Constantin von Mitschke-Collande

Constantin von Mitschke-Collande descended from a noble Silesian family. He studied architecture in München and at the same time attended a private painting school. From 1907, he continued his studies at the Art Academy in Dresden. On a study trip to Rome and Florence, he became acquainted with Italian Renaissance and Baroque painting, which had a strong influence on him.

After his studies von Mitschke-Collande worked in Paris with Maurice Denis and Fernand Léger and came into contact with Cubism. He served in World War I and afterwards was one of the founders of the “Dresden Secession Group 1919”. In 1937, some of his paintings were confiscated as “degenerate” and destroyed. During World War II, he worked temporarily as a teacher at the Fashion and Textile School in Berlin. Large parts of his work were destroyed during the bombing of Dresden.

After the end of the war von Mitschke-Collande moved first to Rothenburg ob der Tauber and a few years later to Nürnberg. Children from his first marriage (divorced in 1940) were the actors Volker and Gisela von Collande. Actress Nora von Collande is his granddaughter.

Von Mitschke-Collande was a portrait and figure painter, woodcutter and lithographer and belonged to the “expressionists of the second generation”. In the 1920s, he approached New Objectivity. In Dresden he also worked as a stage designer for various theaters. During the National Socialist era, he experienced severe restrictions and retreated into the “Inner Emigration”. During the last years of his life in Nürnberg, he produced an experimental later work that embraced new trends.