biografía de Charles WIMAR (1828-1862)

Lugar de nacimiento: Siegburg, near Bonn, Germany

Lugar de defunción: St. Louis, MO

Direcciones: Came to America in 1843, settling in St. Louis, MO

Profesión: Portrait and historical painter

Estudios: Leon Pomarede in St. Louis, c.1846-50; Josef Fay and Emanuel Leutze in Düsseldorf, 1852-56

Exposiciones: PAFA, 1862; St. Louis annual exhibitions during his lifetime; St. Louis AM, 1946 (retrospective)

Asociaciones: Western Acad. Art

Obra: Amon Carter Mus.; Noonday Club, St. Louis; St. Louis AM; Univ. Michigan; Washington Univ.; Missouri Hist. Soc.; Peabody Mus., Harvard; murals, St. Louis Court House

Comentarios: Best known as a painter of frontier life and buffalo on the Great Plains. He grew up in St. Louis and from c.1846 to 1850 worked with the panoramist Leon Pomarede, accompanying him on a trip up the Mississippi in 1849. Wimar opened a painting shop with Edward Boneau in St. Louis in 1851, but the following year traveled to Düsseldorf, remaining there until 1856. After returning to the U.S., Wimar took at least three trips up the Missouri River and in 1858 trekked 300 miles up the Yellowstone River. Wimar depicted Indian ceremonies and buffalo herds, as well as hunting and war scenes. He also made many photographs of Native Americans. Wimar painted some portraits as well, and in 1861 executed the mural decorations for the rotunda of the St. Louis Court House. Four of his American sketchbooks have been preserved.

Fuentes: G&W; Rathbone, Charles Wimar," biographical sketch, bibliography, and illustrated catalogue of an exhibition at the City Art Museum of St. Louis in 1946; P & H Samuels, 533-34; Baigell, Dictionary; 300 Years of American Art, vol. 1, 224"