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Arnold Rönnebeck (May 8, 1885 – November 14, 1947)[1] was aGerman-bornAmerican modernist artist and museum administrator. He was a vital member of both the European and Americanavant-garde movements of the early twentieth century before settling inDenver, Colorado. Rönnebeck was a sculptor and painter, but is best known for hislithographs that featured a range of subjects includingNew York cityscapes,New Mexico andColorado landscapes and Native American dances.
Arnold Rönnebeck was born inNassau, Germany in 1885[2] to a well-educated family. His father, Richard, was an architect and encouraged Rönnebeck to follow in his footsteps.[by whom?] After two years of study at the Royal Art School in bothBerlin andMunich, Rönnebeck decided to pursue sculpture and moved toParis in 1908. He could speak German, French and English and read Greek and Latin. In Paris, he studied withAristide Maillol (dates unknown, likely 1908-1909) andEmile Antoine Bourdelle from 1910-1913 at theAcadémie de la Grande Chaumière.[2] In 1912, Rönnebeck met the American Modernist painter,Marsden Hartley at Restaurant Thomas in Paris, and they became close friends as they moved through the avant-garde circles of Paris and Berlin. He regularly attendedGertrude Stein’s “salons” and according to Stein, “Rönnebeck was charming and always invited to dinner,”[3] together withPablo Picasso,Mabel Dodge, andCharles Demuth. While living in Paris, Rönnebeck completed sculptural commissions for the wealthy and portraits of his friends. These would include a series of watercolors and ink drawings executed in 1912 of dancer,Isadora Duncan. These were likely done from memory after Rönnebeck saw her December 1911 performance at the Théàtre du Chatelet, in Paris. Rönnebeck exhibited three sculptures, including his 1912 bronze Head of Marsden Hartley, at the 1912Salon d'Automne in Paris. In the 1913 Salon d'Autumne, he exhibited two pieces, including his now lost plaster Head of Charles Demuth.[4] His bust ofMarsden Hartley was included in Hartley’s 1914 solo show atAlfred Stieglitz’s Gallery 291 in New York.[citation needed]
The outbreak ofWorld War I forced Rönnebeck to return to Germany where he fought on the front lines. He was wounded twice and was awarded theIron Cross byKaiser Wilhelm II. Arnold Rönnebeck’s cousin was Lieutenant Karl von Freyburg, whom Hartley would fall in love with and follow from Paris to Berlin.[5] Freyburg was killed in combat in October 1914, and Hartley would createPortrait of a German Officer (1914) as a tribute to Freyburg.[6]
In 1920 and 1921, Rönnebeck traveled aroundItaly with German poets Max Sidow and Theodor Daubler. Upon his return to Berlin, he executed first lithographs depictingPositano, Italy.[citation needed]
In 1923 Rönnebeck arrived in the US, initially settling inWashington, DC, staying with the family of his former fiancée, opera singerAlice Miriam Pinch. He lectured on modern art at the Art Center Gallery and exhibited at theCorcoran. He moved to New York City in 1924. In New York, he was immediately welcomed into Stieglitz’s circle[2] of American avant-garde artists that includedArthur Dove,John Marin,Georgia O'Keeffe,Marsden Hartley andCharles Demuth.[citation needed] Rönnebeck wrote a catalogue essay for the landmark exhibition,Alfred Stieglitz Presents Seven Americans at the Anderson Gallery in 1925.[7] Rönnebeck was a prolific writer and art critic and wrote numerous essays and articles about art throughout his career.[8] Thelithographs Rönnebeck made in New York are among his better known works. They borrow from theprecisionism movement and show a fascination with the skyscraper and the landscape of the city, what Rönnebeck termed as "living cubism."[9] TheWeyhe Gallery, directed by Carl Zigrosser, gave Rönnebeck his first solo show in April 1925 and represented him for the rest of his life.[citation needed]. Fourteen of the works in the 1925 Weyhe show were exhibited in April 1926 at the Fine Arts Gallery inSan Diego, California[10] and in June 1926 at theLos Angeles Museum of Art.[11]
In the summer of 1925, Rönnebeck traveled toTaos, New Mexico to visit his friendMabel Dodge Luhan at her artists' enclave.[2] The visit had several important consequences including exposing Rönnebeck to the desert landscape and the Indigenous peoples of New Mexico, which subsequently became recurrent themes in Rönnebeck’s work, and, Rönnebeck's introduction toLouise Emerson (1901–1980). Emerson was a painter from Philadelphia who had studied withKenneth Hayes Miller. Rönnebeck and Emerson were married in March 1926 in New York.[12] He would return to Santa Fe frequently between 1927 and 1929, working with architectJohn Gaw Meem to complete the relief sculptures for the renovation of the La Fonda Hotel. His series of terra cotta panels were inspired by the ceremonial dances of the Pueblo Indians, including Buffalo, Eagle, Deer, Corn, Shalako and Peace Dances.[13] He worked with Meem a second time, in 1936, this time producing three aluminum relief panels depicting Pueblo and Hopi Indian Kachina masks, in the auditorium of theColorado Springs Fine Arts Center.[citation needed]
In May 1926, Rönnebeck gave a lecture at the fledglingDenver Art Museum while he and his new wife were traveling to California on their honeymoon. While visiting the museum, Rönnebeck was offered the position of Art Director, which he accepted. He served in this capacity from 1926 to 1931.[2]
Rönnebeck participated in the 1934 World's Fair inChicago, entitled Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1 to November 1, 1934. His 1921 brass sculpture,Dancer, was loaned by the Weyhe Gallery, in New York.[14]
Rönnebeck was an amateur actor and music enthusiast and became very involved with the renovation of theCentral City Opera House in the historic mining town ofCentral City, Colorado. He performed with theCentral City Opera in their presentation ofThe Merry Widow with Natalie Hall,Gladys Swarthout andRichard Bonelli. Rönnebeck gained American citizenship in 1933.[15] His lithograph,Yacht Races, was also part of thepainting event in theart competition in the Graphic Arts Section at the1936 Summer Olympics.[16]
Arnold and Louise Rönnebeck had two children, Arnold and Ursula. He died ofthroat cancer in 1947.[2]
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