Constantin Kluge was a Russian painter, known for his post-impressionist French landscapes and romantic scenes of Paris. He was born in Riga, Latvia in 1912, but after the Bolshevik Revolution spent his childhood and early adulthood in China. He studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and then practised as an architect in Shanghai, only painting as a hobby. There is plenty about him online, but what I am particularly interested in is his brief spell in Hong Kong between 1946 and 1950. During this time he apparently worked as an architect, and I'd love to know who he was employed by, and where in Hong Kong he lived. My mother's family knew the Kluge family in Shanghai and Hong Kong as my maternal grandmother was also part of the Russian community. I have a framed portrait of my mother which Kluge sketched during this time, so would love to know more about his time in Hong Kong as I have been unable to find anything about this period of his life. In 1950 he moved to France, gave up architecture, and became a professional painter.
Comments
Regarding his brief spell in…
Regarding his brief spell in Hong Kong between 1946 and 1950, I found newspaper advertisements that mention a C. C. Kluge, Architect.
Could that be him?
C.C. Kluge
Yes, that would definitely be him! His father was also a Constantin, so in the Russian tradition his son, the architect/artist, was Constantin Constantinovich Kluge. There was also another younger son, Michael Constantinovich Kluge (1914-2000).