Heinrich Knirr

Heinrich Knirr studied at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Heinrich Hoffmann, Trude Schullerus and Emmy Paungarten are recorded as having studied under Heinrich Knirr. The recorded working language is German. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait, genre and figure. Places of work recorded in the authority are Munich. Employment is recorded with Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. Distinctions recorded are Goethe Medal for Art and Science.

He was born in Pantschowa (in modern-day Serbia). He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, with Christian Griepenkerl and Carl Wurzinger, then attended the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, where he took lessons from Gabriel von Hackl and Ludwig Löfftz. In 1888 he founded a private painting school in Munich, which was very popular throughout Europe. He remained in Munich and opened a private art school there in 1888. Eventually, his school gained a good reputation throughout Europe. From 1898 to 1910, he also taught at the Munich Academy. He was also a member of the Munich Secession and, later, the Vienna Secession. • Illustration — "Hitler, the Creator of the Third Reich and Renewer of German Art" (German: Adolf Hitler, der Schöpfer des Dritten Reiches und Erneuerer der deutschen Kunst), Hitler's official portrait in 1937 by Knirr At the beginning of World War I, he gave up his teaching activities and moved to Starnberg. In the 1920s, the Thannhauser family became his major patrons. After 1922, he lived in Upper Bavaria. During the Nazi régime, he remained popular and, in 1937, was represented at the first Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung at the Haus der Kunst in Munich, with one of his portraits of Adolf Hitler. Over the next few years, he exhibited fourteen works there altogether, including portraits of Hitler's private chauffeur, Julius Schreck, and his mother Klara. Both paintings were hung in Hitler's office at the Berghof in Berchtesgaden. He also did the official portrait of Rudolf Hess, and Albert Speer often referred to him as the "court painter". In 1942, Knirr was awarded the Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft. In 1944 he died in Staudach-Egerndach.