Hubert Von Herkomer - Life

Life

Herkomer was born at Waal, in Bavaria. His family was poor and his mother tried to supplement the erratic earnings of his father by giving music lessons. Once his mother gave him a half sovereign for some shopping: "It was the last piece of gold in the place. I lost it. My parents were in despair." Lorenz Herkomer, his father and a wood-carver of great ability, left Bavaria in 1851 with his wife and child for the United States, settling in Cleveland, Ohio, for a while, but returned to Europe and settled in Southampton in 1857, and then in a house called Dyreham in Bushey in 1874 after he had married Anna Weise. Hubert Herkomer's education was slight: "He went to school for a month or two, and, falling ill never returned." (Chums)

In a lengthy interview for Chums boys' annual in 1896 Herkomer recalled his childhood. "We had an anxious time of it when I was a boy. We were constantly in want of money..... I was always inclined to art, and as a little boy worked principally at my father's bench, but by the time I had turned twelve I had produced quite a number of water-colour drawings. The reputation I gained among my play fellows, however, was as a maker of kites." He also crafted mechanical toys including clowns and wagons to give to his friends.

He lived for some time at Southampton and in the school of art there began his art training. An uncle in America commissioned his father to carve the four Evangelists in wood. Receiving some money his father determined to take Hubert to Munich so that he could study art whilst his father worked on the carving. In Chums 1896 he recalled his trip vividly: "Ah, how I remember that first visit to Germany! ... We crossed to Antwerp in a cattle boat ... And never shall I forget the miseries of that voyage. And then there were the railway carriages on the other side. We were compelled to travel fourth-class, in the company of people who were no less filthy than the carriages; and I remember.....I swore a big oath that if ever I had any money I would travel in the most luxurious style possible. I have never forgotten that oath." The pair led a hard life whilst in Munich, but he stated that "they were very happy days" and his father sat as model for him during that time. In 1866 he entered upon a more serious course of study at the South Kensington Schools, and in 1869 exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy. He sold his first picture for two guineas but by the time he was twenty-four he had sold a picture for five hundred pounds.

In same year, he also began working as an artist for the newly-founded newspaper The Graphic. It was by his 1875 oil, The Last Muster, after a woodblock from 1871, that he definitely established his position as an artist of high distinction at the Academy . He was elected an associate of the Academy in 1879, and academician in 1890; an associate of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1893, and a full member in 1894; and in 1885 he was appointed Slade professor at Oxford, a position which he held until 1894.

In 1896 he was knighted by Queen Victoria, and in 1899 awarded Pour le Mérite by Kaiser Wilhelm II.

He exhibited a very large number of memorable portraits, figure subjects and landscapes, in oil and watercolour; he achieved marked success as a worker in enamel, as an etcher, mezzotint engraver and illustrative draughtsman; and he exercised wide influence upon art education by means of the Herkomer School (Incorporated), at Bushey, which he founded in 1883 and directed without payment until 1904, when he retired. It was then voluntarily wound up, and is now defunct.

Despite being a prominent member of Royal Academy, Royal Water-Colour Society and the Royal Engravers, as well as being on familiar terms with the royal family, Herkomer was never totally accepted by the British establishment: He was ultimately a victim of the deteriorating relationship between Great Britain and Germany, where he shuttled in between, spending most of his summers in Bavaria.

Herkomer's massive house, Lululaund, named after Lulu Griffith, second of his three wives, served as his studio, school, theatre and movie studio, where he put on productions of his own plays and musical compositions. It was designed by the prominent American architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Herkomer painted a portrait of the architect.

Four of his pictures, Found (1885), Sir Henry Tate (1897), Portrait of Lady Tate (1899) and The Council of the Royal Academy (1908), are in the national collection at Tate. In 1907, he received the honorary degree of DCL at Oxford, and a knighthood was conferred upon him by the king in addition to the commandership of the Royal Victorian Order with which he was already decorated.

Herkomer was also a pioneering filmmaker. He established a studio in Lululaund and directed some seven historical costume dramas, designed to be shown accompanied by his own music. None of them seems to be preserved.

Herkomer died at Budleigh Salterton on 31 March 1914 and was buried in St James's church, Bushey.

Von Herkomer has paintings in several British Collections including Leeds Art Gallery, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Oldham, Derby Art Gallery and the City of London. The largest collection of his work is held by Bushey Museum, UK, and some is in the Herkomer Museum, Landsberg am Lech, Germany.