Oskar Herrfurth was a German painter and illustrator. Today he is best known as an author of postcards which are becoming more and more popular among collectors. It's very hard to find any data about his life, so we'll offer just what it's available on-line.
Town musicians of Bremen (postcard)
He was born on February 5th, 1862 in Merseburg, one of the oldest cities in today's central Germany. He got formal training at the art school in Weimar, where he lived for many years, and where he eventually died in 1934. For some time he lived in Hamburg as well.
Landscape with stream and birch trees, 1890, oil on canvas 100 x 66 cm
Oskar Herrfurth made his career in genre painting and fairy tale illustrations. His most successful works were series of postcards (usually by six pieces for each) with illustrations of the scenes from popular fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Ludwig Bechstein, and Brothers Grimm. We must mention pictures for Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen's and Karl May's books. They all will be presented right here, on this webpage.
Pipe Smoking Gnome, 1907, mixed technique on paper 53 x 39 cm
His technique of choice was charcoal pencils, aquarelles, and guache. Bright, optimistic colors are after all these years still his signature mark. If, by any chance, you find any additional info about Oskar Herrfurth whose art can achieve prices up to several thousand dollars today (A harem beauty on the right was sold at Christie's for more than four thousand US dollars in 2005), please shoot me a note, and I'll include it ASAP.
The oil prince (illustration)
Musician and smokers, 1890, watercolor and ink wash, 71 x 101 cm
Pied Piper of Hamelin (postcard)
A harem beauty, oil on card, undated, 77 x 49 cm
Baron Munchhausen (postcard)