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Gustav Koken

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Heathland with Shepherd

Gustav Heinrich Julius Koken (8 August 1850, Hanover - 6 July 1910, Hanover) was a German painter and etcher. He was the nephew of Edmund Koken, a landscape painter, and the father of Änne Koken, a graphic designer.[1]

Biography

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A Shady Spot

He was initially given art lessons by his uncle Edmund. After leaving Hanover for a time, to tour Germany, he enrolled at the Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School, Weimar in 1872. His primary instructor there was Theodor Hagen.[1] In addition to painting, he studied etching and had his own studio in Weimar until 1878.

That year, he returned to Hanover, where he became a member of the Hannoverscher Künstlerverein [de]. Immediately after, he began a campaign for the creation of new galleries and a reorganization of the exhibition system. He was also involved in establishing and art museum at the Leibniz House [de].[1]

In order to gain further inspiration, he travelled frequently; visiting Emsland, the Teutoburg Forest, the Lüneburg Heath and the Südheide (now a nature park). During this time, he was offered a professorship at the Kunstakademie Königsberg, but he declined because he wanted to remain in his homeland. Instead, he founded a private painting school in Hanover.

He was a good friend of the opera singer, Georg Nollet [de], who would often perform in his home. Together with the painters Hermann Schaper, Oscar Wichtendahl [de] and Ernst Pasqual Jordan, he decorated the singer's home, known as the "Salle Nollet".[2]

One month before his sixtieth birthday, he died suddenly from a heart attack. Following his death, a special exhibition was held.[3] In 2004, the Historisches Museum Hannover presented a retrospective of works by every member of the Koken family.[4]

References

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At the Alpsee
  1. ^ a b c Hugo Thielen: Koken, (4) Gustav. In: Dirk Böttcher, Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein, Hugo Thielen: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon [de], Schlütersche, Hannover 2002, ISBN 3-87706-706-9, ([1], p. 207, at Google Books).
  2. ^ Alheidis von Rohr: "Das königliche Zimmer des Georg Nollet in Hannover – ein Geburtstagsgeschenk." In: Andreas Urban: Deutungen, Bedeutungen. Beiträge zu Hannovers Stadt- und Landesgeschichte. Festschrift für Waldemar R. Röhrbein zum 75. Geburtstag, Historisches Museum am Hohen Ufer, 2010, ISBN 978-3-910073-39-5, pgs.201–217.
  3. ^ Waldemar R. Röhrbein: "Kunstgewerbemuseum im Leibnizhaus." In: Stadtlexikon Hannover. pg.377.
  4. ^ Helmut Knocke, Hugo Thielen: "2004." In: Hannover Kunst- und Kultur-Lexikon. pg.45.

Further reading

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  • Koken, Gustav. In: Hans Vollmer (Ed.): Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart (Thieme-Becker). Vol.21: Knip–Krüger. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1927, pg.214 (Online)
  • Kathrin Umbach, Ulrike Weiß (Eds.): "Gustav Koken (1850 -1910)", In: Edmund, Gustav & Paul Koken. Von Sehnsucht und Erfolg einer Malerfamilie ( Schriften des Historischen Museums Hannover, Vol.23), Hannover Historisches Museum, 2004, ISBN 978-3-910073-25-8
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