Life & Work

Adolf Emil Noether (also spelled Nöther) was a Dresden painter of landscapes and flowers. He worked mainly in watercolour, but also painted in oil, drew, and created designs for prints, postcards and books.

Biography

1. 1855
   Born on 9 December in Dresden into a well-to-do middle-class family.
2. Youth
   Childhood and elementary school in Dresden, where he stands out as the best draughtsman.¹
3. before 1882
   Apprenticeship as a lithographer in Dresden, beginning with drawing on stone, then work as a lithographer. During this time he meets Ludwig Richter.¹ Older accounts instead mention attendance at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts around 1875.
4. 1882–1884
   Student at the Dresden School of Applied Arts (Kunstgewerbeschule), department of decorative painting.¹
5. 1884–1888
   Three years of further study in Berlin, then return to Dresden.¹
6. from 1888
   He paints mainly landscape watercolours – later interrupted by long breaks – and becomes a member of the General German and the Dresden Artists' Associations.¹
7. 1890–1896
   Flower and plant studies are published as pattern works by the Leipzig chromolithography publishers Baldamus, Grimme & Hempel and Wezel & Naumann – including the portfolio Blumenstudien (Flower Studies, 1892) with 18 plates.
8. 1891
   A silk fan he painted with roses is shown in the competition and exhibition of the Baden Art Association in Karlsruhe.
9. undated
   Works as a copyist at the Dresden Picture Gallery.
10. 1935
    For his 80th birthday, the Saxon Art Association and the art dealer Emil Richter hold special exhibitions of his watercolours. The Saxon Ministry of the Interior, the State of Saxony and the City of Dresden acquire works by him.
11. 1914–1931
    Lives in Dresden-Antonstadt, Angelikastraße 7, then in Dresden-Blasewitz.¹
12. 1926
    His watercolour “Bei Salesel” is shown at the Great Watercolour Exhibition in Dresden.¹
13. 1943
    Adolf Noether dies in Dresden on 8 July, in his 88th year.

¹ After: Künstler am Dresdner Elbhang, vol. 2, Dresden 2007, p. 322 (see sources).

Was he a student of Ludwig Richter?

This has often been claimed – this website said so for a long time, too. The sources are more cautious: a 1943 obituary speaks of “friendly relations”, the Elbhang biography says he met Richter as a young lithographer. In 1992 the art dealer H. W. Fichter noted that Noether was not one of Richter's students, but had probably still met the then retired professor in the mid-1870s; his subjects, Fichter wrote, show the lasting influence of the late Romantic painter. In short: influenced by Richter and personally acquainted with him – but probably not his student in the strict sense.

Technique and subjects

Over the years Noether developed a mixed technique of his own: to give his watercolours more depth and expression, he emphasised contours with charcoal and pencil. One obituary praises the delicacy of his brushwork – all the more remarkable because he could paint with his left hand as well as his right.

He found his subjects close to home: Dresden and Loschwitz, the Elbe valley and the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, Meissen and Moritzburg. There are also flower pieces, still lifes, figure paintings and historical scenes. Contemporaries counted him among the Loschwitz circle and saw him as a successor to Ludwig Richter.

Illustrations for Raphael Tuck & Sons?

I own small poetry booklets published around 1900 by Raphael Tuck & Sons (London, Paris, New York) that bear the note “Illustrations by A. Noether”, mostly with flower motifs. The period and the fact that they were printed in Saxony suggest that Adolf Noether is meant – but there is no proof yet. Do you know more about these publications?

From the obituaries of 1943

Both obituaries appeared in July 1943 in the Nazi-controlled press; Der Freiheitskampf was the NSDAP's regional newspaper in Saxony. They should be read as documents of their time. Short excerpts (translated):

“With a loving eye he looked at what nature offered him; with a particularly open eye he walked through his homeland and discovered its hidden beauties and the delights of its secret corners.”

Leonore Kupke, Dresdner Zeitung, July 1943

“Nöther was a painter of the Loschwitz circle. He was on friendly terms with Ludwig Richter. All his life he remained true to his modest manner, devoted entirely to contemplation and the feeling for nature.”

Walter Preusser, Der Freiheitskampf, 9 July 1943

Both obituaries also mention that Hitler acquired a portfolio of about 70 of Noether's watercolours for the guest house on the Obersalzberg. Its whereabouts are unknown – see Wanted.

