Franz Naager
German, 1870-1942
Follow
Franz Naager was a German painter, graphic artist, sculptor, art collector and entrepreneur.
Naager was the son of a Munich public prosecutor (Higher Regional Court secretary). He studied at the Munich Academy of Art from May 24, 1889 under Alexander Strähuber, Ferdinand Barth and Gabriel von Hackl. He then spent the years from 1901 to 1913 in Venice, where he worked as an artist and also purchased works of art. Here he founded art workshops with around 200 employees. Influenced by the sculptor and craftsman Lorenz Gedon and the architect Gabriel von Seidl, he designed works of applied art, including marble inlays, mosaics and sculptural jewelry. After his return to Munich, he acquired the building of the former Schack-Galerie (then Briennerstraße 19-22) to house his art collections.
Naager also worked as a graphic artist and writer and was a member of the Munich artists' association "Allotria". In 1910, he designed relief panels made of Istrian limestone for the main façade of the Berlin Admiral's Palace. Around 1911, he created the terracotta friezes on the façades of the residential and commercial building A. S. Drey (Max-Joseph-Straße 2 in Munich), produced in the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory. In 1922, he was elected an honorary member of the Munich Art Academy.