Adolf Richard Holzel Biography
Adolf Richard Hölzel (Olmütz, 13 May 1853 - 17 October 1934, Stuttgart) was a German painter. He began as a realist, but later became an early promoter of various modern styles, including abstractionism. In 1871 he moved to Vienna where, the following year he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, moving to the Munich Academy of Fine Arts in 1876, where he studied with Wilhelm von Diez. In Munich he also met Fritz von Uhde, who introduced him to Impressionism. Together with Von Uhde, Ludwig Dill and Arthur Langhammer (1854–1901), he created an art school, the Dalshaule Malschule, in the nearby village of Dachau, which later became the keystone of the famous Dachau art colony. He lived there from 1888 to 1905 and his new teaching methods attracted students from all over Europe. In 1904, he participated in the first Deutscher Künstlerbund exhibition. After studying the color theories of Wilhelm von Bezold, he developed his own color theory, based on a circle with "diatonic" and "chromatic" values (terms taken from music). He was involved in the creation of the Munich Secession and the Vienna Secession. In 1905, he was appointed to replace Leopold von Kalckreuth at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and received commissions on religious themes from the Deutscher Werkbund. Although he abandoned Realism, he still felt that his paintings contained a strong religious element. The so-called "Hölzel circle" developed among his students, comprising artists including Oskar Schlemmer, Willi Baumeister, Max Ackermann, Alf Bayrle and Johannes Itten. She constantly promoted exhibitions of expressionist art and also created a painting school for women.
