:: Alte Kunst Fine Art Gallery in Vienna

Masterful view of military camp with riders in the steppen of Kalmückien by Kaspi Sea ( South Russia). This rare painting created in 1860/1870-s by one of the best german battle artsts Otto von Faber du Faur ( 1828 Ludwigsburg in Württemberg - 1901 Munich).

Otto von Faber du Faur was the son of the general and battle painter Christian William of Faber you Faur. He got its first artistic training by his father. After completing its school time the futured artist occurred the army and already participated as wuerttembergischer ride master in 1866 at the war against Prussia. By his father he made contact with Munich historical-scenes painter Alexander of Kotzebue and became the acquaintance by him in 1851 for six months as his pupil. He received a one year´s special vacation as well as a scholarship of the Wuerttembergi king house to 1852, in order to train himself further in Paris in the studio from Adolphe Yvon in the battle painting. Here he became enthusiastic however for painters such as Géricault, Decamps and particularly for Eugène Delacroix, with which it was compared in later years also the more frequent. After its return he became an aide of the commander of the wuerttembergischen Kavalleriedivision and received also further sufficient possibilities at the Stuttgart art school to train himself further. Study trips followed to Paris, which made him familiar with Courbet, Rousseau and above all Adolphe Monticelli. 1867 it exchanged now finally those at least financially safe officer career for the uncertain occupation of artist and had thereby a meanwhile neunkoepfige family to nourish. He began with scenes of RussianWars ( "Across through Berezina", "Napoleon´s Retreat from Russia" ,(perhaps only when desired the wuerttembergischen king house) occurred 1869 (perhaps only when desired the wuerttembergischen king house) the training studio of the historical-scenes painter Karl von Pilotys at the Art Academy , leading at that time, in Munich. In the 1870-s he created several monumental paintings on behalf of the royal painting collection in Stuttgart, which obtained him a acknowledgement as a most important German battle painter . In 1881 in the prohibiton of City Hamburg Faber together with Carl von Haeberlin and Robert Haug created the panorama (monumental round painting) for the "Battle by Woerth" , which bring him by the world exhibition in Paris an extraordinary success. Probably on suggestion Haeberlins, which had already undertaken 1880 a study trip after Tunis, traveled Faber du Faur 1883 for a half year to Morocco. This journey had large influence on the further artistic development. Impressed of the fascinating brightness of the African summer light, the desert landscape and the beduinischen rider trunks, it developed a free, expressiven Kolorismus. The actual topics were for it only a pretext for the representation of color effects. After this experiments he came into isolation and by his former clients was avoided. He struggled the official artist circles for acknowledgment, but both - at that time nor could not follow the naturalism arrested, as also the public followed it any longer. Completely isolate died he on 10 August 1901 in Munich. The final break-through succeeded to it to a certain extent only twenty years at his death, when the expressionism caught up the expressionist Faber you Faur. , the high quality of his painting was opened for a recent and colored more sensitively feeling generation matured at the Impressionismus. 1927 took place in the National Gallery in Berlin however the last large exhibition (160 of his paintings). Because with the seizure of power of the national socialists his works in the depots of the museums disappeared and only to the painter of "large sized battle paintings" could one in the next decades remember still vaguely. In the autumn 2002 took place in the Helphouse in Backnang again after long years an exhibition with works of Faber .