Family

I am a direct descendant of Adolf Noether: he was my grandmother's grandfather. Through marriage the Noether name was lost in my line – my grandmother later bore the name Gruhner, and my name is Felber. The chart shows the family as far as it is known to me; living persons are deliberately not listed. Are you related to Adolf Noether as well? Then I would be delighted to hear from you.

1. Parents
   Wilhelm August Ferdinand Noetherb. 13 Aug 1821 Dresden · d. 10 Jan 1901 Dresden⚭Pauline Auguste Schaeferb. 19 Aug 1814 Dachrieden · d. 27 Jan 1882 Dresden
2. The painter
   Adolf Emil Noetherb. 9 Dec 1855 Dresden · d. 8 Jul 1943 Dresden · painter⚭ 1884Marianna Deilb. 13 Apr 1865 Plauen
3. Children
   Adolf Johannes Noetherb. 22 May 1885 Berlin · d. 7 Nov 1916 · engineer⚭ 1910Theodore Hahnb. 11 Feb 1882 Dresden · d. 22 Jun 1956 Chemnitz · photographer

   Susanne Noethermarried name Scheven

   Otilie Noethermarried name Jacobi
4. Grandchildren
   Theodor Adolf Wolfgang Noetherb. 12 Feb 1912 Chemnitz · d. 1 Feb 1999 Chemnitz

   Elisa Noetherb. 13 Feb 1917 Chemnitz · d. 6 Oct 1998 Chemnitz⚭ 1939Johannes Rudolf Gruhnerb. 6 Nov 1907 Thum · d. 30 Oct 1986 Chemnitz

   The grandchildren are the children of Adolf Johannes Noether; Elisa Gruhner, née Noether, is my grandmother.

Source: family records (family tree, as of 2005). Further lines and later generations will be added once verified.

Not to be confused with …

• Emmy Noether (1882–1935), the eminent mathematician (Noether's theorem), daughter of the mathematician Max Noether. I am not aware of any family relationship with Adolf Noether.
• Ernst Benedikt Noether (born 1864 in Mannheim), portrait and landscape painter in Mannheim, a student of Nikolaos Gysis.
• Adolf Hitler: It is sometimes assumed that “Adolf Noether” was a pseudonym of Hitler, who also painted watercolours. This is not the case. Adolf Noether was an independent Dresden painter, 34 years older than Hitler (born 1889), and was already publishing his work in the 1890s – when Hitler was still a child. He is listed with his own biographical data in the artists' dictionaries by Thieme-Becker and Vollmer. The only connection is that Hitler bought watercolours by Noether (see Wanted).

Sources and literature

• Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker (eds.): Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, vol. 25, Leipzig 1931, p. 500 (as “Adolf Nöther”; information supplied by the artist; works in the Bautzen City Museum and in Dresden).
• Hans Vollmer (ed.): Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts, vol. 3, Leipzig 1956, p. 488.
• Hans Ries: Illustration und Illustratoren des Kinder- und Jugendbuchs im deutschsprachigen Raum 1871–1914, Osnabrück 1992, p. 748.
• Sydney H. Pavière: A Dictionary of Flower, Fruit and Still Life Painters, vol. III, Leigh-on-Sea 1964.
• Badischer Kunstverein (ed.): Alte und neue Fächer aus der Wettbewerbung und Ausstellung zu Karlsruhe, 1891, Vienna 1891, plate 27.
• Adolf Noether: Blumenstudien, Grimme & Hempel, Leipzig 1892 (18 plates).
• Obituaries: Leonore Kupke, Dresdner Zeitung, July 1943; Walter Preusser, Der Freiheitskampf, 9 July 1943; Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten, 11 July 1943.
• Ortsverein Loschwitz-Wachwitz e. V., Ortsverein Pillnitz e. V., Verschönerungsverein Weißer Hirsch-Oberloschwitz e. V. (eds.): Künstler am Dresdner Elbhang, vol. 2, Elbhang-Kurier-Verlag, Dresden 2007, p. 322: “Adolf Nöther” (with portrait photograph).
• H. W. Fichter Kunsthandel und Edition (ed.): Malerische Reisen (series Gezeichnete Kunst), Frankfurt am Main 1992, pp. 130–131: “Der frühlingshafte Loschwitzgrund”.
• Wikipedia (German): Adolf Noether