Luebeck artists and Luetgendorff's classrooms

In 1890 on the corner of Kapitelstrasse and Pferdemarkt there was an arts school headed by Professor Willibald Leo Freiherr von Luetgendorff-Leinburg (1856-1937). This, historical painter, educator and historian, who was educated in Munich and later lead the painting and fine art collection of the Luebeck cathedral- “Gemälde- und Kunstsammlung im Lübecker Dom-Museum” (destroyed during WW2 - 1942) – first came to the hanseatic city of Luebeck for a comission. He chose to stay and found an arts school which quickly attracted students from all of Europe.

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The schools produced generations of master artists: the late impressionist Karl Gatermann d.Ä., the etcher Heinrich Eickmann; Anna Meyer Gasteiger, a co-founder of the artists' colony Holzhausen/Ammersee; Hildegard Schwartz; Anna Draeger-Muehlenpfordt; Wilhelm Schodde; Albert Aereboe; Erich Dummer; the sculptors Otto Mantzel and Fritz Behn; the illustrator and author Sibylle von Olfers („Etwas von den Wurzelkindern“), Alfred Mahlau, professor and one of the most influential graphic artists of his time...

Professor von Luetgendorff stayed connected to Munich. Due to his recommendation, students such as Albert Aereboe and Karl Gatermann left Luebeck to study at the Muenchener Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste and take up lessons with Professor Hugo von Habermann. Eventually they returned to the north. Many students remained resident in the hanseatic city and continued their work on Luebeck motives; the captivating harbor of the fisherman's village for example.