Julius Paul Junghanns

Popularized by his animal paintings, Julius Paul Junghanns (1876-1958) was born in Vienna. Despite being born in Vienna, Junghanns considered himself a Saxon because his parents were from Saxony and stayed in Vienna only for a short time. Growing up in Dresden, Junghanns completed his apprenticeship as a lithographer. He trained at the Dresden Art Academy along with artists like Max Frey and Leon Pohle followed by studies at the Academy of Fine Art in Munich. Apart from his work in art, Julius also served in the army as well as worked for a magazine. He is an artist whose life spanned over an important century, witnessing the shift in radical artistic discourse.

Impressionist animal paintings alongside portrayals of farmers ploughing as well as German heroes are a common sight of Junghanns’s work. Despite never being a member of the Nazi regime, Junghanns’s depictions were widely circulated around by Hitler’s Third Reich for being idyllic and having traditional values. Scenes from everyday life appear in a photo-realistic sense as Junghanns’s work encompasses images of horses, cows as well as farmers and villagers. He perfected his oil on canvas, painting historical scenes as well as flower vases. 

Junghanns was known to regularly participate in the Great German Art Exhibition. Presented under National Socialism, he gained international recognition for his outdoor paintings with exhibitions held in museums of Berlin, Munich, Krefeld, Karlsruhe, Vienna, London, etc. He also served as a professor at the Düsseldorf Academy, and, at the same place, later served as the acting director. Junghanns was also the recipient of the 1941 Goethe Medal for Science and Art. His work has been auctioned on multiple occasions, fetching commendable rates and appreciation. Julius Paul Junghanns lived and worked in Dusseldorf, Germany, till his demise.