She turns her head and returns our gaze. Her candid expression might be an invitation, a challenge, or a dismissal. But perhaps that question is her intent. Nonetheless she wishes us well.
Glück und Gruss! ~ Good luck and Greetings!
The young lady in the big hat has no name as she is not a real person. She is a product of the imagination of one of my favorite Austrian artists, Hermann Torggler (1878—1939). Her simple pencil portrait is on a postcard that was sent to Fräulein Emmy Trutschel(?) on 6 January 1899.
In January of this year I featured a medley of Torggler's artwork in Portraits by Hermann Torggler. Today I expand on that theme by presenting more of his portrait drawings of young women and contrasting them with works by three artists who influenced him.
Hermann Torggler was born on 27 February 1878 in Graz, Austria, the capital city of the southern Austrian province of Styria. His Wikipedia page is in German and is short on biographical details, but it seems that at a young age Hermann demonstrated an artistic talent worthy of study at the Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der bildenden Künste in Munich. It was founded in 1808 by King Maximilian I of Bavaria, but is now known without the "Royal Bavarian" as just the Academy of Fine Arts.
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| Akademie der Bildenden Künste, München, Bavaria, 1900 Source: Wikipedia |
In the 19th century it became a prestigious center for training artists from all over the German and Austrian Empires as well art students from other European nations. From 1813 it had admitted women, but in 1852 it reverted to accepting only male students. The Academy's grand main building was designed by Gottfried von Neureuther in a Neo-Renaissance style and finished construction in 1885. It was destroyed in WW2 but slowly restored between 1947 and 1959.
According to Hermann Torrgler's Wikipedia page, he studied at the Academy under two men, Wilhelm von Diez and Gabriel von Hackl. Wilhelm liked to fish.
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| Wilhelm von Diez (1839–1907) Source: Wikipedia |
Wilhelm von Diez (1839—1907), was born Albrecht Christoph Wilhelm Diez, (in 1893 he was ennobled for his artistic services adding "von Diez") in Bayreuth, Bavaria. As a young man he briefly studied at the Munich Academy for four weeks, but he left to pursue his own education as a draftsman and illustrator for various weekly newspapers and books. In 1871, Diez was engaged as a teacher by the Munich Academy of Fine Arts and soon afterwards was made a professor there.
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| "Mädchenantlitz" (Girl's face), 1896 by Wilhelm von Diez (1839-1907) Source: Invaluable.com |
Most of Diez's artwork that I could find online were pictures of large scenes involving people in historic costumes with lots of horses. He didn't seem to produce many portraits of individuals. However this painting from 1896, entitled "Mädchenantlitz" (Girl's face), shares qualities that are in this next postcard by Hermann Torggler.
This image shows another young woman turned toward us, her wide eyes adding a bit of allure to her gentle smile. The printed title: H. Torggler — Studienkopf 8 or "Student head" is an art student's exercise, presumably done while Torggler was at the Munich Academy. This postcard is part of a series produced by the publisher, Fr. A. Ackermann, of München, which I am still hoping to collect a full set.
The card was posted on 27 September 1901 from Královské Vinohrady ("Royal Vineyards"), a district of Prague, to Wohlgeboren (Wellborn) Fräulein Grethe Fahrner of Krems an der Donau, a city in Lower Austria on the Danube River. The sender filled up all the free space around the picture with a message but unfortunately wrote in pencil to decipher the words.
The other artist that Hermann Torggler studied with was Gabriel (von) Hackl (1843—1926). He was born in Marburg an der Drau, the historical German name for Maribor, the second-largest city in Slovenia, when it was part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Hackl was the son of a surgeon and after finishing his early school years in his hometown was sent to the University of Vienna to study anatomy, archaeology, and drawing. It is interesting how higher education for many professions in earlier times included drawing and drafting classes in their academic programs.
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| Portrait of the artist Gabriel von Hackl, circa 1914 by Leo Samberger (1861-1949) Source: Wikimedia |
In 1865 Gabriel von Hackl was accepted as a student at Munich's Academy of Fine Arts where he must have excelled as in 1878 he became a professor there. Two years later he was promoted to head of the drawing class, a position he held until 1919. This portrait of Hackl, which I believe is black and white photo of a painting in color, was made by one of his students in Munich, Leo Samberger (1861-1949).
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| Two Women Sketching a Sculpture, 1878 by Gabriel von Hackl (1843—1926) Source: Wikimedia |
There are not many examples of Hackl's artwork on Wikimedia. Most show family groups or bucolic country scenes. However he was clearly very skilled in different mediums. This pen and ink drawing of 1878 shows two women, possibly private drawing students, sketching a sculpture. His careful attention to the women's clothing, hat, hair, and expression resembles many of the female characters found in Herman Torggler's drawings.
