Alfred Henry Maurer
Encyclopedia
Alfred Henry Maurer was an American modernist
painter
. He exhibited his work in avant-garde
circles internationally and in New York City
during the early 20th century.
. He was the son of German-born Louis Maurer
, a lithographer. At age sixteen, Maurer quit school to work at his father's lithographic firm. In 1897, after studying with the sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward
and painter William Merritt Chase
, Maurer left for Paris
where he stayed the next four years, joining a circle of American and French artists. At the time, Maurer's style was realist.
His painting An Arrangement, received first prize at the 1901 Carnegie International
Exhibition. Other awards received by Maurer included the Inness Jr. prize of the Salmagundi Club
in 1900 and a bronze medal at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, New York
in 1901. In 1905 he won the third medal at the Liege (Belgium) Exposition
and a gold medal at the International Exposition in Munich
.
Briefly returning to New York, determined to show his skeptical father that he could paint, Maurer painted what arguably is his most famous painting "An Arrangement," using a woman next door as a model and completing the work (on a borrowed piece of cardboard) in a matter of mere hours.
At age thirty-six, in Paris, deviating from what everyone (including himself) called "acceptable" painting styles, Maurer changed his methods sharply and from that point on painted only in the cubist
and fauvist
manner, subsequently risking his international reputation. An important early American avant-garde
painter in 1909 he had a two-man exhibition with John Marin
in New York City
at the 291 gallery
. Four of his paintings were included in the Armory Show
of 1913.
Leaving Paris shortly before World War I
, he returned to his father's house only to be denied support. For the next seventeen years Maurer painted in a garret in his father's house and was able to gain no critical acclaim. An American modernist
he was friends with many important avant-garde
American artists like Arthur Dove
, Marsden Hartley
, John Marin
and others during the early 20th century and until his death in 1932. He participated in important exhibitions held at the Anderson Galleries and others. He also exhibited regularly at the New York based Society of Independent Artists
and was elected their director in 1919. In 1924 the New York dealer Erhard Weyhe bought the contents of Maurer's studio and represented the artist for the remainder of his career.
The artist Jerome Myers
speaks of him in his autobiography "Artist In Manhattan" (Chapter XXVII: Among My Contemporaries) (1940) "Alfred Maurer, whom I knew casually, had a pleasant personality. After his early talent had brought him a prize at the Carnegie Institute, he went to Paris, where he stayed for years. Through mutual friends, I had often heard of him, and when subsequently I came to Paris, we spent some time together.
There was no doubt that he was happy in his Parisian atmosphere. Like many other young Americans there, he was attracted by the life of the boulevards, the cares, the daily affinity with brother artists with whom he was then studying the problem of color. I found him experimenting with his close friend Eugene Ullman, who had adopted Paris with the same enthusiasm. In his appearance, Alfred Maurer was romantic, gay and debonnaire, the typical artist seemingly beyond all drab necessity.
His father, Louis Maurer
, was an old-time artist, who had worked on the Currier & Ives lithographs. When I met him at an exhibition of the Independents at the Grand Central Palace, he was a quiet-mannered man, whom I took to be about seventy-five years old. Later I learned that he was then already ninety-five. He told me how surprised he was at the value and vogue attained by the Currier & Ives lithographs, which in his time had been merely ordinary subjects for simple homes, like the vast number of engravings of that period. Speaking of his son, Alfred, he evidently could not sympathize with—or, as he said, understand—the ultra-violets and ultra-blues of that phase of Alfred's work. He seemed so proud of what his son had done, but so grieved at what he was then doing.
For some reason, Alfred was subsequently forced to return to New York, leaving behind in Paris his beloved boulevards and the friends of his heart. The idea and the style of his work seemed to change; he turned to the painting of elongated women, after the pattern of Modigliani
. Then Louis Maurer, seemingly outraged by his son's work, did an extraordinary thing. He gave an exhibition of his own paintings at the age of one hundred years, a record for all time. Between this unique rejuvenescence of his remarkable father, with the implied reproof against his own art, and the suffering due to ill health, the pit yawned and the unhappy Alfred Maurer left the scene of his sorrows a suicide, his gallant heart broken."
