Frederick Gottwald

Frederick Carl Gottwald (August 15, 1858 – June 23, 1941) was a traditionalist American painter who was influential in the development of the Cleveland School of art, sometimes called the "dean of Cleveland painters". He taught at the Western Reserve School of Design for Women (later renamed to the Cleveland Institute of Art), and it has been said that he "contributed more than any other person to Cleveland's artistic development".

Life and career Gottwald was born in the Austrian Empire, to Frederick and Caroline Grosse Gottwald, and emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, as an infant. As an instructor, he taught a large number of Cleveland-based artists, such as Charles Burchfield, Henry Keller, Abel Warshawsky, and Frank N. Wilcox.

The 1890s were Gottwald's most successful years as an artist. During this period he exhibited almost yearly at the National Academy of Design, and the Boston Art Club a few times. He also had two pieces at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. In 1897, he founded a summer art school in Zoar which relocated to Chagrin Falls in 1899.

After his retirement from the school in 1926, he and his wife Myria Scott moved to Italy. They lived there for several years, returning to Cleveland in 1930, after which they retired to Pasadena, California in 1932. Gottwald died there in 1941.