biografía de Johannes Adam Simon OERTEL (1823-1909)

Lugar de nacimiento: Fürth, Bavaria, Germany

Lugar de defunción: Vienna, VA

Profesión: Religious and portrait painter, engraver, teacher; Episcopal clergyman

Estudios: Polytechnic Inst., Bavaria; J.M. Enzing-Müller in Munich

Exposiciones: NJ Art Union, Newark, c.1850-51; NAD, 1857-96; Brooklyn AA, 1863-77; Am. Art Union; PAFA, 1856-65; Centennial Expo., Phila., 1876; Boston AC, 1882; Wash. AA; Soc. Wash. Artists; Tennessee Centennial, 1897

Asociaciones: ANA, 1856; Soc. Wash. Artists (pres.)

Obra: Corcoran Gal.; NMAA; Univ. of the South, Sewanee, TN; FA Center, Cheekwood, Nashville, TN; also at many churches, including the Nat. Cathedral of Wash., DC; Shelburne (VT) Mus.

Comentarios: Emigrated to U.S. in 1848, first settling in Newark (NJ), where he taught drawing, painted portraits, and engraved banknotes (with decorative scenes that included American Indian subjects). He lived in NYC in 1855; and in 1857, upon the invitation of Captain Meigs, he moved to Wash., DC, and painted the ceiling decorations in the skylight of the old House of Representatives. He left there in 1858 and lived in Westerly, RI, before and after serving in the Civil War. Although he was also painting historical, genre, and animal pictures in these years, he became best-known for his religious paintings, especially his "Rock of Ages" (1867), which was reproduced as a chromolithograph and widely distributed. In 1871, Oertel was ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church and for the remainder of his life combined his ministry with his religious painting. From 1871, he served parishes in New Jersey, New York, Florida, and North Carolina. He was back in Wash., DC in 1884-86 and during that time took a studio at the Corcoran where he made paintings for various churches in the area (St. Johns in Georgetown; St. Stephens on 14th Street). He then moved to Tennessee where he served as chairman of Christian art and artist-in-residence at the University of the South in Sewanee; from 1889-91 Oertel worked as instructor of fine arts at Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO. He continued to create works for churches and returned once again to DC in 1891. From that year until his death, he lived in DC; Bel Air, MD; and Vienna, VA. After his retirement in 1895 he was able to realize his ambition of painting a series of pictures illustrating the Redemption (Univ. of the South), as well as many other paintings on religious subjects.

Fuentes: G&W; WW06; DAB cites J. F. Oertel (artist's son), A Vision Realized: A Life Story of Rev. J. A. Oertel (1912); Cowdrey, NAD; Naylor, NAD; Swan, BA; Cowdrey, AA & AAU; Rutledge, PA. More recently, see McMahan, Artists of Washington, D. C.; Muller, Paintings and Drawings at the Shelburne Museum, 98 (w/repro.)