The Painter of Berlin

Antoine was born to Georg Antoine, a watchmaker, and his wife, Marie née Roesgen. While still very young, he displayed an aptitude for art, and was apprenticed to a local painter after completing his secondary education. Economic circumstances prevented him from pursuing that goal so, at the age of eighteen, he entered the civil service and became a clerk at the post office in the Lützel [de] district of Koblenz. He continued to practice drawing and painting after work, and was often assigned to do calligraphy, due to his elegant handwriting.

When the Secretary of the Post Office, Heinrich von Stephan, became aware of his talent, arrangements were made for him to study in Berlin. He went there in 1891, enrolled at the Prussian Academy of Art, and studied landscape painting. His most influential instructor was Franz Skarbina. While studying, he worked at the Oberpostdirektion, where he painted façades and small murals, depicting post offices.

 Immediately after moving from Koblenz to Berlin in 1891, Antoine contacted local artists in Berlin.  He studied part-time at the Academy of Fine Arts (Hochschule für Bildende Künste) and attended courses in landscape and nude painting.  In Professor Franz Skarbina (1849-1910), he found an artist who recognized his talent and encouraged and taught him what he, the self-taught artist, had yet to learn.  Initially, Antoine mainly painted landscapes and mostly used watercolors.  After his training under Skarbina, he preferred oil paint for larger images, because it was more expressive, and mostly painted city-themed motifs.  He created many oil, pastel, and watercolor paintings as well as etchings of motifs of Berlin.  Horse-drawn carriages on rain-soaked roads, the hustle and bustle on Leipziger Strasse or passers-by at the Brandenburg Gate – these are impressions the artist captured in their randomness and instantaneousness.  The Cathedral, The Castle and Bridge (Kaiser-Friedrich-Bridge), Unter den Linden, Brandenburg Gate, Leipziger Platz, with the Wertheim Department Store, Potsdamer Platz, Alexanderplatz with Berolina and Police Headquarters, Reichstag, Tiergarten, Kurfürstendamm, Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial Church and Tauentzienstrasse, as well as the City Hall and Altes Museum are naturally included in the list of his paintings of Berlin.  It is the representative Berlin; the Berlin of monumental buildings.  All paintings are atmospheric and were completed using a virtuous impressionistic technique.  The hues of the era and its transformations are easily perceptible by looking at the means of transportation, hackney coaches, the electrical and open top buses as well as the clothing of the pedestrians..

Antoine joined the Reichskulturkammer (Reich Chamber of Culture) after it was established by law in the fall of 1933 to be able to continue working in his profession.  Recognition and orders increased as Otto Antoine became more famous.  Museums, public and state-funded institutions, private art enthusiasts and collectors purchased his works.  In addition, he gained more popularity as his paintings were printed in calendars and a large number of postcards with his depictions of postal motifs were circulated.

Several of his works were lost in the turmoil of World War II.  Among those were 24 oil paintings with depictions of roads, bridges, and places in Berlin which were considered important historic paintings and were stored by the city of Berlin and brought to Warthegau in the Polish territory to protect them during the war.  Another missing piece is the painting entitled “Leipziger Strasse” that had been removed from the inventory of the Berlin National Gallery and was last located at the museum in Gliwice in Upper Silesia. Fortunately, a large amount of his work had been preserved.  However, a complete overview of the locations of Antoine’s works does not currently exist.  At best, the following information may be a reference point.  A large number of his works is currently kept by the family and other private collectors.  The paintings Antoine created for the Postal Museum and some other works the Postal Museum acquired after World War II are currently on exhibit at the Museumsstiftung Post und Telekommunikation.  This includes primarily 22 oil paintings and 16 watercolor paintings as well as drawings and colored facsimiles.  The foundation Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin is in possession of four paintings which were previously owned by the town (“Sicherheitspolizei in Berlin, 1920” [Security Police in Berlin], “Kaiser-Friedrich-Brücke, 1921” [Kaiser-Friedrich Bridge], “Leipziger Platz, 1925”, “Am Potsdamer Platz, 1930” [At Postdamer Platz]) and two graphics by Antoine.