Otto Altenkirch

Otto Altenkirch (2 January 1875 – 20 July 1945) was a German Impressionist painter and set designer.

Life and work

He was born in Ziesar as the sixth child born to Johann Christian Friedrich Altenkirch, a Master saddler, and his wife Dorothea Wilhelmine Auguste née Müller. In 1889, after completing primary school in Ziesar, he went to Berlin to serve a four-year apprenticeship as a decorative painter.

That same year, he was named Court Painter for the . His work there included sets for Der Ring des Nibelungen in 1913, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner. In honor of his services, King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony awarded him the title of Professor in 1917.

In 1920, he retired from all of his professional positions, and settled in the small town of Siebenlehn, where he had inherited a house from his father-in-law. It was there that he created most of his familiar landscapes. For two decades, one of his favorite subjects was the avenue of linden trees in Reinsberg. In 1941 and 1943, his works were represented at the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung; a display of Nazi-approved art in Munich. A few weeks before his death, he created one of his largest paintings, depicting the garden of the Saint Romanus Country Inn, near his home.