Adolf Münzerartist • painterPleß (Duitsland, nu Polen) 1870-1953 Landsberg (Duitsland)

Adolf Münzer, born in the former German town of Pless (now Poland), attended the School of Arts and Crafts in Breslau and, from 1890, the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. There he found the artistic freedom he was seeking under Professor Paul Höcker, who painted outdoors with his students during the summer, modeled after the Barbizon School. In 1899, Münzer was one of the founders of Die Scholle, a progressive painting movement in Munich around the turn of the century, which included Max Eichler and Fritz Erler, among others. To earn a living, Münzer worked as an illustrator for the magazine Jugend. From 1900 to 1902, he lived in Paris, where he came into contact with French fin-de-siècle book and poster art. In the years that followed, this had a major influence on his drawings of women from the upper class and the bohemian world, which he created with soft contours, rich details, and vibrant colours. After 1903, his wife Marie-Therese modeled for countless paintings during their stays in Holzhausen on Lake Ammersee, where they would also live later. In 1909, Adolf Münzer was appointed head of the painting class at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, marking the start of a successful period. He receives a large number of commissions for murals for buildings throughout Germany, which he executes with an allegorical character in subtle shades and a balanced color palette.