Franz von Stuck: Building his Myth

Franz von Stuck was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, and architect.

Stuck was best known for his paintings of ancient egyptian mythology receiving substantial critical acclaim with The Sin in 1892.

In 1906, Stuck was awarded the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown and was henceforth known as Franz Ritter von Stuck.

A lot of known artists usually have some sort of mentor but Stuck did not.

Franz Stuck came from a peasant stock, and his talent as an artist was evident from an early age. His father was a miller and as soon as Stuck was able to he supported himself. After his talents in drawing were noticed he went to live in Munich, where he lived the rest of his life, and where he received his artistic training at the Academy of Applied Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts. His first jobs that he started to earn income from weren't all that fancy, but they were still jobs in the art world. These jobs included such things as being an illustrator, making drawings or caricatures for magazines, making bookplates, menus, posters etc.

Franz practiced what he called "gesamtkunstwerk" or "total work of art" and that is exactly the phrase that best describes him. He embodied art in every way he could, it wasn't simply just his painting skills that made him such an icon, his wholistic devotion and success in multiple areas of art is truly what made him "the last prince of art of Munich's great days".

Franz von Stuck was indeed an icon and had influenced people both inside and outside the world of art.

In 1897 Stuck married an American widow, Mary Lindpainter, and began work designing his own residence and studio, the Villa Stuck. His designs for the villa included everything from layout to interior decorations; for his furniture Stuck received another gold medal at the 1900 Paris World Exposition.

Having attained a high public profile by this time, Stuck was ennobled on December 9, 1905, and would receive further public honours from around Europe during the remainder of his life. He continued to be well respected among young artists as professor at the Munich Academy, even after his artistic styles became unfashionable. His students over the years included Paul Klee, Hans Purrmann, Wassily Kandinsky, Alf Bayrle and Josef Albers.

He was a member of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers. His work was also part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

Large, heavy forms dominate most of Stuck's 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.

It can be stated without doubt that he ascended past just an artist and became an example of what a proud German should be. Indeed, Franz von Stuck pushed the limits and set the bar higher for what it means to be a true artist.

Franz von Stuck died on August 30, 1928, in Munich; and it was his his funeral address to memorialise him as "the last prince of art of Munich's great days".
He is buried in the Munich Waldfriedhof next to his wife Mary.

Source: Web Gallery of Art, artvee.com, openeducationalberta.ca

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