EDMUND HENRY OSTHAUS

Born in Hildesheim, Hannover (now part of Germany), Edmund Henry Osthaus was born on August 5, 1858. He studied at the Royal Academy in Düsseldorf with Andreas Muller, Peter Jansen, E. von Gebhardt, Ernst Deger, and Christian Kroner. It wasn’t until 1883 that Osthaus joined his family in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, that he furthered his artistic career and developed a subject matter that he would become famous for. While working at the Toledo Academy of Fine Arts in Ohio, Osthaus began focusing his subject matter on hunting scenes, primarily of the sporting dogs. From 1886 until 1893 Osthaus was the principal at the Academy, continually improving on his technique and enjoying his other passions, hunting and fishing. Because of his great interest in both hunting and sporting dogs, Osthaus became one of the founding members of the National Field Trial Association in the 1890’s. Osthaus was well recognized around the country, building a studio in Los Angeles in 1911, as well as homes in Ohio and New Jersey and a hunting lodge in Marianna, Florida. He created a series of postcards, prints, and calendar pictures for DuPont. His work was also commissioned by such magnates as the Vanderbilts and Morgans who admired his large-scale scenes of life-like animals at work and at play. Osthaus passed away on January 30, 1928 at his hunting lodge in Marianna, Florida. His works have been shown in the Toledo Museum of Art, as well as the Art Institute of Chicago and the Butler Institute of American Art.