Carl Kahler

Born in 1856 in Linz, Carl Kahler was an Austrian artist who specialised in genre subjects. His eye for intricate detail and technical accuracy provided the sound basis for his atmospheric works. Kahler first exhibited in Berlin in 1880 and thereafter he exhibited on a regular basis at leading galleries in Munich and Vienna. Carl (sometimes known as Karl) Kahler travelled widely, and these tours provided much inspiration for his paintings. He is perhaps best known today for three major works based around Flemington Racecourse, painted after his arrival in Australia in 1885. Perhaps inspired by the crowd scenes of the English painter William Frith, he painted Derby Day at Flemington to show the scene on the lawn at the course just opposite the winning post, after the 1886 Victoria Racing Club Derby. The crowd scene includes many portraits of famous Australian figures of the time, including the artist himself. Kahler was killed in April 1906 in the Great San Francisco Earthquake.