, whose oeuvre he immediately took up with the painting "Speech by Frederick the Great to His Generals in Koeben" (1893). The pictures of his Liberation War cycle were included in school textbooks and distributed in large editions as postcards. As for his academic career, Kampf became an assistant professor at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art in 1887, and in 1894 he was appointed professor of the class for antiquities and nature, and in 1897 he became head of the painting class. In 1899 Kampf was appointed director of the history painting studio at the Berlin Academy of Art. In 1901 he became a full member of the academy and was its president from 1907 to 1912. As Anton von Werner's successor, Kampf directed the Academy of Fine Arts in Charlottenburg from 1915 to 1925. Among his monumental works is the painting of the assembly hall of the Aachen town hall, done between 1898 and 1902. It focuses on the social welfare of the state and the work of the people. Important subsequent commissions include the painting of the reading room of the new Royal Library in Berlin and the new auditorium of the University of Berlin with "Fichte's Speech to the German Nation". During World War I, at the request of General Ewald von Lochow, Kampf traveled to the Western theaters of war, including Warsaw in 1916. In addition to painting, Kampf was also intensively involved in printmaking and, together with his brother Eugen and artist friends such as Alexander Frenz and Olof Jernberg, was considered an innovator of lithography in Düsseldorf. From 1913 on, he worked continuously as an illustrator of historical works and literary classics such as Shakespeare and Goethe. Kampf remained a recognized artist after 1933. On the occasion of the retrospective of his complete works at the "Great German Art Exhibition", he was awarded the "Eagle Shield of the German Reich". During the final phase of World War II, Kampf was placed on Hitler's "Gottbegnadetenliste," which protected him from military service. After World War II, Kampf, whose work was largely destroyed, fell into obscurity. Arthur Kampf belonged to numerous artists' associations. He was a member of the "Rheinisch-Westfälischer Künstlerbund", the "Society of German Watercolorists", the "Association of German Illustrators", the "Malkasten", the "Künstlerclub St. Lucas", the "Düsseldorfer Künstlerbund", the "Freie Vereinigung Düsseldorfer Künstler" and the "Berliner Künstlerbund". Arthur Kampf's sister was married to the painter Alexander Frenz. "Kampf's public recognition in the German Empire later led to his being one-sidedly labeled as a history painter and representative of the Wilhelmine era. This classification does not do justice to the artist's oeuvre as a whole. His early talent did not experience a rapid development later on, but it reached an ever greater mastery in the sense of an impressively relaxed realism and extended thematically beyond history. Kampf was also an excellent draughtsman, etcher and lithographer. Many of his works have been destroyed or lost, and some lead a shadowy existence in museum storerooms." - Otto Zirk "His importance as a Wilhelminian painter and cultural politician has been forgotten in favor of an exaggerated reception of his work during the Third Reich. - Andreas Schroyen Selection of public collections that own works by Arthur Kampf: Altonaer Museum Hamburg, Berlinische Galerie, Burg Frankenberg Aachen, Busch-Reisinger Museum Cambridge/Mass., Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin, Government Art Collection London, Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg, Kunsthalle Hamburg, Museum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte Dortmund, Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen, Van der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal. Selected Bibliography Hans W. Singer (Hg.): Zeichnungen von Arthur Kampf (= Meister der Zeichnung 10), 2 Bd., Leipzig 1921. Hans Rosenhagen: Arthur Kampf (= Knackfuß`Künstlermonographien 112), Bielefeld - Leipzig, 1922. Irmgard Wirth: Berliner Malerei im 19. Jahrhundert, Berlin 1990. Hans Pfaffrath: Lexikon der Düsseldorfer Malerschule. 1819 - 1918. 