Adolf Karpellus

ADOLF KARPELLUS (1869-1919).
"Popular party", 1899.
Graphite on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 22 x 25 cm.
Adolf Karpellus was an Austro-Hungarian painter, illustrator and poster artist trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and perfected in Paris thanks to the support of the patron Ivan Bele. He began his career within academic realism, noted for his technical precision, but evolved towards a more fluid style influenced by impressionism. He cultivated various pictorial genres, although he achieved great recognition as a designer of posters, a field in which he broke with the Viennese tradition through more dynamic and decorative compositions, made mainly in watercolor. During the First World War he worked in propaganda for the Central Powers and collaborated with the newspaper Figaro.
He actively participated in European artistic life, was a member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus, exhibited internationally and received a gold medal in 1907.