It is extremely difficult to run across any of Maurer’s paintings as most of his work is still privately owned.
Maurer took his own life by hanging several weeks after his father's death. At the time of his death, examples of his works were included in the Memorial Hall Museum in Philadelphia, PA, the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington, DC. the Barnes Collection in Merion, PA, and the Whitney Museum of American Art
in New York City
.
American modernism
American modernism like modernism in general is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, and is thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. He exhibited his work in avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
circles internationally and in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
during the early 20th century.
Biography
Maurer was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He was the son of German-born Louis Maurer
Louis Maurer
Louis Maurer was a German-born American lithographer, and the father of the American painter Alfred Henry Maurer...
, a lithographer. At age sixteen, Maurer quit school to work at his father's lithographic firm. In 1897, after studying with the sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward
John Quincy Adams Ward
John Quincy Adams Ward was an American sculptor, who is most familiar for his over-lifesize standing statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall on Wall Street.-Early years:...
and painter William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase was an American painter known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons The New School for Design.- Early life and training :He was born in Williamsburg , Indiana, to the family...
, Maurer left for Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where he stayed the next four years, joining a circle of American and French artists. At the time, Maurer's style was realist.
His painting An Arrangement, received first prize at the 1901 Carnegie International
Carnegie International
The Carnegie International is the oldest North American exhibition of contemporary art from around the globe. It was first organized at the behest of industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie on November 5, 1896 in Pittsburgh. Carnegie established the International to educate and inspire the...
Exhibition. Other awards received by Maurer included the Inness Jr. prize of the Salmagundi Club
Salmagundi Club
The Salmagundi Club, also known as the Salmagundi Art Club, was founded in 1871 in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York, in the United States. It currently is located at 47 Fifth Avenue...
in 1900 and a bronze medal at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
in 1901. In 1905 he won the third medal at the Liege (Belgium) Exposition
Liège International (1905)
Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Liège was a world's fair held in Liège in 1905 from April 27 to November 6 just 8 years after a Belgian exposition held in Brussels...
and a gold medal at the International Exposition in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
.
Briefly returning to New York, determined to show his skeptical father that he could paint, Maurer painted what arguably is his most famous painting "An Arrangement," using a woman next door as a model and completing the work (on a borrowed piece of cardboard) in a matter of mere hours.
At age thirty-six, in Paris, deviating from what everyone (including himself) called "acceptable" painting styles, Maurer changed his methods sharply and from that point on painted only in the cubist
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
and fauvist
Fauvism
Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...
manner, subsequently risking his international reputation. An important early American avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
painter in 1909 he had a two-man exhibition with John Marin
John Marin
John Marin was an early American modernist artist. He is known for his abstract landscapes and watercolors.-Biography:...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
at the 291 gallery
Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession
291 is the commonly known name for an internationally famous art gallery that was located at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York City from 1905 to 1917. Originally known as the "Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession", the gallery was created and managed by photographer Alfred Stieglitz.The gallery is...
. Four of his paintings were included in the Armory Show
Armory Show
Many exhibitions have been held in the vast spaces of U.S. National Guard armories, but the Armory Show refers to the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art that was organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors...
of 1913.
Leaving Paris shortly before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he returned to his father's house only to be denied support. For the next seventeen years Maurer painted in a garret in his father's house and was able to gain no critical acclaim. An American modernist
American modernism
American modernism like modernism in general is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, and is thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic...
he was friends with many important avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
American artists like Arthur Dove
Arthur Dove
Arthur Garfield Dove was an American artist. An early American modernist, he is often considered the first American abstract painter.-Youth and education:...
