Alexander Demetrius Goltz
1857–1944 · Austro-Hungarian and Austrian painter, illustrator and scenic designer
Alexander Demetrius Goltz (Püspökladány, 1857 – Vienna, 1944) was a painter, illustrator and scenic designer from Austria-Hungary and later Austria. The son of a railway engineer, he was raised in Vienna from the age of two and trained in Munich and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Anselm Feuerbach.
He began as a history painter and later turned to landscapes and portraits. He first exhibited in 1876 and joined the Vienna Künstlerhaus. From 1904 to 1910 he was in charge of stage design at the Burgtheater and the Vienna State Opera, and during those years he painted several performers, Josef Kainz among them. He belonged to the Hagenbund from 1900 to 1911 and served as its president in 1906/07.
In the First World War he worked as a battle painter for the Imperial Kriegspressequartier at fronts in Belgium, Russia, Italy, Serbia and Turkey. Many of these works are now held by the Museum of Military History. His output moves from history painting to theatrical portraiture and wartime record, and his presidency of the Artists' Cooperative at the Künstlerhaus (1925–1929) reflects his standing in Vienna's art life.