Alexander Koester

Alexander Max Koester (10 February 1864, Bergneustadt - 21 December 1932, Munich) was a German landscape and animal painter. He specialized in scenes with ducks.

Life and work

His father was a hosiery manufacturer. In 1882, following his parents' wishes, he began an apprenticeship at a pharmacy in Winzenheim (now in France). After completing his training there, he pursued his own interests; enrolling at the Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe, where he studied with Karl Hoff and . As a student, he supported himself by painting portraits, but he later focused on landscapes.

He spent the decade from 1885 to 1895 making study trips: to the Black Forest, the Vosges, Munich, and Tyrolia. While visiting the town of Klausen, a gathering place for artists, he met Isabella Kantioler, the daughter of an innkeeper. They were married in 1893. The art school in Darmstadt offered him a position, but he declined, preferring to work free-lance. To gain better access to his buyers, he rented a studio in Munich, where he worked during the summer. He also became a member of the artist's cooperative there. In 1902, he won a small gold medal at the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung; and another at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904.

In 1915, Klausen was declared to be part of a war zone, and his house was confiscated. He moved to Dießen am Ammersee and set up a new studio. His son had been killed not long after the war started. After that, he focused on landscapes and still-lifes, but never lost his interest in ducks. Most of his works outside of private collections are held at the Neue Pinakothek in Munich.