Max Rabes
Illustration — Max Rabes (c. 1916) • Illustration — Max Rabes in his studio (1905) Max Friedrich Ferdinand Rabes (17 April 1868 – 25 July 1944) was a German Impressionist painter. Although he is best remembered as an Orientalist painter, he rejected that label during his lifetime and wanted all of his works to be equally recognized.
Also recorded as Max Friedrich Rabes · Max Friedrich Ferdinand Rabes
Max Rabes

Illustrirte Zeitung: Wöchentliche Nachrichten über alle wesentlichen Zeitereignisse, Zustände und Persönlichkeiten der Gegenwart. Leipzig: Weber, 17.02.1916, 1916(3790 (81)), p. 198. Online: https: d · Public domain
- Born
- 1868
- Died
- 1944 · Vienna.
- Nationality
- German Reich
- Occupation
- painter · university teacher · exlibrist · draftsperson · illustrator
- Fields
- portrait
- Languages
- German
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Documentary evidence
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wikidata · Q15429578 · wikipedia · Max Rabes
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The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Getty Union List of Artist Names
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Biography
Biography
The recorded working language is German. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Employment is recorded with Berlin University of the Arts. Work by Max Rabes is recorded in the collections of Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Bavarian State Painting Collections, National Museum Paleis het Loo, Huis van het boek and Wallraf–Richartz Museum.
Rabes was born in Szamotuły. Following several moves, his family settled in Berlin in 1876. He was initially self taught by making nature studies and sketches. Later, he took lessons from the landscape painter Paul Graeb (1842–1892). Following Graeb's advice, he entered into an apprenticeship with the decorative painter Paul Borgmann. He made numerous trips to North Africa and the Middle East. In 1898, on the recommendation of Oswald von Richthofen, the Foreign Secretary, he was invited to accompany Kaiser Wilhelm II on a trip to Istanbul and Palestine. His fellow painters Carl Saltzmann and Ismael Gentz were also part of the entourage. Many years later, he would travel to America with Prince Cyril of Bulgaria. He was appointed an honorary doctor and became a Professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. In 1899, he was awarded the Order of the Zähringer Lion. In 1914, he undertook a trip to the front lines in East Prussia. The following year, he was at the western front in Belgium and, in 1917, visited Verdun. In between these trips, he maintained a residence in Berlin-Charlottenburg. In addition to his canvases, he did decorative work; including landscape murals at a castle in Lausitz (1901) and a villa in Iserlohn (1905), as well as ceiling paintings and allegorical murals at the Schauspielhaus in what is now Wrocław (1906–1908). He died in 1944 in Vienna.
Documentary record
Max Rabes, a draughtsman, illustrator, painter and sculptor, was born in 1868 and died in 1944 in Vienna. Both events are recorded by the Getty Union List of Artist Names.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1868
Max Rabes born.
1944
Max Rabes died at Vienna.
Selected paintings
• Illustration — The Scribe • Illustration — Vienna Masked Ball • Illustration — Young Egyptian, Resting • Illustration — Fireworks at Versailles

Die Jury der Großen Berliner Kunstausstellung 1917 bei der Arbeit von links nach rechts, sitzend: Professor Max Rabes, Bildhauer Gustav Schmidt-Cassel, Maler Karl Wendel (1878–1943), Berthold Genzmer, Adolf Schlabitz, Professor Friedrich Kallmorgen, Professor Arthur Lewin-Funcke
Berliner Illustrirte Gesellschaft · Rhein und Düssel (No. 23) vom 9. Juni 1917 ULB Düsseldorf
Text attribution
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Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Max Rabes, revision 1355838621 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Biographical data @ H.W. Fichtner galleries.
- 2.Ordensjournal August 2007
- 3.Anonymous: Berlin und die Berliner. J. Bielefelds Verlag, Karlsruhe 1905, pg. 101.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 4
- Rabes, Max in: Meyers Großes Konversationslexikon, 1905, Vol.16, pg.539.
- Richard Braungart (Ed.): "Max Rabes: Kunst der Zeit." In the series: Monographien zeitgenössischer Malerei und Plastik. Verlag Oechelhäuser, 1928.
- Maximilian Rapsilber: Max Rabes. Ein Lebens- und Welt-Bild. Verlag Gustav Braunbeck, Berlin 1918.
- Karin Rhein: Deutsche Orientmalerei in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Entwicklung und Charakteristika. Tenea Verlag für Medien, Berlin 2003
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Further particulars
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Max Rabes is recorded as painter, university teacher, exlibrist, draftsperson and illustrator.
Recognition and collections
Work by Max Rabes is
Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Bavarian State Painting Collections, National Museum Paleis het Loo and Huis van het boek
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 20 August 2026.
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