Georg Meyn

He began his studies at the Prussian Academy of Arts, from 1876 to 1882, where his primary instructor was the history painter, Otto Knille. Study trips later took him to Scandinavia, Belgium, Italy, France and Spain. His first major exhibition was at the Academy in 1886. He also held successful showings at the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung, in 1894 and 1897, when he was awarded a small gold medal, and at the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1899. He had married Johanna Eins, who was a teacher, in 1896. They would have two daughters and a son. By the turn of the century, he had made a name for himself as a high-society portrait painter. More exhibitions followed; notably in 1900 at the Kunsthalle Bremen, and with the Berlin Secession. In 1901, he was appointed head of the painting class at the Academy, succeeding Max Koner, and was named a Professor in 1903, although he continued to paint portraits. The following year, he was able to build a large home for his family, in Neuglobsow on the Stechlinsee. His descendants still own the home; using it for an art gallery and community meeting place. He also began making visits to the artists' colony at Ahrenshoop. The exhibitions continued, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904), Venice Biennale (1905), where he received good critical notice for a portrait of his fellow painter, Hans Looschen, the Kunstverein in Hamburg (1906), and again at the Vienna Künstlerhaus (1909). He also became a member of the Allgemeine Deutsche Kunstgenossenschaft, and the Verein Berliner Künstler. His students included Elisabeth Schellbach, Ottilie Kaysel, and Kurt Losch. He died at the age of sixty, and was interred at the Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery.