Lesser Ury
(German, 1861-1931)
Lesser Ury was born in Birnbaum in 1861. Following the death of his father in 1972, Ury and his family moved from the small village of Birnhaum to Berlin. Ury studied painting at the art academy of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and travelled between Brussels, Paris and Stuttgart before his return to Berlin.
Although his first exhibition in 1889 was met with hostility, his work was praised by Adolph Von Menzel which influenced the Akademie to present Ury with a prize.
In 1901, Lesser Ury returned to Berlin, where he exhibited with the Berlin Secession, first in 1915 and notably in 1922, when he had a major exhibition. By this time, the artist's critical reputation had largely grown and his paintings and works were in high demand. He specifically mastered oil paintings, in which he created flower images, still lifes, typical coffee houses and street scenes, as well as making use of the pastel technique, which enabled him to paint air and light reflections of landscapes in great detail.
