Georg Gelbke

Georg Gelbke studied mainly at the Art Academy in Dresden, but at times also in München. Study trips took him to several European countries. A bone disease in his youth caused a double curvature of his spine. In 1910, he settled in Dresden and was influenced by Impressionism, later also by Expressionism. He mostly painted landscapes in Saxony and East Prussia, especially winter images of the Curonian Spit. Much of Gelbke’s life’s work was lost in a bombing raid on Dresden in 1945 when his studio was destroyed. During the war, his Christian religiosity also intensified. He was the brother-in-law of his colleague Richard Birnstengel (1881-1968).

Of Gelbke’s submitted works, only Rugby was a painting, the others were drawings. Hockey was a motif that he took up several times. A drawing from 1929 became a 17 x 22 cm etching.