34 boulevard de Clichy
Figure no. 24
Born c. 1868
Painter · Germanic school

Julius von Kollmann

Known as Jules Kollmann or Jules de Kollmann — Germanic painter born c. 1868, active at 34 boulevard de Clichy at the turn of the 20th century

Julius von Kollmann, known in France under the names of Jules Kollmann or Jules de Kollmann, is a painter of Germanic origin — probably Austrian or German — born c. 1868 (some databases give around 1870). Active mainly in Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he belongs to the tradition of foreign artists settled in the French capital, working in a realist-academic style with impressionist touches, particularly in still lifes and flowers. His Parisian address at 34 boulevard de Clichy is attested by exhibition catalogues from the early 20th century — notably that of the 23rd exhibition of the Vienna Secession (1905), where he appears under the name "Kollmann Jules de".

Training and arrival in Paris

Details on Julius von Kollmann's youth and training remain limited. He settled in Paris, most likely in the 1890s, and established himself at the emblematic address of 34 boulevard de Clichy — the Montmartre / Pigalle district, a major hub of artists' studios at the turn of the 20th century. This address appears regularly in exhibition catalogues of the early 20th century, and most notably in his exhibitor record at the Vienna Secession in 1905, where he is explicitly attached to no. 34.

A homonymy to clarify — not the 1860s Kollmann

A note is in order. The Paris Salon catalogues of 1864-1865 do mention an artist named Kollmann at addresses near the boulevard de Clichy — but this is most likely another artist: Charles Kollmann, mentioned as an architect awarded a third-class medal at the 1864 Salon (in collaboration with Charles Rachat). Julius, born around 1868, is too young to have exhibited in the 1860s. There is therefore a possible homonymy or family-line confusion, but the 1864-1865 Salon artist and Julius von Kollmann are to be distinguished.

Three other namesakes also deserve to be set aside:

  • the anatomist Julius Kollmann (1834-1918), professor in Basel;
  • the painter Carl Julius Kollmann (1820-1875);
  • the architect Charles Kollmann from the 1864 Salon mentioned above.

Career and exhibitions

Julius von Kollmann exhibited regularly in Paris and internationally. His main subjects fall into three categories:

  • Portraits — often intimate or of family;
  • Still lifes, particularly flowers — Gartenblumen (Garden Flowers), Rosen aus Nizza (Roses from Nice);
  • Figure studies, nudes, and more symbolist or modern scenes — Tanagra, Appassionato.

Notable exhibitions

  • Paris Salons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the address at 34 boulevard de Clichy.
  • Internationale Kunstausstellung Dresden 1901 — several works exhibited in Dresden.
  • XXIIIᵉ Ausstellung der Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs — the Vienna Secession, March-May 1905, where he presented four works: Gartenblumen, Rosen aus Nizza, Tanagra and Appassionato. His exhibitor record bears the name "Kollmann Jules de" and the address "34 boulevard de Clichy". This record, preserved by the Database of Modern Exhibitions (DoME) at the University of Vienna, constitutes the strongest documentary evidence for Kollmann's connection to no. 34.
  • Posthumous or thematic participation in the 46th Venice Biennale (1995, section on the body / figures).
  • Exhibition at the Nierendorf Gallery in New York in 1939 — Nature-Forms in Art – Flowers and Still Lives.

His style is described as realist with a sensitivity to light and colour in floral compositions. He also worked in pastel.

A coherent geography — no. 34 around 1900-1905

Julius von Kollmann's establishment at 34 boulevard de Clichy at the turn of the 20th century belongs to the cosmopolitan tradition of the lower-Montmartre studios between place Pigalle and place Blanche. At the same time, at the same address:

  • the hall of the Cabaret du Néant had been operating on the ground floor since 1892;
  • at the adjoining no. 36, the cabaret La Lune Rousse opens in 1904;
  • the Société d'éditions de la Lune Rousse, installed at no. 34 "staircase B on the right", begins in 1904 to publish the songs of Georges Baltha and of all the cabaret's chansonniers;
  • at the back of the courtyard, studio 4 is about to host the Toulouse painter Henri Marre.

Adding Kollmann to this geography expands the "foreign / cosmopolitan" stratum of the artists documented at no. 34 — a stratum that also includes Hella Guth (Czech, 1951-1992) and Jean Ségalat (Cévenol settled in Lausanne, c. 1960-1969), making no. 34 a discreet anchor point of artistic Mitteleuropa in Paris over nearly a century. A few steps from no. 34, in the same years, several other foreign artists were settled on the boulevard: Frank Myers Boggs (American) and Ignacio Merino (Peruvian) at no. 1, Pablo Picasso at no. 11 in 1909, William Didier-Pouget at no. 12 around 1907.

Personal life and posterity

Little personal biographical information is available — marriage, exact death date, descendants. Julius von Kollmann seems to have maintained strong ties between Paris and the German-speaking / Austrian world, as confirmed by the dual circuit of his exhibitions (Paris Salons on one side, Dresden 1901 and the Vienna Secession 1905 on the other). His works still pass through public auctions today — portraits, flowers, still lifes — via houses such as Invaluable or Artnet, with moderate estimates.

Why no. 34? The logic of a foreign artist's studio

The Parisian address of a Germanic painter settled between 1900 and 1910 on boulevard de Clichy is no accident. The neighbourhood — between place Pigalle, the Moulin Rouge, place Blanche and the lower slopes of Montmartre — concentrates at this time the four economic conditions that make a studio viable for a painter coming from abroad:

  1. still-moderate rents compared to the Left Bank and the Monceau plateau;
  2. north-facing orientation of the courtyard depths, sought after for the constant light of the studios;
  3. the immediate proximity of café-concerts, cabarets and entertainment venues, indispensable places of sociability;
  4. the presence of art dealers, gallerists, publishers and printers within a few streets — Le Barc de Boutteville on rue Le Peletier, Vollard on rue Laffitte, Durand-Ruel on rue de la Paix.

Julius von Kollmann's registration at this address at the turn of the 20th century thus confirms no. 34 as a point on the cosmopolitan map of Parisian studios, at a moment in art history when Paris remains, indisputably, the world capital of painting — and when the Vienna Secession comes there to find its correspondents.

Known works (selection)

  • Gartenblumen (Garden Flowers) — Vienna Secession, 1905
  • Rosen aus Nizza (Roses from Nice) — Vienna Secession, 1905
  • Tanagra — Vienna Secession, 1905
  • Appassionato — Vienna Secession, 1905
  • Several works presented at the Internationale Kunstausstellung Dresden 1901
  • Works exhibited at the Nierendorf Gallery in New York in 1939, in the exhibition Nature-Forms in Art – Flowers and Still Lives

Sources & resources

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