2. Bd.: Haach - Murtfeldt, München 1998. Julia Lohmann (Hg.): Hundertfünfzig Jahre Künstlerverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf 1998. Klaus Türk: Bilder der Arbeit. Eine ikonografische Anthologie, Wiesbaden 2000. Matthias Puhle (Hg.): Der Kaiser-Otto-Saal. "... ein Raum zur Hebung des stadtgeschichtlichen Interesses" im Kulturhistorischen Museum, Magdeburg 2001. GERMAN VERSION Arthur Kampf (1864 Aachen - 1950 Castorp-Rauxel), Studie zu einer Allegorie des Sieges, um 1900. Bleistift auf Papier, 21 cm x 18 cm, unten links signiert „A. Kampf“. - leicht nachgedunkelt, sonst in gutem Zustand - Ein virtuoser Sieg - zum Kunstwerk Die hochformatige Skizze veranschaulicht ein Plateau, zu dem von rechts eine Treppe hochführt. Damit greift Arthur Kampf eine typische barocke Disposition zur Darstellung von Allegorien auf. Und tatsächlich steigt eine weibliche Figur die Stufen hinauf, um einer wohl ebenfalls weiblichen Gestalt die Siegespalme zu reichen. Ihr wird von weiteren auf dem Plateau stehenden Personen gehuldigt, wobei die Figur am linken Bildrand einen Krieger darstellen mag. Eingefasst wird die Szenerie von einem ornamental ausgeschmückten Bogenfeld, wodurch der allegorisch-historische Gehalt der Darstellung zusätzlich hervorgehoben wird. Unter der Treppe ist ebenfalls ein Bogen zu sehen, was darauf hindeutet, dass es sich um einen Entwurf für eine Supraporte handeln mag. Das Blatt könnte in der Nachfolge von Arthur Kampfs im Jahre 1899 erfolgten Berufung zum Leiter des Ateliers für Historienmalerei an der Berliner Kunstakademie entstanden sein. Der die Bildidee einzig umreißende und doch von präganten Lineaturen bestimmte Zeichenduktus entspricht der Skizzenhaftigkeit des Barock und zeugt von Arthur Kampfs intensivem Studium dieser Hochzeit der Historienmalerei. zum Künstler Arthur Kampf war der Sohn des Aachener Malers und kaiserlichen Hof-Photographen August Kampf. Sein älterer Bruder Eugen und sein Sohn Herbert waren ebenfalls als Maler tätig. Arthur Kampf studierte ab 1879 an der Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie bei Eduard von Gebhardt und Peter Janssen d. Ä., dessen Meisterschüler er von 1883 bis 1891 war. Unter dem Eindruck der naturalistischen Bilder von Jules Bastien-Lepage, die Kampf 1885 auf einer Parisreise gesehen hatte, entstand 1886 das auf ein persönliches Erlebnis zurückgehende Gemälde „Die letzte Aussage“. Es zeigt einen durch Messerstiche tödlich Verwundeten. Die beklemmende Drastik der nahezu lebensgroßen Darstellung sorgte für Aufsehen und eine kontroverse Kritik. Erste Erfolge stellten sich ein: Auf der Berliner Jubiläums-Ausstellung von 1886 wird Kampf eine Ehrenvolle Erwähnung zuteil und auf der Münchener Jahres-Ausstellung von 1890 erhält er die Goldene Medaille. Zwischen 1886 und 1936 beschickt Kampf alle großen deutschen Ausstellungen. 1887 fertigt der Künstler sein erstes Fresko an, das den Auftakt zu einer ganzen Reihe an Monumentalkompositionen darstellt. Mit dem überaus erfolgreichen Gemälde „Aufbahrung der Leiche Kaiser Wilhelm I. im Berliner Dom“ (1888) etablierte sich Kampf als Maler der gegenwärtigen Historie, womit er in die Fußstapfen Adolph von Menzels trat, an dessen Oeuvre er mit dem Bild „Ansprache Friedrichs des Großen an seine Generäle in Koeben“ (1893) unmittelbar anknüpfte. Die Bilder seines Befreiungskriegs-Zyklus wurden in Schulbüchern gezeigt und in großen Auflagen als Postkarten vertrieben. Was seinen akademischen Werdegang betrifft, wurde Kampf 1887 Hilfslehrer an der Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie und übernahm ab 1894 als Professor zunächst die Antiken- und Naturklasse und dann, ab 1897, die Leitung der Malklasse. 1899 erfolgte Kampfs Berufung an die Berliner Kunstakademie als Leiter des Ateliers für Geschichtsmalerei. 