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| Das Wunderkind, 1878 by Gabriel von Hackl (1843–1926) Source: Wikimedia |
Some of Gabriel von Hackl's paintings are historic scenes and I have to include this one because its title, "Das Wunderkind" which fits with my recent story on two prodigies, Willie and Johanna Hess. This painting shows an event at an 18th century aristocrat's dinner party where a small boy entertains guests by playing a violin while sitting on the dining table. Another slightly older girl leans distractedly on the host's knee. A father figure stands in the background. The title alludes, of course, to Wolfgang and Nannerl Mozart who performed at many courts when their father Leopold Mozart took them on a grand tour through western Europe from 1763 to 1766.
This painting highlights a German style of depicting famous personages doing ordinary things, a kind of historic realism. I suspect that the public's interest in this style of art was partly driven by publishers adding illustrations to more books and magazines. As we all know, a good picture can tell a story better than a thousand words. In any case Hackl's subject matter, if it is the Mozart family, may have inspired Hermann Torggler's interest in musical subjects, and in particular, creating portraits of great composers. I featured this series back in 2020 in Hermann Torggler's Great Composers - part 1 and part 2.
This next postcard of Hermann Torggler is another Studienkopf, number XIX. This young woman, really a girl, I think, gazes at us with a subtle upward tilt to her head. It's enough to make us turn to see what she is looking at. She has an innocent neutral expression typical of a youth whose head is in the clouds.
This card was sent on 28 December 1899 to Monsieur Gerôme Walder of Mühlhausen, Elsass, then a part of Germany, but now known as Mulhouse, Alsace, France. It is a city near the border with Switzerland and Germany, the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace after Strasbourg.
Though Herman Torggler's Wikipedia page has only a brief sentence about this next artist, I think Torggler was tremendously influenced by him. His name is Franz von Lenbach (1836—1904). He was one of the leading German portrait artists of the 19th century, sometimes called "Munich's Prince of Painters". Franz von Lenbach made numerous self-portraits during his lifetime and this next one shows a serious artist capable of seeing into any subject's soul. (I believe it shows him looking into an oval mirror, so it is a reverse image and in real life he held his paint palette in his left hand, not his right.)
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| Self-portrait by Franz von Lenbach, 1903 Source: Wikipedia |
Lenbach was born in 1836 in Schrobenhausen, Bavaria, the fourth child from the second marriage of the Schrobenhausen master builder Franz Joseph Lenbach. The father's first two marriages produced a total of 17 children, eleven of whom were still alive in 1844 when Franz's mother died.
Initially Lensbach's education and training were to prepare him to work in his father's construction business. After his father died in 1852 he was sent to a polytechnical school in Augsburg where he learned figure drawing and began painting townscapes and other studies. In 1854 Franz was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich where he completed three semesters of basic drawing training before moving into technical painting classes in 1856.
Though his home was now in Munich, within a few years Lenbach also traveled to many different places around Europe and was producing work that earned critical praise calling him a German Impressionist. After his initial success and more travels around Italy and Spain, in the late 1860s he began concentrating on fine portraiture which accorded him the most success. By the end of his life he had painted the likeness of Otto von Bismarck, the two German emperors Wilhelm I. and William II, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, Pope Leo XIII, as well as many prominent German and Austrian figures from the arts, society, and business.
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| Portrait of a Lady by Franz von Lenbach (1836–1904) Source: Wikimedia |
This first example by Lenbach is simply titled "Portrait of a Lady". It looks very like one of Torggler's Studienkopf, but it is a painting, not a drawing. It shows the same attention to expression, fashion, and posture that Torggler would follow in his drawings.
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| Cosima Wagner, 1870 by Franz von Lenbach (1836–1904) Source: Wikimedia |
What I had not appreciated until I began looking closely at Franz von Lenbach's artwork on Wikimedia is how many portraits of women he painted, including several connected to music. One that I had never seen before is a portrait of Cosima Wagner, née Liszt (1837– 1930), the wife of composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883). Cosima was also the daughter of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811–1886).
I won't go into the complicated love life of Liszt and Wagner, except to say that it is a monumental soap opera that ran for decades. In 1870, the year Lenbach painted this portrait of her, Richard and Cosima finally married on 25 August, eight years after the start of their affair. Later that same year on Cosima's birthday, December 24th, Wagner arranged for her to be awakened that morning by the sounds of an orchestra, a "Symphonic Birthday Greeting", which became known as the Siegfried Idyll, one of Wagner's finest instrumental works.
It is now recognized that Cosima inspired some of Richard Wagner's best work. After his death in 1883 she ran his Bayreuth Festival as its director for more than 20 years. It was her dedication to his music that established its core repertoire around his ten principal operas, or "music dramas" as he preferred to call them. In some ways it was her vision that turned the Bayreuth Festival into a place of pilgrimage for all lovers of Wagner's music. (Read more about Bayreuth's Festspielhaus and Wagner in my January 2024 story: A Temple of Music.)
