Fritz Bachmeyr
American/German (b. 1944)
BIOGRAPHY
Fritz Renato Bachmeyr was born in 1944 in Munich, Germany. His father, Friedrich Bachmeyr, came from an old Bavarian family dating back to the 16 the century. His mother was Baroness Von Glockenbach. At the age of 12, after discovering his natural talent for music and drawing, his family enrolled him into the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Italy. He studied there for 5 summer semesters under the guidance of Italian, German and Austrian old-master painters such as Karl Stutz, Herbert Lieber and Antonio Brazzo. At the age of 17 his paintings were recognized as an exemplary talent by his peers and was hailed by his tutors as an up and coming young master painter and draftsman. He finished his apprenticeship in Italy and exhibited his work in Milano, Munich and Vienna until 1962.
In 1963, at the age of 19, Fritz Renato Bachmeyr immigrated to the United States of America, joining his grandmother, Baroness Von Glockenbach, in New York City. He was employed as a painting restorer, painter and jazz drummer until getting drafted into the United States Army in 1967. He served honorably in Vietnam and Germany until 1969.
All through his 50s Fritz became fascinated with the French Barbizon period and all the Barbizon painters. He even visited the county of Barbizon outside of Paris and lived for several months in the very same environment as his 19th century counterpart painters. In addition he studied most of the 19th century British, French, German and Dutch salon painters, including the 17th century French painter Nicolas de’Largilliere.
Since moving to Spokane with his wife to be closer to their children and grandchildren, Fritz paints portraits and Idaho, Washington, and Cascade Mountain landscapes, as well as many classical and allegorical academic paintings. He has managed up to date to produce over 7,000 paintings in the fifty plus years of honing his craft.
If Fritz has learned one thing in his years of painting it is that the art is a never ending learning experience, and it’s demands of excellence is a constant pressure that is self evident in each and every painting. He would like to leave this thought for all the future painters: “In art there is no perfection, only the constant need of the artist to perfect what nature can do effortlessly.”