Rudolph Karl Alexander Schneider, commonly known as Sascha Schneider (21 September 1870 – 18 August 1927), was a German painter and sculptor.

Sascha Schneider
Schneider in 1904
Born
Rudolph Karl Alexander Schneider

(1870-09-21)21 September 1870
Died18 August 1927(1927-08-18) (aged 56)
Swinemünde, Weimar Germany
(now Świnoujście, Poland)
NationalityGerman
EducationDresden Academy of Fine Arts
Known forPainting, sculpture

Biography

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Schneider was born in Saint Petersburg in 1870. During his childhood, his family lived in Zürich, but following the death of his father, Schneider moved to Dresden, where he became a student at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts in 1889. In 1903, he met best-selling author Karl May, and subsequently became the cover illustrator of a number of May's books including Winnetou, Old Surehand, Am Rio de la Plata. A year later in 1904, Schneider was appointed professor at the Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunstschule Weimar.

 
Sascha Schneider (right) with Karl May, 1904

During this period, Schneider lived with painter Hellmuth Jahn [fr].[1] Jahn began blackmailing Schneider by threatening to expose his homosexuality, which was punishable under § 175 of the penal code.[2] Schneider fled to Italy, where homosexuality was not criminalized at that time. In Italy, Schneider met painter Robert Spies [de], with whom he traveled through the Caucasus Mountains. He then traveled back to Germany, where he lived for six months in Leipzig before returning to Italy, where he resided in Florence. When the First World War started, Schneider returned to Germany again, taking up residence in Hellerau (near Dresden). After 1918, he co-founded an institute called Kraft-Kunst for bodybuilding.[3] Some of the models for his art trained here.

 
Grave of Sascha Schneider at Loschwitz Cemetery, Dresden, a short distance from his sculpture (1916) for the grave of the painter Oskar Zwintscher

Schneider, who suffered from diabetes mellitus, suffered a diabetic seizure during a ship voyage in the vicinity of Swinemünde. As a result, he collapsed and died in 1927 in Swinemünde. He was buried in Loschwitz Cemetery, Germany.

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Schneider's painting Hypnosis (in Gallery below) inspired a key shot in the Robert Eggers film The Lighthouse,[4] as well as inspiring the Corpse of King Minos' eyes in Ultrakill.[5]

Works

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  • Mein Gestalten und Bilden. 1912. autobiography

Exhibitions

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  • Sascha Schneider - Ideenmaler & Körperbildner/"Sascha Schneider - Visualizing ideas through the human body" (2013), Stadtmuseum Weimar[6]
  • "Nude in Public: Sascha Schneider - Homoeroticism and the Male Form circa 1900" (2013), Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art[7]
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Literature

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  • Hans-Gerd Röder: Sascha Schneider - ein Maler für Karl May. Karl-May-Verlag. Bamberg 1995. 3-7802-0280-8.
  • Rolf Günther / Dr. Klaus Hoffmann: Sascha Schneider & Karl May — Eine Künstlerfreundschaft. Karl-May-Stiftung. Radebeul 1989.
  • Hansotto Hatzig: Karl May und Sascha Schneider. Dokumente einer Freundschaft. "Beiträge zur Karl-May-Forschung". Edition 2. Bamberg 1967.
  • Annelotte Range: Zwischen Max Klinger und Karl May. Karl-May-Verlag. Bamberg 1999. 3-7802-3007-0.
  • Felix Zimmermann: Sascha Schneider. Verlag der Schönheit. Dresden 1924.
  • Sascha Schneider: Titelzeichnungen zu den Werken Karl Mays. Verlag von Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld. Freiburg. 1905.

References

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  1. ^ Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller, Mann für Mann, pages 636, 637
  2. ^ "Hellmuth Jahn – Karl-May-Wiki" (in German). Karl-may-wiki.de. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
  3. ^ Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller, Mann für Mann, pages 636, 637
  4. ^ "'The Lighthouse' Director Robert Eggers on Making the Most Bonkers Film of 2019". 15 October 2019. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  5. ^ "Interview with Arsi "Hakita" Patala". intothebluesky.com. 2020-12-29.
  6. ^ "Van-de-Velde-Jahr Thüringen 2013". Retrieved 2013-06-21.
  7. ^ "Leslie-Lohman Museum Website". Retrieved 2014-12-31.
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