Charles A. Meurer, Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida, oil on canvas on Masonite, 10.25 by 14.875 inches. Signed and dated 1924, lower right.
Charles Meurer an internationally famous Cincinnati artist, had a home on the Little Miami River, in Cincinnati. Meurer first visited St. Augustine in 1924, as documented by his painting of Fort Marion above. He visited Miami in the summer of 1931, returning home with photographs of Miami homes and scenes which he planned to paint later. Meurer returned to St. Augustine in January 1933 with his friend artist Louis C. Vogt and continued to visit there and in Miami until his death in 1955.
Charles A. Meurer, Miami Yacht Basin, 1938, oil on board, 5 by 7 inches. Signed lower right C A Meurer, 1938. Titled on verso and “Dedicated to Lucien and Tilly from dad, Xmas, 1939.”
Born in Germany, Meurer grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee. At the age of 17 he was in the grocery business with his brother but found little happiness there. He bought some brushes and paints and during spare moments, began painting. The results were so good his friend encouraged him to study art. Meurer entered the Cincinnati Art Academy. His painting, Harnet’s Old Violin, was exhibited at the Cincinnati centennial in 1888. In 1891 he left Cincinnati for a year’s study of art in the old Latin Quarter of Paris.
Meurer’s work was praised by Czar Nicholas of Russia. In 1893 his trompe l’oeil painting, My Passport, was exhibited at the Chicago World’s Fair. It was so realistic that government officials confiscated the picture under laws governing the reproduction of money. The picture was returned later under the condition that each bill be canceled in red.
The Miami Daily News, (February 23, 1944) noted Meurer’s arrival in Miami, “Teacher Meets Student 50 years later in Miami. Fifty years ago, Charles A. Meurer, Cincinnati, Ohio, artist, had as one of his painting students Charles Reiner, then of Cincinnati, but a permanent resident of Miami for the past 12 years. Reiner was then a boy of 16, and his maestro 28, fresh from study in Paris….On Tuesday Meurer…and Reiner, were planning an itinerary which will take them through scenic spots of Greater Miami on a painting spree. They plan a solid month of sketching and painting in and about Miami, which, in their opinion, is a painter’s paradise.”
Charles A. Meurer, Hotel Ponce de Leon, from West Side, St. Augustine, 1933, oil on canvas, 11 3/4 by 13 3/4 inches. Signed lower right, C. A. Meurer, 1933.
Born:1865, Germany. Died:1955. Education: Cincinnati Art Academy; Lyons, France under Parache and Tollet; Paris, Latin Quarter, Academy Julian, under Bouguereau, Jean Paul Laurens, Benjamin Constant, Doucet and Ferrier. Membership: Cincinnati Art Club, director; St. Augustine Arts Club. Exhibits: Red Cross Room, Tampa City Hall, under auspices of Tampa Museum of Fine Art, November 1920; St. Augustine Arts Club, Davenport Park, March 1933; St. Augustine Arts Club, Woman’s Exchange, Burt House, January 1934; St. Augustine Arts Club, Art Mart, Old Slave Market, Plaza, February 1934; Art Institute of Miami, 2nd Annual, at Biltmore Hotel, March 1934, a flower portrait.
