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Mathias Alten artist Music, Ernesto Cortazar Mathias J. Alten was born in 1872 in Gusenburg, Germany. When he was 17 he and his family emigrated to Grand Rapids, Michigan which was a major manufacturing area and art community. In Germany he was an apprentice of Joseph Klein, a decorative painter, and worked on theaters and churches. When arriving in Grand Rapids, he worked for two years as a decorative painter for rathskellers and, also, ran a furniture decorating business and did fresco painting. He studied with Edwin A. Turner, wanting to become a professional artist and his first exhibit was in 1896 at the Michigan State Fair. He did florals and portrait paintings but his landscapes were his defining work. In 1898 he went to France and studied at the Academie Julian and won a prize for the best figure drawing. He then took classes in animal drawing at a veterinary school. Then he traveled throughout Europe. Back in Grand Rapids, his oil p
