 Geo F. Bobholz is primarily known as George Frank Bobholz
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Family members describe George Frank Bobholz as gifted, ambitious,
extremely talented and able to do practically anything. Living
only fifty-four years, this industrious gentleman, needless to say, was
lost to us much too early.
George Frank was one of seven children born to Herman Ferdinand and
Amelia (Ehlert) Bobholz. His father, originally from Pommern,
Prussia, immigrated to the United States and settled near Fountain
Prairie, Wisconsin where George was born on April 13, 1904. As a
result of the family being heavily involved in farming where they lived
in Fountain Prairie and later on in Traverse, Minnesota, the boy was
unable to finish even grade school and thus his education was gained by
use of his intelligence, experiences, imagination, drive and
determination.
In 1924 Bobholz married Viola Neitzel and by the following year they
had moved to Milwaukee where he was listed in the city directory as a
carpenter; a seemingly logical choice as the name “Bobholz” means a
worker with wood. It was late in the 1920’s when he took up the
art of painting. Whether as a hobby or a means of adding to the
family income is not known. Neither is he known nor believed to
have ever received any instruction in the craft, but by the mid 1930’s,
he was to be found listed in the city directory under the heading of
“artist.”
Literally going door to door in the 1930’s, especially along affluent
Lake Drive on the Milwaukee lakefront of Lake Michigan, the artist took
orders and sold his work. At times this would entail having
artwork hanging in his home for a time before being sold or
delivered. His wife would grow fond of some particular work, and
then it too would be sold. Realizing her irritation, he would
comment that “he would paint her another.” Additional outlets for his
paintings included the Lenz’s Art Store and the Kaufman Funeral Home in
Milwaukee, whose owner had been a schoolmate of his mother’s. Also
during the 1930’s, family lore has the artist teaching at the Layton
School of Art in Milwaukee, but no records could be found to verify the
fact.
Initially, the artist worked with a framer by the name of Surgandi out
of Milwaukee who hand caved and gilded frames by hand, but Bobholz
eventually picked up his techniques and began to produce them himself.
During the 1930’s the artist worked on several artistic projects that
included Altar decoration for St. Boniface Catholic Church and diorama
painting for the Milwaukee Public Museum. During the height of
the Depression the United States government initiated the Federal Art
Project, a division of the Works Progress Administration. The Index of American Design,
one of numerous projects under this program, employed over a thousand
artists around the country to document American decorative arts from
colonial days through the 19th century. Bobholz had a number of
his submissions accepted and included in that project.
By the late 1930’s he began working with home design and building
construction, becoming known as a general contractor, and appears to
have ceased endeavors in the area of painting. Bobholz almost
literally built homes by himself only using several essential
subcontractors for utility installation. His signature motif in
designing homes became the use of red brick with stone corners. In 1949
he moved his family to Brookfield, Wisconsin where he soon listed his
construction business as “Bobholz and Sons, Inc.” as his three sons
were then old enough to help with the family business.
While his career as an artist was quite short in the number of years
involved – from the late 1920’s through the 1930’s – Bobholz was also
quite prolific and his works now come up for auction a few times every
year throughout the country. Known as an artist who
“painted to order,” he had the ability to excel in numerous areas,
including floral pieces, landscapes and figure studies.
His very early death in Brookfield, Wisconsin at the age of 54 on August 16, 1957 came as a result of multiple myeloma cancer.
Submitted by Edward Bentley, Art Collector and Researcher from Lansing, Michigan.
Biographical references include the artist’s obituary and death certificate as well as conversations with the family.
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