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| Clara Schumann, 1878/1879 by Franz von Lenbach (1836–1904) Source: Wikimedia |
This is another of Lenbach's striking portraits. It is of Clara Josephine Schumann, née Wieck (1819–1896), the wife of German composer Robert Schumann (1810–1856). Clara Schumann was a virtuoso pianist, as well as a composer, and noted piano teacher. She became a close friend of German composer Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) and Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim (1831–1907) among many others.
In 1878 when Lensbach painted her portrait she had just been appointed as the first piano teacher at Dr. Hoch's new Konservatorium in Frankfurt, Germany, where she was the only woman on the faculty. Her fame as a concert soloist attracted many students from abroad, including Britain and the United States. In 1878 the Konservatorium held events celebrating her 50th year on stage. They celebrated it again in 1878 on her 60th career anniversary. Clara Schumann remained at this teaching post until 1892 and is universally recognized for her contributions to improving modern piano playing technique.
Lensbach concentrated on Clara Schumann's face while only sketching her dress and leaving out any background. I find it a poignant and honest likeness of a woman who endured much sorrow in her life, yet lived for music.
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| Yvette Guilbert, circa 1902 by Franz von Lenbach (1836—1904) Source: Wikimedia |
This last portrait by Franz von Lenbach is of the French cabaret singer Yvette Guilbert (1865–1944). Guilbert was born in Paris and was forced to find work as a singer to support her family when her mother's millinery business failed and her father abandoned his wife and children. She developed a style of singing French chanson which proved hugely popular in Parisian theatres and cabarets. By 1890 she was the headline act at the Moulin Rouge in Montemartre.
For her performances she usually dressed in bright yellow gowns with long gloves and stood almost perfectly still as she sang, emphasizing the lyrics by gesturing with her long arms. Many of her songs were "patter songs", almost like monologues that told a ballad type story. Her international popularity increased when in 1897 she married Max Schiller, a theater impresario, and began touring Europe making successful tours of England and Germany. She came to the United States in 1895–1896 where she performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
I think this portrait captures Yvette Guilbert unique individualism, though I believe this is another black and white photo of an original painting in color. It is a confident face of a singular entertainer.
This last portrait postcard by Hermann Torggler shows a closeup of young woman with loose long hair and a black ribbon tied around her throat. Her dark eyes and disdainful bearing suggest someone not prone to suffer fools gladly. This is not a Studienkopf but has a title:
Meine Ateliernachbarin. ~ My studio neighbor.
We are left to wonder about this woman. Is she an artist, too? What kind of relationship did she have with Hermann? I think Torggler leaves the question hanging on purpose and instead wants us to use our imagination. That is the true purpose of all art.
This card was never posted but dates roughly to 19o0.
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| Picture of a Woman with a mandolin, before 1904 by Franz von Lenbach (1836–1904) Source: Wikimedia |
I found one last portrait by Franz von Lenbach that caught my attention because it includes a musical instrument. It's a pastel drawing, dated 1904, of a woman with a mandolin. It lacks refinement so I think it is more a sketch for Lenbach to consider for a full portrait. As I looked at it there was something that seemed familiar. I knew I had seen another picture of a young woman with a mandolin very like this.
It is a postcard I featured back in March 2019 in my first story on the artwork of Hermann Torggler: The Girls of Austrian Postcards. The card shows a young girl playing a mandolin-like instrument as she waits for the kettle to boil. Her attention seems focused on something hidden beyond the steam. The captioned title reads:
Heimchen am Herd ~ Cricket at the stove
The similarity of Torggler's drawing to Lenbach's pastel may be a coincidence. In fact, though the postmark is obscured, I think Torggler's image was likely done around 1899 to 1902, predating Lenbach's work. But artists are always drawing, sketching, and testing ideas. It's conceivable that they knew of each other and shared concepts for new works or artistic directions. I think the resemblance does show the influence of Lenbach on Torggler's artistic style, even as he moved on to create his own original identity.
I hope to add more to this connection between artists with more stories about Hermann Torggler's portrait postcards. I have several more in my collection from the years of the Great War.
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| Self-portrait by Hermann Torggler (1878–1939) Source: The Internets |
Perhaps the best reward for my research this week on Torggler's teachers was discovering this self-portrait of Herman Torggler. There is no date but he appears to be fairly mature, perhaps in his 30s or 40s? Roughly 1908 to 1918? Note the portrait pictures on the wall behind him. It's interesting that he appears to be left-handed like Franz von Lenbach. Or is this a mirror image too?
This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where the eyes of time are always following you.
