A Beautiful Woman In A Blue Dress - Theodor Funck (1867-1919)

Beautiful woman in a blue dress
Portrait of a young woman in a blue dress on a chair in front of a grey wall. Minimal traces of age. Oil/canvas, signed lower right. 

Theodor Funck studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1890 onwards. His most important teachers were Adolf Schill, Hugo Crola and Johann Peter Theodor Janssen. For a long time he was the assistant of the latter. Funck remained a resident of Düsseldorf until his death. He taught Kristjan Raud as a private student. From 1895 to 1919 he was a member of the Malkasten artists' association. Together with the painters Carl Becker, Heinrich Heimes, Claus Meyer and Erich Nikutowski, Funck was one of the founders of the 1899 association, which split off from the Free Artists' Association of Düsseldorf. At the German National Art Exhibition at the Düsseldorf Industrial and Trade Exhibition in 1902, he received a gold medal from Wilhelm II. In portrait painting he prefers the full figure (as is the case in this painting). Shortly after the First World War in 1919 Funck died of heart disease.