Franz Nölken

Franz Nölken (born May 5, 1884, in Hamburg; died November 4, 1918, in La Capelle, Département Aisne, France) was a German painter associated with Expressionism and, for a time, a member of the artist group Brücke.

In 1900, at the age of sixteen, Franz Nölken left school at the Johanneum and, on the advice of Alfred Lichtwark, the director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle, attended the painting school of Arthur Siebelist. Unlike the academic training of the time, Siebelist encouraged his students to paint outdoors. In 1903, he was accepted into the "Hamburgischen Künstlerclub von 1897." In 1904, the first exhibition of Siebelist's students, including Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann, Fritz Friedrichs, Walter Alfred Rosam, and Walter Voltmer, showcased his works at the Galerie Commeter in Hamburg. That same year, he completed his painting Am Brunnen, which is now on display at the Hamburger Kunsthalle.

In 1905, he stayed in Borgeln near Soest for study purposes. There, he met Edvard Munch, Karl Ernst Osthaus, Christian Rohlfs, and Emil Nolde, as well as his patron and collector Ernst Rump, who would later provide him with financial support. In 1907, he traveled to Paris with Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann and Walter Rosam, where he joined the international artist circle at Café du Dôme.

In 1908, upon the suggestion of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, he became a member of the Dresden artist association Brücke and was listed as an active member that year. He participated in traveling exhibitions of Brücke in 1909/10 but withdrew in 1912.

In March 1909, he made a second trip to Paris for further education and joined the Académie Matisse with Walter Rosam, Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann, and Gretchen Wohlwill. This academy was founded in the winter of 1907/1908 at the suggestion of Sarah Stein, the sister-in-law of art collector Gertrude Stein, and the German painter Hans Purrmann, and it operated until 1911, having more than a hundred students during that time.

He became acquainted with Anita Rée and Max Reger.

After returning from Paris, he formed a friendship with Anita Rée in 1910, who became his student, and they shared a studio, which also included Ahlers-Hestermann. Their friendship eventually ended due to Rée's unrequited love for Nölken. In 1912, he taught at the Hamburger Malschule run by Gerda Koppel. The following year, he met composer Max Reger, for whom he created numerous portraits. One of the portraits of Reger hung in the billiard room of entrepreneur Oscar Troplowitz, who supported the Siebelist students and had Nölken paint his portrait in 1916. In 1916, he also became a member of the Hamburger Künstlerverein von 1832.

In May 1914, he traveled to Paris for the third time in search of artistic inspiration. A self-portrait commissioned by Lichtwark in 1914 was acquired by the Hamburger Kunsthalle in 1915.

During World War I, he was drafted into military service in 1917; shortly before the war ended, Franz Nölken fell in La Capelle, France.

The Nölkensweg in Hamburg-Barmbek and the Franz-Nölken-Weg in Soest are named after him.

Nölken sought to simplify his artistic means. He had a great talent for drawing and primarily painted portraits, but also still lifes and landscapes.

Works by Franz Nölken are exhibited at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Brücke-Museum Berlin, and the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf.