Franz von Stuck

1863 – 1928

German draughtsman, illustrator, printmaker, decorative artist, painter, sculptor and architect. He was noted for his treatment of erotic and comic aspects of mythological themes. He drew eagerly as a child, soon becoming a gifted caricaturist. From 1878 to 1881 he attended the Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich, where he received particular encouragement from Ferdinand Barth (1842-1892). From 1881 to 1885 he studied at the Munich Akademie, where he was taught by Wilhelm Lindenschmit (1829-1895) and Ferdinand Löfftz (1845-1910). During his student years Stuck earned a living from designs for decorative painting, and he made notable contributions (1880-84) to the humorous Munich periodical Fliegende Blätter and to the Viennese serial publications Allegorien und Embleme and Karten und Vignetten. These did much to establish his reputation as both a skilled and a witty draughtsman. Around 1892 he became one of the founders of the Munich Sezession and his Symbolist period is also of this decade. Around 1895 he began teaching at the Munich academy that he once attended. Some of his pupils at the academy included Klee, Albers, and Kandinsky. Among Von Stuck's architectural creations is the Villa Stuck Prinzregentenstrasse, Munich, which is now a museum. Stuck's subject matter was primarily drawn from mythology, inspired by the work of Arnold Böcklin. Large, heavy forms dominate most of his paintings and point toward his proclivities for sculpture. His seductive female nudes, in the role of the femme fatale, are a prime example of popular Symbolist content. Stuck paid close 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 taken as an integral part of the overall piece.

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