CORINTH, Lovis
German painter and writer. He grew up on his family’s farm and tannery. As a child he showed interest in art, taking informal lessons in drawing from a local carpenter and caricaturing his primary school teachers. Corinth’s father sent him to secondary school in the nearby city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), where he lived with his widowed aunt. A superstitious woman fond of story-telling, she possessed what Corinth later described as a coarse temperament and an unrestrained, ‘demonic’ humour. These qualities and his aunt’s bohemian acquaintances, including fortune-tellers and soothsayers, fascinated the young Corinth, accustomed to his more reserved parents. In this environment Corinth began to develop the rich imagination and love of anecdote that came to play such an important role in the evolution of his art.
His artistic education began at the Königsberg art academy under Professor Otto Günther (1838-1884). Corinth accompanied Otto Günther on several journeys. In 1880 he went to Munich, where he continued his studies under Franz von Defregger (1835-1921) and later under Ludwig von Löfftz (1845-1910). His works of that period were influenced by the naturalist paintings of the Munich “Leibl-Kreis”. After a short stay in Antwerp, Corinth moved to Paris.
In Paris Corinth attended the well-known Académie Julian, where he was taught by Bouguereau and Robert-Fleury. In 1891 Corinth returned to Munich, where he became a founding member of the Munich “Sezession”. Soon, however, the group started to crumble. Some artists split with the main group to form the “Freie Vereinigung”. Due to a lack of work the artist went to Berlin in 1901, where he opened a painting school for women. One of his first female students was his future wife Charlotte Berend (1880-1967). Lovis Corinth became an official member of the Berlin Secession. When Liebermann was forced to step down as president, Corinth took over his position.
In 1911 Corinth suffered a stroke and was temporarily paralysed on his left side. During Corinth’s illness, Paul Cassirer became chairman of the Berlin Secession and in 1913 organized a retrospective, exhibiting 228 oil paintings. In 1917 the Akademie der Künste in Berlin awarded him the title of Professor.
After a summer holiday at Urfeld on Lake Walchensee, Corinth acquired a property there in 1918 and began to build his own house in 1919. Until 1924 the artist repeatedly spent several months at “Haus Petermann” in Urfeld. In his art this is reflected by a series of Walchensee landscapes. Accompanied by a former student, Lovis Corinth travelled to Amsterdam in 1925 to see works by Rembrandt and Frans Hals.
During this trip to Holland Corinth died of pneumonia. Corinth’s oeuvre includes more than 100 paintings and several books and essays on painting. Today Corinth is regarded as one of the “Classics of Modern Art” and his works are exhibited in the most important museums and galleries of the German-speaking world.
