Episode from a Polar Expedition by  German Painter and Illustrator Otto Gerlach (1862–1908).

Otto Gerlach (1862–1908), Painter and Illustrator.

Otto Gerlach was born on August 8, 1862, in Leipzig and died on August 15, 1908, in Tehran. He was primarily known as an illustrator for major newspapers and as a book illustrator.

Career: He studied at the Leipzig Academy of Fine Arts under Ludwig Nieper and, from 1884, at the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts under Anton von Werner and Otto Brausewetter.

Work as a Press Illustrator: Gerlach worked as a globetrotting graphic artist for various newspapers. He reported on, among other things, the World's Fair in Paris (1889) and provided illustrations for magazines such as the Illustrirte Zeitung (Leipzig), Die Gartenlaube, and Le Monde illustré.

War and Expedition Illustrator: His drawings often depicted soldiers' lives and wartime events in distant lands. He accompanied, among other things, the Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria (1905) and was an eyewitness to the Ilinden Rebellion in Macedonia in 1903.

Death in Persia: He died in 1908 during an automobile expedition to Persia (organized by Rudolf Zabel), which he accompanied as an illustrator. The cause of death is given as either typhus or a car accident, depending on the source.

Works: In addition to numerous book illustrations for popular literature, he created, among other works as a painter, four overdoor paintings in the Baroque Wachau Palace. His works are still traded today at auction houses such as the Dorotheum.

Literature: ThB XIII, 1920, 470

Inscription: signed lower left.

Technique: watercolour on paper, matted and framed.

Meadurements: only image w 5 1/3" x h 8 5/8" (13,8 x 22 cm),  matted and framed 10 1/8" x 13 5/8"( 25,8 x 34,5 cm).

Condition:  in good condition.