Ernst Heinrich Platz

1867 Karlsruhe – Munich 1940

 

Between 1891 and 1894 Ernst Heinrich Platz was a student of Julius Exter’s in Munich. He finally transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts Munich to study under Alexander Wagner in whose school he had an own studio from 1893 to1895. Since 1893 he had participated in the annual exhibitions at the Glass Palace (Glaspalast).

Being a passionate mountaineer, Platz foremost focused on alpine subjects in his paintings. Alongside E.T. Compton, Diemer and Reschreiter, he belonged to the second generation of mountain painters. In 1898 he travelled in the Kilimanjaro area, from 1903 and 1911 in the Caucasus. He usually returned from his journeys and mountain hikes with drawings and watercolours. Sometimes he used photographs as a reference for his works. Since the 1890s Platz had illustrated several accounts for the magazines of the German and Austrian Alpine Associations as well as for other periodicals. He frequently depicted dramatic situations that could occur during climbing tours, historic first ascents and the descents of avalanches that he witnessed. Platz also worked as a portraitist. He is considered to be the founder of artistic alpine posters.

For that reason, these cat studies are a rare, exceptional artwork: Platz portrayed the cat’s personality, its mood, its motions, demonstrating a unique power of observation.