Adolf Obst (1869-1945) was a German landscape painter. At the age of fourteen, Obst began an apprenticeship at the Imperial Press in Berlin, where he gained experience in lithography and engraving. His artistic skills were noticed by his teachers who sent Obst to the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin where he excelled as a student.

In 1897, Obst was awarded a grant from the Prussian Minister of Culture, which enabled him to embark on a two-year world tour with writer Paul Lindenberg. In 1900, he was appointed the war artist for a German expeditionary force to China where he spent two years painting images of the country.

After returning to Berlin, Obst continued to paint landscapes and ran an art school. In 1914, Obst was reappointed a war artist and was assigned to paint studies of captured French prisoners of war of African descent. After the war Obst continued to paint scenes of Berlin and Potsdam up to the Second World War when his studios were destroyed by allied bombings. Obst visited Ceylon during his world tour in 1897.

Adolph E. Gustav Obst, Germany

Landscape painter, illustrator and draftsman (1869 Berlin to 1945 Potsdam),

Frst apprenticeship as lithographer and engraver in the Reichsdruckerei Berlin,
Studied 1888-93 at the Berlin Academy, here

1893-97 master student of Eugen Bracht, undertook 1897-98 a world tour with the writer Paul Lindenberg,
1898 opening of a painting school in Berlin-Wilmersdorf,

1900-01 accompanied Count Waldersee to China, here war painter during the Boxer Rebellion and own studio in the "Forbidden City" in Peking, from

1902 member of the Verein Berliner Künstler, undertook painting trips through southern Sweden and the Mark Brandenburg,

1907 mainly working in France and student at the Académie Julian in Paris and studio in Versailles,

1914-15 war painter at headquarters, awarded the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle, represented in numerous collections, including the Galerie Krupp Essen and the former Prussian State Gallery, member of the Reichsverband Bildender Künstler Deutschlands, the Verband Berliner Künstler, in the Association of German Illustrators and in the General German Art Cooperative,

Nember of the art deputation of the district office Wilmersdorf, supplied the Great Berlin Art Exhibition in 1894-1927 and the Great German Art Exhibition in the House of German Art Munich in 1941-43, active in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, from 1943 in Potsdam ,

Source: Thieme-Becker, Saur "Bio-Bibliographisches Künstlerlexikon", Dressler, Jansa, Ries, Müller-Singer, files of the Reichskammer der bildenden Künste Berlin and Wikipedia

Adolf Obst was born in 1869 in Berlin, where he studied at the Academy. Later, he also completed the Académie Julian in Paris.