1863 – Landau – 1923
German Painter
In Front of the Fireplace
Friedrich Ferdinand Koch was born on 18 February 1863 in Landau, Palatinate, Germany, and died there on 24 February 1923. He was a German painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for his landscapes and portraits.
Koch studied at the Academy of Karlsruhe (1882–1884) under E. Schurth and Th. Poeckh, and later at the Dresden Academy with L. Pohle, where he became a master student of Scholtz. After a brief stay in Munich, where he joined the local Artists’ Association, he moved to Belgium, living for fourteen years in Antwerp and Zwijndrecht.
Upon returning to Germany, Koch worked in Karlsruhe and Aachen before settling permanently in his hometown of Landau. There, he found his true artistic calling in depicting his native Palatinate. He favored small sections of forests and meadows, approaching them with meticulous attention to detail and a deep appreciation for realism. In addition to landscapes, he achieved notable success in portraiture, especially in portraying women. In his later years, he focused increasingly on pastel, achieving an exceptional luminosity of color.
Koch exhibited regularly from 1892 at the Munich Glaspalast and from 1899 at the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung (Great Berlin Art Exhibition), with further showings in Karlsruhe, Hannover, Baden-Baden, Stuttgart, and at the Künstlerhaus in Vienna. After his death, the Landau branch of the Association of Palatinate Artists and Art Lovers organized a collective exhibition in 1924–1925 featuring works from all periods of his career (Landauer Anzeiger, 27 December 1924).
His work is distinguished by a sensitive handling of light and atmosphere, as seen in the large-scale portrait Girl with Cat by the Fireplace (114 × 91 cm), which captures a mixture of early coquettishness and childlike innocence.
Koch’s oeuvre combines atmospheric landscapes of his native Palatinate with masterful portraits, securing his place as a significant figure in German painting of his time.
Selected Exhibitions:
Munich Glaspalast: 1892, 1894, 1897/99, 1907/09
Große Berliner Kunstausstellung: 1899, 1901, 1903, 1905, 1906, 1909, 1910, 1913
Jubilee Exhibition for Art and Crafts, Karlsruhe 1906
German Art Exhibition, Baden-Baden 1912
Art Exhibition, Stuttgart 1914
Künstlerhaus, Vienna, from 1900 onwards
