Career
He was nicknamed the Brockenmaler, after Brocken, a peak in the Harz mountains, which became a major focus of his work after a trip he took there in 1888. He was the eighth child born to a family of innkeepers. After attending the local schools, he went to the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School in 1878.
After trying several styles, he decided to devote himself to landscape painting.
Before graduating, however, he had to quit school for financial reasons. Despite this, he remained unemployed.
Returning to Kammerforst, he supported himself with an occasional odd job. In 1883, he was able to study at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin, thanks to a generous stipend from Max Friedrich Koch and Ernst Ewald.
He acquired skills in landscape, portrait and decorative painting, receiving several awards.
In 1886 and 1887, he took a study trip to Italy. The drawings and watercolors he made there led to a job offer from the Prussian Ministry of Trade and Industry, teaching decorative painting at the new arts and crafts school in Magdeburg. He began work in 1887 and later became vice-rector, under the engineer Eduard Spieß.
By 1892, he was Acting Manager of the school.
In 1906, he was appointed a Profesor and remained there until his retirement in 1924. He was also involved in the cultural life of Magdeburg.
In 1893, he founded the Artists" Association of Street.Luke and was its President for many years. Nine years later, he founded the Artists" Association of Börde (a region in Northern Germany).
A street in Magdeburg is named after him.