Gari Melchers: A German Interlude - Weimar

"The Caress" by Gari Melchers

"William Ernest, grand duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, arranged a meeting with Gari Meclchers in the fall of 1908 to discuss the possibility of his teaching at the Ducal Academy of Fine Arts in Weimar, Germany. In early March of the following year, the grand duke officially appointed the artist to the position of full professor at the academy. In the months that followed, Corinne and Gari Melchers began buying furniture and moving their belongings to a rented house in Weimar.

Melchers had a long history of involvement with German art and art institutions that culminated in his appointment to the academy. Not only had he received his first formal training at the Düsseldorf Academy, but he had shown his art regularly in Germany from the late 1880s onward and was awarded medals in exhibitions held in Munich, Berlin and Dresden. He exhibited thirty-eight paintings and drawings in two separate rooms at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung in 1900. He also was made a Knight of the Order of Saint Michael of Bavaria in 1895, and an officer of the Royal Prussian Order of the Red Eagle in 1907, among other awards and honors.

Melchers enjoyed the generous patronage of the grand duke during his stay in Germany. The state provided him with a large studio on the town square opposite the house once occupied by Franz Liszt. The studio was renovated at government expense in 1912 to provide additional space and better lighting on the second floor. As Melchers wrote to his friend: 'This change was made by the Grand Duke upon my promise to renew my contract for one more year.' The ducal academy's new faculty member also was given a one-man show in Weimar in 1910. Light teaching responsibilities made it possible for Melchers to travel to other German cities and throughout Europe and to return to America for extended visits."

(Excerpts from "Gari Melchers: His Life and Art" by Joseph G. Dreiss.)