Fritz Klimsch

pseudonym: -

birth data

date of birth: 1870

place of birth: Frankfurt a. M.

death data

date of death: 1960

death: Freiburg

biography

Fritz Klimsch was born in 1870, in Frankfurt am Main. He received his artistic training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, both in the drawing class of Ernst Hancke and in the modeling class of Albert Wolff. In the years between 1887 and 1890 Klimsch was a student of the sculptor Fritz Schaper, and his first works were already awarded prizes, therefore, he reached great prestige very quickly. In Paris, Fritz Klimsch studied the works of Rodin, whose vitality had a long lasting influence on his work. The high precision and classical form of the sculptures of Adolf von Hildebrand also influenced his work substantially. Fritz Klimsch was stylistically close to art nouveau, but later he created works in the neoclassical style that were marked by his travels in Italy and Greece. Together with Max Liebermann and Walter Leistikow, Klimsch founded the Berlin Secession in 1898, and regularly showed his works in their exhibitions. Fritz Klimsch was commissioned with numerous portraits, monuments and tombstones, which can now be seen in Berlin, Frankfurt and Leipzig. In addition, he created a large number of portraits of famous personalities of political and cultural life, such as Lovis Corinth, Max Slevogt and Ludwig Thoma, but also Adolph Hitler and Paul von Hindenburg. In 1907, at the Grand Exhibition in Berlin, Fritz Klimsch was awarded a gold medal. From 1912 onwards, Klimsch was a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts, where he later worked as a senator. From 1921 to 1935, Fritz Klimsch taught at the Berlin United State Schools for Fine and Applied Arts as head of the masters program. Since 1935 Klimsch worked for the porcelain manufactory of Rosenthal, and he created among others the nude sculptures "The Crouching Woman", "The Lying Women" and "The Cowering Woman ". During the time of National Socialism, the sculptures of Fritz Klimsch enjoyed great popularity due to their classical style, and Klimsch was represented with his works at the Great German Art Exhibition. After the end of the Second World War the artist settled down in Black Forest. Fritz Klimsch was awarded the Grand Federal Service Cross in 1960, and died in the the same year.