- a German Painter
- Ernst Vollbehr
- 1876 - 1960
Painting on the Western Front
Ernst Vollbehr painting a village landscape on the Western Front in 1915
Ernst Vollbehr was born in Kiel in 1876 and studied painting at various academies in Germany. A born traveller, Vollbehr painted scenes during his many pre-war journeys to such countries als Albania, Brasil, German West-Africa, Cameroon and Togoland. After the war, he continued painting in what where then far-away and exotic lands such as India, Ceylon, Indonesia, Hawaii, California and many others.
- In 1905 he worked for the well-known German artistic magazine 'Jugend'.
During the Great War he produced some 1200 war related paintings and watercolors, a number of which were published in a 1915 edition of his 'war-diary'. This finely printed album contains many color reproductions of his work as well as many personal photographs. Several are reproduced in the following links.
- He published a second volume of war-time diaries in 1917 entitled 'Bei der Heeresgruppe Kronprinz' (With the Crown Prince's Army). Much as in the first volume, he tells of his experiences at the front and with the German armies in the field. This time of events from late 1915 and 1916, most notably the fighting at Vauquois and Verdun.
for more information on the life of Ernst Vollbehr, see the following website : Ernst Vollbehr
cover and titlepage of Ernst Vollbehr's diary of a war-painter on the Western Front in 1915
- to a Gallery of Paintings
Paintings of Verdun
to a Gallery of Photographs
- two photos of Ernst Vollbehr at work during the war
- top: making a portrait of the Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg
- bottom: at work in front-line trenches