Julius Segall

BORN: January 4, 1860 in Nakel an der Netze, Posen (now Poland)

DIED: January 20, 1925 in Milwaukee, WI

Julius Segall's mother Johanna, died just a month after his birth. His father Ludwig, remarried and immigrated to the U.S. in 1872 with his second wife and six children - including Julius. Julius appears in Milwaukee records for the first time in 1877. His father was a watch maker, and had a jewely store in Milwaukee, where Julius probably worked.

In 1881, Julius left Milwaukee to study art at the Royal Academy in Munich, where fellow-Milwaukee painter Robert Schade attended. By fall 1883, Segall returned to Milwaukee, followed by Schade. They acquired studio space together in the Iron Block Building on Wisconsin Avenue.

Segall married Regina Werner in Milwaukee on Dec. 30, 1889. Together they had two childern - Rose in 1890, and Edward in 1892. He gave some painting instruction in Milwaukee, but they moved to St. Paul, MN in 1890 where he taught drawing and painting at Hamline University and they remained until 1903. After some travel, they returned to Milwaukee in 1904, where they lived for the rest of their lives.

Segall painted mostly formal portraits - of every-day local workers, religious and genre portraits, and he did several paintings depicting women in peasant dress, although he also painted portraits of pets, socialites, public dignitaries, and officials.

Segall also enjoyed writing - from poetry and stage plays to critical essays for the German language press, and a book of philosophical verse - many reflecting Segall's pacifist position regarding WWI. Segall's writings were described by Martin Fuchs: 

"He had the heart of a child. He was a dreamer who did not see people the way they were, but as he would have liked to see them. An almost unshakeable trust in the goodness of man burst forth from everything he said."

Segall died in Milwaukee in 1925 and is buried in the family plot at Spring Hill Cemetery in Milwaukee. A year after his death, the Milwaukee Art Institute held a memorial exhibition featuring forty of his paintings.

Today, few of Segall's paintings are found in private collections, although many are known to exist. Most are in public collections, hang in public buildings, churches, or in the possession of descendants.

Segall's work is rooted in the Munich realism of the 19th century, and in his admiration of the Great Masters. As an artist, his work is not considered important or influential, although he was a highly competent, and skilled craftsman, and consummate professional.

Biographical Credit: German- American Artists in Early Milwaukee, Peter C. Merrill.

Photo Credit: Rita Segall Pscheidt as produced in Peter C. Merrill Biographical Dictionary above.