Wilhelm Heinrich Focke (1878 - 1974) The north German painter W.H. Focke was born in Bremen in 1878, the eldest son of the senator Dr Johann Focke, founder of the Focke Musem in Bremen. He was a brilliant aircraft pioneer and constructed and piloted the first plane to fly in Germany. (While he went on to pursue an artistic career, his younger brother Prof. Dr. Henrich Focke, became the co-founder of the aircraft factory Focke-Wulf.)

After the unexpected death of the long-term partner of the artist, a considerable archive of paintings and drawings was discovered in a previously unknown store. Many of these "hidden" paintings and drawings had a homo-erotic theme. For the first time these pictures can now be seen and appreciated. In his youth he enthusiastically aided his father to search out and collect objects of cultural and historical interest in Bremen and its hinterland. These formed the basis of the Focke Museum collection. After leaving High School in 1896 he studied art in Düsseldorf and Munich. After finishing military service he studied further in Weimar and Berlin. Between 1903 and 1913 he was closely attached to Max Liebermann, who made it possible for him to have his first exhibition at Paul Cassiere's Kunstsalon. His exhibition of horse paintings was a sell-out. Focke was closely associated with Oscar Kokoshka, Max Slevogt, Olaf Gulbranson and Hans Thoma who were active in Berlin at this time. His friendships within Berlin's artistic world and his early fame as the first German aviator may have been the reason for his connection with the artistic circle of the "Brucke". His affinity to the Brucke painters influenced his early creative processes. The naked body became more and more central to his art. He drew and painted friends and acquaintances in the open air and liked to depict them in connection with his beloved horses. His paintings develop away from an academic style towards a more natural representation of the human body. Placing a dynamic body in natural surroundings became one of his favourite themes.

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