1901 wurde er ordentliches Akademiemitglied und von 1907 bis 1912 Akademiepräsident. Als Nachfolger Anton von Werners leitete Kampf von 1915 bis 1925 die Hochschule für die bildenden Künste in Charlottenburg. Von seinen Monumentalwerken sind hervorzuheben die zwischen 1898 und 1902 erfolgte Ausmalung des Sitzungssaals des Aachener Kreishauses, welche die soziale Fürsorge des Staates wie die Arbeit des Volkes thematisiert. Prestigeträchtige Folgeaufträge sind die Ausmalung des Lesesaals der neuen königlichen Bibliothek in Berlin und der neuen Aula der der Berliner Universität mit „Fichtes Rede an die deutsche Nation“. Während des ersten Weltkriegs bereiste Kampf auf Wunsch des Generals Ewald von Lochow die westlichen Kriegsschauplätze und 1916 Warschau. Neben der Malerei beschäftigte sich Kampf auch intensiv mit der Druckgraphik und galt zusammen mit seinem Bruder Eugen und befreundeten Künstlern, wie Alexander Frenz und Olof Jernberg, als Erneuerer der Lithographie in Düsseldorf. Ab 1913 war er dann kontinuierlich als Illustrator von Geschichtswerken und literarischen Klassikern wie Shakespeare und Goethe tätig. Kampf blieb auch nach 1933 ein anerkannter Künstler. Anlässlich der Retrospektive seines Gesamtwerks auf der „Großen Deutsche Kunstausstellung“ wurde ihm das „Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches“ verliehen. In der Endphase des Zweiten Weltkriegs erfolgte Kampfs Aufnahme auf Hitlers „Gottbegnadetenliste“, wodurch Kampf vor einem Kriegseinsatz geschützt war. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg geriet Kampf, dessen Oeuvre zu großen Teilen vernichtet worden war, in Vergessenheit. Arthur Kampf gehörte zahlreichen Künstlervereinigungen an. Er war Mitglied im „Verband der rheinisch-westfälischen Künstler“, in der „Gesellschaft deutscher Aquarellisten“, im „Verband deutscher Illustratoren“, im „Malkasten“, im „Künstlerklub St. Lucas“, im „Verein Düsseldorfer Künstler“, in der „Freien Vereinigung Düsseldorfer Künstler“ und im „Verein Berliner Künstler“. Arthus Kampfs Schwester war mit dem Maler Alexander Frenz verheiratet. „Kampfs öffentliche Anerkennung im Kaiserreich bewirkte später, daß er einseitig als Historienmaler und Repräsentant der Wilhelminischen Epoche abgestempelt wurde. Diese Einstufung wird dem Gesamtwerk des Künstlers nicht gerecht. Sein früh ausgeprägtes Talent erfuhr zwar späterhin keine stürmische Entwicklung mehr, gelangte aber zu immer größerer Meisterschaft im Sinne eines impressiv aufgelockerten Realismus und griff thematisch über die Historienmalerei weit hinaus. Kampf war auch ein hervorragender Zeichner, Radierer und Lithograph. Viele seiner Werke sind zerstört oder verschollen, manche führen ein Schattendasein in den Museumsmagazinen.“ - Otto Zirk „Seine Bedeutung als wilhelminischer Maler und Kulturpolitiker gerät zu Gunsten einer übermäßigen Rezeption seines Wirkens während des 3. Reiches in Vergessenheit.“ - Andreas Schroyen Auswahl an öffentlichen Sammlungen, die Werke von Arthur Kampf besitzen: Altonaer Museum Hamburg, Berlinische Galerie, Burg Frankenberg Aachen, Busch-Reisinger Museum Cambridge/Mass., Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin, Government Art Collection London, Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg, Kunsthalle Hamburg, Museum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte Dortmund, Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen, Van der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal. Auswahlbibliographie Hans W. Singer (Hg.): Zeichnungen von Arthur Kampf (= Meister der Zeichnung 10), 2 Bd., Leipzig 1921. Hans Rosenhagen: Arthur Kampf (= Knackfuß`Künstlermonographien 112), Bielefeld - Leipzig, 1922. Irmgard Wirth: Berliner Malerei im 19. Jahrhundert, Berlin 1990. Hans Pfaffrath: Lexikon der Düsseldorfer Malerschule. 1819 - 1918. 2. Bd.: Haach - Murtfeldt, München 1998. Julia Lohmann (Hg.): Hundertfünfzig Jahre Künstlerverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf 1998. Klaus Türk: Bilder der Arbeit. Eine ikonografische Anthologie, Wiesbaden 2000. Matthias Puhle (Hg.): Der Kaiser-Otto-Saal. "... ein Raum zur Hebung des stadtgeschichtlichen Interesses" im Kulturhistorischen Museum, Magdeburg 2001.
  • Creator:
    Arthur Kampf (1864 - 1950, German)
  • Creation Year:
    c. 1900
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 8.27 in (21 cm)Width: 7.09 in (18 cm)Depth: 0.4 in (1 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Berlin, DE
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2438212631752
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