Ilse Koch: Hamburg Feenteich in winter

Frosty weaping willows ("Trauerweiden") on the Alster in Hamburg.  

Ernst Eitner: Feenteich, Hamburg  

This lovely, large print above probably shows Hamburg Feenteich in winter. The painting is by Hamburg impressionist Ernst Eitner and titled Feenteich.  

With the two other prints in my collection it documents characteristic Hamburg around 1910. See my recent Hamburg postings.     

Hamburg 1911

* -----    Feenteichbrücke = entrance to the Feenteich

** -----    Uhlenhorster Fährhus (Margarete Braumüllers print).

***--------      Fernsicht-brücke (Else Zinkeisen's print) =  entrance to Rondeelteich  

  

The Monogram iK suggests strongly it was created by Hamburg printmaker Ilse Koch (1869 - prob. 1834) although the other 9 prints I know by her hand, all flowers and vases, have a monogram IKA (Ilse Koch-Amberg). Her short biography is one of the over 400 in the upcoming book: daughter of a painter, married to painter-printmaker Hugo Amberg and sister to poster artist Walther Koch.

Entrance of the Feenteich : Feenteich-brücke am Schöne Aussicht.

Hans Meid (1883-1957): Feenteichbrücke, Hamburg 

  

Hans Meid: Rondeelteich (very similar to Feenteich, a pond beyond the Fernsehbrücke) 

Old photo's prove Feenteich (Fairy pond), with its posh villa's of Hamburgs achieved & richest situated in the Bellevue district, before the total destruction by Operation Gomorra was lined with old willow trees. 

Ernst Eitner: Feenteich, Hamburg.   

Ernst Eitner (1867-1955) today lovingly nicknamed "Monet of the North" was a Hamburg impressionist painter who was awarded an exhibition recently (it just ended) in Hamburg receiving the attention he never had during his life. The many paintings of the Alster region are proof of his love for the area where he worked lived and loved. 

Sadly there wasn't a catalogue to accompany the exhibition. But Googling pictures will give you an idea the Monet comparison is not totally without reason. He was one of the local artists commissioned by Alfred Lichtwark (1842-1914) the visionary first director, with a budget, to create paintings of Hamburg "en plain air" to stock his Kunsthalle Museum.   

Eitner was also a teacher in Valeska Rövers painting school (at nearby Glockengießerswal) teaching many young (Jewish) women. 

Either with his women students in 1897 

Ilse Koch attended Hamburg "Kunstgewerbeschule" (Arts & Craft school) no doubt to be also trained as a teacher. She moved in the circles of Käthe Kollwitz and the great Lovis Corinth and is mentioned as a mainly a self-taught artist. Which is not difficult to understand looking more closely to her family and relatives. But fat chance she knew Ernst Eitner.......

Fritz Flinte (1876-1963) painted picturesque Feenteich too, and Paul Kayser (1869-1942), Eitners colleague in the painting school and known for his low esteem of women painters, painted the view from its classes overlooking Lombardsbrücke and Alster . 

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All pictures borrowed freely from the internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use only.