Karl Fuchs

Karl Fuchs (*February 2, 1872, in Stuttgart; †June 27, 1968, in Esslingen am Neckar) was a well-known lithographer, graphic artist, and painter, particularly recognized in the Esslingen region. He began his career with an apprenticeship as a lithographer and continued his artistic education at the Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, where he studied under Hermann Pleuer and Friedrich von Keller. During this time, he also met the landscape painter Otto Reiniger. In addition to his work as a landscape painter, Fuchs earned a reputation as a portrait artist. His artistic travels took him to Northern Italy (1913), Switzerland (1929), and South Africa (1932), where he created numerous portraits and landscape sketches.

In 1936, Fuchs participated in a competition for Esslingen painters to contribute paintings for the inauguration of the Esslingen Funkerkaserne, for which he received a consolation prize for his painting “View of the Frauenkirche.” On February 2, 1953, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. In Esslingen, his long-time home, the Karl-Fuchs-Weg has been a memorial to his work and artistic significance since 1962. Fuchs’s works are exhibited in the Esslingen City Museum and the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart. The Stuttgart City Archive also holds some of his early graphic works from the 1890s.

Fuchs, whose niece was the well-known opera singer Marta Fuchs, was part of the circle of friends of writer and painter Heinrich Schäff-Zerweck in the early 1890s. This group also included painters Karl Goll and Hans Krauss, and the friends often met at the Dulkhäuschen above Esslingen, a meeting place named after the writer Albert Dulk. Around 1895, Fuchs began his career as a freelance lithographer and book illustrator. He illustrated for the Stuttgarter General-Anzeiger and created view postcards for various publishers. He became especially known in the Stuttgart region for his illustrations of local landmarks such as the market square and the Old Castle. In 1900, he was commissioned to illustrate the four-volume series The Kingdom of Württemberg for the Statistical Office.

In 1900, Fuchs moved with his family to Buoch, where the rural surroundings inspired him to create numerous landscape paintings in oil. There, he formed close connections with an intellectual circle that included figures like Isolde Kurz, Albert von Pfister, and Paul Heyse. After moving to Esslingen in 1907, Fuchs retained his summer home in Buoch. In the subsequent years, he devoted himself to documenting buildings and sights in Württemberg, creating significant historical documents in the process.