Adolf Gustav Schlabitz (born June 7, 1854 in Groß-Wartenberg (Silesia), † September 4, 1943 in Brixlegg (Tyrol)) was a German portrait and genre painter and professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin.
Adolf Schlabitz was born as the second child of a soap maker in 1854 in Groß-Wartenberg (Silesia). At the age of 21 he became a student in 1875 (among others with Paul Thumann , Otto Knille , Karl Gussow and Ernst Hildebrand) at the art academy in Berlin, which he attended until 1882. With the help of a scholarship (Rohr'scher Prize), which he received for the picture “Trial in the jury room of the Breslau regional court”, he was able to study at the Académie Julian in Paris under Jules-Joseph Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger from 1883continue. Further study trips took him through Europe and the USA. After returning from France, he lived in Munich for three years before moving to Berlin in 1887 and opening a private drawing and painting school. Parallel to this activity, Schlabitz was Ernst Henseler's assistant at the Technical University for about twenty years . In 1908 he took over the assistant in the drawing class of Ernst Hancke at the royal academy for fine arts. In 1911, at the request of Anton von Werner, he was awarded the title of professor for his "outstanding artistic teaching" and his artistic work. During his teaching activity, which he held until 1918, his students included:
- Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956)
- Albert Windisch (1878–1967)
- Elsa Genest-Arndt (1882–1956)
- Ernst Kolbe (1895–1945)
- Alexander Kolde (1886–1963)
- Ernst Lübbert (1879–1915)
- August Brömse (1873–1925)
In 1907 he made the monumental painting " Martin Rinckart's supplication service" for the secondary school in Eilenburg (today: Martin-Rinckart-Gymnasium ) .
As early as 1901 he bought a house ("Brantnerhäusl") with land in Brixlegg , which he initially used as a holiday home in the summer and from 1921 as a permanent residence.
In addition to painting, his passion was collecting folk art (ethnographic collection). Adolf Schlabitz was a member of the Prussian Academy of the Arts, the Berlin Art Association and the Association of Berlin Artists . From 1935 to April 1941 he belonged (as the oldest member) to the studio community at Klosterstrasse (studio no. 105).
Schlabitz died in Brixlegg in 1943 a few months after his 89th birthday and was buried in Groß-Wartenberg.
