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Between 1890 and 1894 Otto Mueller was trained as a lithographer. From 1896 he studied at the “Academy of Art” in Dresden, then from 1898 at the academy in Munich. In 1899 he left the academy due to the fact that the then director, Franz von Stuck, refused him permission to continue his studies. In 1908 he moved to Berlin. The sculptures of Wilhelm Lehmbruck significantly influenced his work and the two of them formed a close friendship. In 1910, together with other artists, he founded the “New Secession”. Through their exhibitions he came into contact with the artist collective known as Bridge, of which he was a member between 1910 and 1913. From 1915 Mueller served in World War I. In 1919 he became a professor at the Academy of Fine and Applied Arts in Breslau. His gypsy portfolio of coloured lithographs from 1927 and the pictures from the last three years of his life (1927–1930), belong to the high point of his artistic production. In 1937, the National Socialists seized 357 of his works from German museums, labelling them as “degenerate”. The central theme of Mueller‘s work is the union between man and nature, which he attempted to express through a number of paintings depicting nudes in landscape.
Dortmund, Museum am Ostwall
Berlin, Brücke-Museum
Leipzig, Museum der bildenden Künste
Museum der Phantasie, Sammlung Buchheim
Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum
Saarbrücken, Saarlandmuseum
Görlitz, Schlesischen Museums
Otto Mueller
* 1874, Liebau, Schlesien 1930, Obernigk, Breslau
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* 1874, Liebau, Schlesien, 1930, Obernigk, Breslau
Between 1890 and 1894 Otto Mueller was trained as a lithographer. From 1896 he studied at the “Academy of Art” in Dresden, then from 1898 at the academy in Munich. In 1899 he left the academy due to the fact that the then director, Franz von Stuck, refused him permission to continue his studies. In 1908 he moved to Berlin. The sculptures of Wilhelm Lehmbruck significantly influenced his work and the two of them formed a close friendship. In 1910, together with other artists, he founded the “New Secession”. Through their exhibitions he came into contact with the artist collective known as Bridge, of which he was a member between 1910 and 1913. From 1915 Mueller served in World War I. In 1919 he became a professor at the Academy of Fine and Applied Arts in Breslau. His gypsy portfolio of coloured lithographs from 1927 and the pictures from the last three years of his life (1927–1930), belong to the high point of his artistic production. In 1937, the National Socialists seized 357 of his works from German museums, labelling them as “degenerate”. The central theme of Mueller‘s work is the union between man and nature, which he attempted to express through a number of paintings depicting nudes in landscape.
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Hannover, Sprengel MuseumDortmund, Museum am Ostwall
Berlin, Brücke-Museum
Leipzig, Museum der bildenden Künste
Museum der Phantasie, Sammlung Buchheim
Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum
Saarbrücken, Saarlandmuseum
Görlitz, Schlesischen Museums
(We are sorry, currently only the German version is available)
Johanna Brade: Zwischen Künstlerbohème und Wirtschaftskrise. Otto Mueller als Professor der Breslauer Akademie 1919–1930. Oettel, Görlitz u. a. 2004 Lothar-Günther Buchheim: Otto Mueller. Leben und Werk. Buchheim, Feldafing 1963. Neuausgabe 2006 Marlene Decker: Gestaltungselemente im Bildwerk von Otto Mueller. Projekt, Dortmund 1993 Johann Georg Prinz von Hohenzollern und Mario-Andreas von Lüttichau (Hrsg.): Otto Mueller. Eine Retrospektive. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung. Prestel, München 2003 Gerhard Leistner (Bearb.): Otto Mueller. Verlorenes Paradies. Werke aus der Sammlung Karsch. Ausst. Kat. Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie Regensburg 2006 Mario-Andreas von Lüttichau: Otto Mueller. Ein Romantiker unter den Expressionisten. DuMont, Köln 1993 Mario-Andreas von Lüttichau: Mueller, Otto. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, S. 328 f. Ursula Peters, Christiane Kupper (Red.): Moderne Zeiten. Die Sammlung zum 20. Jahrhundert. (= Kulturgeschichtliche Spaziergänge im Germanischen Nationalmuseum, Band 3.) Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg 2000 Dieter W. Posselt: Otto Mueller Ein Künstlersolitär der Moderne. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2009 Gerd Presler: Die Brücke. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2007 Christian Saehrendt: Die Kunst der „Brücke“ zwischen Staatskunst und Verfemung. Expressionistische Kunst als Politikum in der Weimarer Republik, im „Dritten Reich“ und im Kalten Krieg. (= „Pallas Athene“. Beiträge zur Universitäts- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Band 13). Hrsg. von Rüdiger vom Bruch und Eckart Henning. Stuttgart 2005 Eberhard Troeger Otto Mueller. Crone & Co, Freiburg 1979.