During his lifetime, Gustav Bauernfeind was not only the best known, but also the most popular Oriental painter in Germany. People were fascinated by the interweaving of Muslim, Jewish and Christian cultures that the artist captured in his works. And this in a way that gave the viewer the feeling that he was not standing in front of a picture, but himself in the middle of the bazaar or at the Wailing Wall.
After his death in 1904 in faraway Jerusalem, Bauerfeind and his work nevertheless quickly fell into oblivion. It was not until the 1980s that the artist was successively rediscovered and appreciated. Thanks for this are due to Hugo Schmid, a citizen of Sulz am Neckar, the artist's hometown. Schmid tracked down Bauerfeind's estate and many of his paintings. The biography he wrote then also brought the painter back to the attention of the art trade and restored him to his rightful place in art history. This can be seen, among other things, in the rising action prices: Bauernfeind's oil painting entitled "The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem," which had brought the equivalent of 326,000 euros at an auction by the London auction house Christie's in 1992, already fetched 4.5 million euros at a Sotheby's auction 15 years later. A tenfold increase!
This posthumous recognition would certainly have filled Gustav Bauernfeind with pride, even though he was known to his contemporaries rather as a very modest painter, always plagued by doubts about his talent. He had come into the world as the sixth of nine children of a pharmacist, and his path to art was not a natural one. He first studied architecture at the Stuttgart Polytechnic and also worked as an architect for a time. However, this profession did not make him happy, only the drawing associated with it appealed to him. So he applied for a job at the Stuttgart art publisher Engelhorn. For his client, he went on trips to Switzerland and Italy to create illustrations of historical sites. But even this did not satisfy him in the long run. In Munich, he sought to join the local artist community. Unfortunately, he quickly discovered that he was not taken seriously as an artist. And they paid little for his work as an illustrator. The lack of recognition and the precarious financial situation intensified his depressive tendencies. In order to recover psychologically, Gustav Bauernfeind went on his first trip to the Orient in 1880. Beirut was the obvious destination, because his sister Emilie lived there. The artist was immediately captivated by the exotic subjects, the intense colors and the glistening light that presented themselves to him. And so, four years later, he embarked on a second trip to the Orient, where he met his future wife Elise Bertsch in Jaffa. A decade later, Bauernfeind settled with her in the Middle East. Probably this had, apart from the love for country and people, also financial reasons. The painter was able to sell some pictures to England and the USA, but these remained isolated financial successes.
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.jpg "The Gate of the Great Umayyad Mosque, Damascus by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "At the Entrance to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Davidstrasse, Jerusalem by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Forecourt of the Ummayad Mosque, Damascus by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-584180).jpg "Jaffa, Recruiting of Turkish Soldiers in Palestine, 1888 by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Street Scene in Jerusalem by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Italy - Courtyard of Palazzo Vecchio, Florence by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Arch of Titus by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Florence, view from San Miniato by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Interior of St Peter")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1470943).jpg "A Street Scene, Damascus by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Blind Man")
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.jpg "Basilica of San Domenico, Siena by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Interior of St Mark")
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.jpg "The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Praying at the Western Wall, Jerusalem by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "The Cathedral of Palermo by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Interior of the Cathedral of Milan by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-632245).jpg "Jaffa, Recruiting of Turkish Soldiers in Palestine (detail) by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Warden of the Mosque, Damascus by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Interior of an Etruscan Tomb Near Perugia by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Certosa di Pavia by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Loggia dei Lanzi by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Front Cover of")
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.jpg "Cathedral Square, Pisa by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Porta Capuana in Naples by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "The Town Hall of Siena by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Ponte Vecchio in Florence by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "Unknown Image by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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.jpg "The Roman Forum by Gustave Bauernfeind")
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