, Marsden Hartley
Marsden Hartley
Marsden Hartley was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist.-Early life and education:Hartley was born in Lewiston, Maine, where his English parents had settled. He was the youngest of nine children. His mother died when he was eight, and his father remarried four years later to Martha...
, John Marin
John Marin
John Marin was an early American modernist artist. He is known for his abstract landscapes and watercolors.-Biography:...
and others during the early 20th century and until his death in 1932. He participated in important exhibitions held at the Anderson Galleries and others. He also exhibited regularly at the New York based Society of Independent Artists
Society of Independent Artists
Society of Independent Artists was an association of American artists founded in 1916 and based in New York.Based on the French Société des Artistes Indépendants, the goal of the society was to hold annual exhibitions by avant-garde artists. Exhibitions were to be open to anyone who wanted to...
and was elected their director in 1919. In 1924 the New York dealer Erhard Weyhe bought the contents of Maurer's studio and represented the artist for the remainder of his career.
The artist Jerome Myers
Jerome Myers
Jerome Myers was a U.S. artist and writer. Born in Petersburg, Virginia and raised in Philadelphia, Trenton and Baltimore, he spent his adult life in New York City. Jerome worked briefly as an actor and scene painter, then studied art at Cooper Union and the Art Students League where his main...
speaks of him in his autobiography "Artist In Manhattan" (Chapter XXVII: Among My Contemporaries) (1940) "Alfred Maurer, whom I knew casually, had a pleasant personality. After his early talent had brought him a prize at the Carnegie Institute, he went to Paris, where he stayed for years. Through mutual friends, I had often heard of him, and when subsequently I came to Paris, we spent some time together.
There was no doubt that he was happy in his Parisian atmosphere. Like many other young Americans there, he was attracted by the life of the boulevards, the cares, the daily affinity with brother artists with whom he was then studying the problem of color. I found him experimenting with his close friend Eugene Ullman, who had adopted Paris with the same enthusiasm. In his appearance, Alfred Maurer was romantic, gay and debonnaire, the typical artist seemingly beyond all drab necessity.
His father, Louis Maurer
Louis Maurer
Louis Maurer was a German-born American lithographer, and the father of the American painter Alfred Henry Maurer...
, was an old-time artist, who had worked on the Currier & Ives lithographs. When I met him at an exhibition of the Independents at the Grand Central Palace, he was a quiet-mannered man, whom I took to be about seventy-five years old. Later I learned that he was then already ninety-five. He told me how surprised he was at the value and vogue attained by the Currier & Ives lithographs, which in his time had been merely ordinary subjects for simple homes, like the vast number of engravings of that period. Speaking of his son, Alfred, he evidently could not sympathize with—or, as he said, understand—the ultra-violets and ultra-blues of that phase of Alfred's work. He seemed so proud of what his son had done, but so grieved at what he was then doing.
For some reason, Alfred was subsequently forced to return to New York, leaving behind in Paris his beloved boulevards and the friends of his heart. The idea and the style of his work seemed to change; he turned to the painting of elongated women, after the pattern of Modigliani
Modigliani
Modigliani may refer to:* Amedeo Modigliani , painter and sculptor** Modigliani, a 2004 biographical film about the painter and sculptor* Elio Modigliani , anthropologist, zoologist, and plant collector...
. Then Louis Maurer, seemingly outraged by his son's work, did an extraordinary thing. He gave an exhibition of his own paintings at the age of one hundred years, a record for all time. Between this unique rejuvenescence of his remarkable father, with the implied reproof against his own art, and the suffering due to ill health, the pit yawned and the unhappy Alfred Maurer left the scene of his sorrows a suicide, his gallant heart broken."
It is extremely difficult to run across any of Maurer’s paintings as most of his work is still privately owned.
Maurer took his own life by hanging several weeks after his father's death. At the time of his death, examples of his works were included in the Memorial Hall Museum in Philadelphia, PA, the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington, DC. the Barnes Collection in Merion, PA, and the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.