Draft:Alexander Altenburg (1884-1940)

Alexander Altenburg (1884-1940) was an expressionist landscape artist of the early 20th century. His style was noted for rhythmic swirls of color while representing traditional scenes on canvas. He studied art at Academie Julian in Paris in the early 1900s and later at the Art Students League in New York and L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Alexander Altenburg spent much of his career in Paris, and in Cagnes-sur-Mer in southern France, painting landscapes along the Seine or of farms in the countryside. He exhibited both in Paris and New York, including the MacDowell Club in New York in 1914, the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1926 and 1928, the Whitney Studio Club NYC in 1923, Galerie Bernheim Jeune in Paris in 1931, various exhibits of the Salons of America, and the Society of Independent Artists, and at 57 Fifth Ave Gallery, NYC in 1936. He resided from time to time in Elizabeth NJ, but the bulk of his productive professional artistic life was in France on and off until 1936. He was awarded a diploma of honor for his work at the Bordeaux International Exposition of 1927. Some of his canvases were purchased by the French National Museum, the Jeu de Paume in Paris and the Brooklyn Museum. Alexander Altenburg's work is still in the French National Collection. Reviews: Chicago Daily Tribune Sept 26,1931 New York Times November 15,1931 L’Art Vivant 1931 (French Press) Journal des Arts 1932 New York American April 25, 1936

Personal Life: Alexander Altenburg was born on February 19, 1884, in Jersey City, New Jersey, and grew up in Jersey City and the Bronx, NYC. He and his four brothers grew up in the third generation family piano business and Alexander was largely supported by them due to his prioritization of his art over commercial success. He sent numerous letters to them from France explaining his plight and made several return trips to New Jersey to work in the family piano store to earn funds for his next sojourn to France. He married Frances Wyman (1871-1962) whom he had met in France around 1912. She was a professional pianist and composer who gave international recitals. They were part of the literary set of poets, composers and artists in Paris and enjoyed the friendship of many like minded authors and artists, in the US and abroad, including Marguerite Delorme, Richard LeGallienne, Louise Mallinckrodt Kueffner and Maxwell Stewart Simpson An asthmatic all his life, he died of tuberculosis on March 12, 1940, in a residential health clinic in Southern Pines, North Carolina, at the age of 56.