SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Painter and draughtsman, Gottfried Carl Otto Protzen—also known as Otto Protzen—combined a practice of landscape painting with travel on the water and the design of boats: he painted or drew the subjects encountered on his excursions in a rowing boat, and designed some boats that he had built. Born and died in Berlin, he studied at the city’s Academy of Fine Arts under Eugen Bracht and Hans Meyer, and exhibited works, among other places, at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung in 1900. For many years, he served as president of the Freie Vereinigung der Graphiker e. V. in Berlin.
His interest in sailing went beyond its depiction: he had racing boats of his own design built and collaborated with the boatbuilder Max Oertz, particularly on the development of yacht hulls. An extraordinary member of the Akademischer Segler-Verein of Berlin from 1902 until his death, he was also, for many years, editor of the journal Yacht, first published in 1904. As helmsman of the Sonderklasse Wannsee yacht, he won the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Pokal for the first time at Kiel Week in 1900; another source describes him as having won this regatta six times in the same class. His books record these experiences of travel: Eine Ostsee-Reise im Einskuller appeared in 1894, followed in 1900 by Eine Studien-Fahrt. Drei Monate im Ruderboot auf Deutschlands Gewässern. Published in 1922, Vom Schwarzwald zum Schwarzen Meer recounts a descent of the Danube by kayak and includes a map and a construction plan. Vierzig Jahre auf dem Wasser, published in 1924 from his logbooks and study files, continues this account of navigation. In the summer of 1917, in a boat he had built himself, he undertook a descent of the Danube from Donaueschingen to Brăila, Romania; the journey lasted four months.
At the Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee, the discovery in the club premises of around seventy original drawings in charcoal and chalk, as well as numerous signed etchings, attests to the presence of Protzen’s works there. A collection held by the same club also comprises 123 drawings and construction plans on paper, cardboard or parchment, which also document his work as a designer.
This profile brings together identity references for Gottfried Carl Otto Protzen and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
1 references are documented at Dobiaschofsky. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Oil on artist’s board
Herbstliche Allee.
Öl auf Malkarton
Catalogue period : 2014-05-17
Published result : 170 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 150
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19
