San Antonio: Witte Museum

San Antonio: Witte Museum

  • <p>Large building with glass front</p>
  • <p>Wueste, Louisa. Drawing of granddaughter Lille Wueste, age 6, 1867. (UTSA Special Collections Library)</p> <p>Drawing of a small girl with hair pulled back and an off the shoulder dress with ribbon waistband, seated</p>
  • <p>Wueste, Louisa. Drawing of Elize Bunzen. Ca 1850s (SMU, Central University Libraries, Hamon Arts Library, Bywaters Special Collections)</p> <p>Drawing of a woman with hair pulled into side buns wearing a V-necked waistcoat over a simple blouse</p>
  • <p>A classified ad for work placed by Louisa Wueste in Flake’s Daily Bulletin, a Galveston newspaper. October 9, 1865. (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas - Austin)</p> <p>Classified ad dated October 9, 1865 saying Madame Louise Wueste, will execute paintings, drawings, and portraits in oil. Will also make patterns for needle works of all descriptions, and will give lessons to pupils in the above branches. Residence on Trem</p>
  • <p>Wueste, Louisa. Drawing of an unidentified woman, ca. 1860s, possibly at Eagle Pass, TX (UTSA Special Collections Library)</p> <p>Drawing of a woman with short hair wearing a closed waistcoat with blouse with a large collar</p>
  • <p>Wueste, Louisa. Portrait of Nanette Mueller, 1865 (Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Olga H. Vogel)</p> <p>Portrait of a woman with hair pulled back wearing earrings and a grey dress with a pleated ruffle up front and around neck </p>
  • <p>Lungkwitz, Hermann. Crockett Street Looking West, San Antonio de Bexar, 1857.</p> <p>Landscape painting of a townscape with oxen pulling a loaded cart down an unpaved road in the center . Named “Crockett Street Looking West, San Antonio de Bexar” by Herman Lungkwitz in 1857</p>
  • <p>Iwonski, Carl von, Log Cabin near New Braunfels. Before 1873</p> <p>Painting by Carl G. von Iwonski of a log cabin and out building with thatched roofs amongst tall trees, and cattle and horses in the foreground.</p>

Louisa Wueste, a portrait painter born in Germany, became a pioneer for women artists in Texas and the Southwest in the mid-1800s. From her San Antonio studio, Wueste created many works, including portraits whose subjects dress and mannerisms reveal much about early Texans and their culture.

Wueste began receiving art commissions after the Civil War, which she spent living in Mexico, and her work has never been catalogued. Most of it is owned by family members and private collectors, but the largest public collection of her works resides here, at the Witte. Also at the Witte are works by German Texan painters Hermann Lungkwitz and Carl von Iwonski.

Witte Museum

  • Hours: Monday, Wednesday -Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Tuesday, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Sunday, 12 – 5 p.m.
  • Admission: Adults: $10, Seniors/Military (w/ID): $9, Children (4-11): $7
  • 3801 Broadway, San Antonio, TX
  • 210-357-1910
  • Visit Website