Strahalm was born Vienna, Austria. Strahalm inherited his talent from his father who was an artist of Vienna, receiving his early training from him and later studied at the Art School of Hamburg. His mother Wilhelmina Loria, from Copenhagen, Denmark, who died in Mexico City in the 1920's, also encouraged him in his work.

     Strahalm moved to Mexico City in 1909 and then to Texas in 1911. Briefly in San Antonio and Houston, then permanently in Dallas.

     Franz Strahalm specialized in landscapes, painting many local scenes in Dallas. He also did figure, portrait and mural work and used oil, water color and tempera and painted creditable bluebonnet canvases. He exhibited successfully at the Royal Academy at Vienna; Paris before coming to America in 1911; New York at the Anderson Gallery Exhibit: Independent Artists Exhibit at the Waldorf-Astoria; also in Boston, Houston, San Antonio, Austin & Dallas. He won two first prize awards and one second.

     Strahalm was a member of the Society of Independent Artists; Art Center of New York; Southern States Art League; and the Dallas Art Association.

     He received a single honor at the Sesquicentennial in Philadelphia, when he was invited to send a specimen of his work for exhibition at the Exposition.

     From a sketching trip during the summer of 1926, Strahalm made a number of paintings of the scenic beauty along the Colorado and Pecos Rivers. And in the summer of 1927 the artist accompanied by his son, Wolfgang, made a sketching trip through the Western country, going into New Mexico. He found this quaint and colorful country so attractive that he spent many weeks at the Santa Fe Art Colony where he made numerous sketches of the Indian villages at Santa Fe and at Taos. Soon thereafter, many of his watercolors and oils were exhibited at the Santa Fe Museum of Art.

     Strahalm was an artist of early importance in the twenties and thirties and is now being rediscovered by Texas collectors.
 

Seeking to Purchase Works by
Franz Strahalm
& other Early Texas Artists

 

San Antonio, Texas
Specializing in Early Texas Art Since 1988

Email or Call Richard Plumly
(210) 408-7778