Background
Allers, the son of a merchant, was born in Hamburg.
Allers, the son of a merchant, was born in Hamburg.
He first worked as a lithographer, and in 1877 he moved to Karlsruhe where he continued to work as a lithographer. In the Kunstakademie (state academy of fine arts) he was a scholar of Professor Ferdinand Keller. From 1880-1881 he served in the German navy in Kiel where Anton Alexander von Werner supported him.
Allers became well-known when he published his collection of prints "Club Eintracht" in 1888.
Several other books and maps (collections of prints) followed, for the sake of example about Bismarck, so at the beginning of the 1890s he was able to build a villa on Capri. He lived there for many years, also spending some time in Hamburg, Karlsruhe, and travelling around the world.
In autumn 1902, there was a scandal. Friedrich Alfred Krupp, another famous person living in Capri, was accused by some Italian newspapers of homosexuality and pederasty.
Some weeks later, Allers was accused, by court.
Krupp died some weeks later, presumably a suicide. Allers managed to escape before the lawsuit began, which led to a sentence of 4½ years imprisonment, pronounced in absentia. According to Tito Fiorani (Le dimore del mito, Louisiana Conchiglia, Capri 1996, pp 23 e 24), "Allers had distinctly homosexual tendencies, and liked to surround himself with boys, whom he often used as models".
Allers left Capri and began travelling around the world for more than 10 years, staying some time in New Zealand, Samoa, and Australia.
During this time, he often used the pseudonym "West. Andresen", and earned money by making portraits of wealthy people. He died in 1915 in Karlsruhe some months after returning to Germany.
Allers was a naturalist. His drawings are rich in detail and are of realistic style, so they often lack emotions.
Although the drawings look realistic, Allers sometimes added persons to scenes who were never at that location.
In this respect, he was not a realist. Technically, Allers often used pencil. To start with, his colored drawings were usually in pencil and were colored later (pastel, oil, ).
His subjects were: Everyday life scenes (eg Club Eintracht, Spreeathener, Hochzeitsreise) Travel reports (eg Louisiana Bella Napoli, Rund um die Welt, Unter deutscher Flagge) Portraits.
Christian Wilhelm Allers was a gifted naturalist painter who illustrated a lot of books, the most notable of them are the books on Otto von Bismark, Fürst von Bismarck in Friedrichsruh (1892) and Unser Bismarck (1895). He also portrayed a great number of famous personalities such as Chulalongkorn (the King of Siam), a German politician Herbert von Bismarck and others.
Nowadays, the significant part of Allers’s heritage is preserved in different German museums and galleries, including The Klaus Groth Museum in Heide, The Bismarck Museum in Friedrichsruh, the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg and the Altonaer Museum in Hamburg. The latter contains about sixty artists’ drawings. Some of Allers’ artworks are also included in the collections of the Norwich Castle Study Center in United Kingdom, the Netherlands Open Air Museum and of the National Library in New Zealand. The Ranfurly Collection, preserved in the latter, is available on the Internet.
Self-portrait
Portrait of Fedor Jagor
Harbour of Lacco Ameno (La bella Napoli illustration)
Chinese people on the Underground, Berlin
Portrait of Wilhelm Solf
Portrait of Julius Rodenberg
Portrait of Karl Millöcker
Portrait of Luise Haidheim
Portrait of Otto von Bismarck
Self-portrait
Portrait of Phra Maha Chulalongkorn (Rama V.), King of Siam
Portrait of Eduard von Knorr
Portrait of Carl-August Deinhard
Self-portrait
Portrait of Ernst Schweninger
Preparing for a Navy Academy Festival
Actor Fred Billington
German Painter Franz von Lenbach
Portrait of Amanda Lindner
Oh the poor poor dog (La bella Napoli illustration)
At the Brandenburg Gate
Ganymede
Portrait of Marie Allers, the artist's sister
Youth
Portrait of Maria Kolb
Shepherds
Fisher Girl
Caravan Resting near Cairo
On the Passenger Deck
On the road to Camaldoli
