Early Life, Family and Artistic Training Born in Flensburg, Germany, on 21 August 1870, Alexander Eckener entered a family defined by industry and trade. His father, Johann Christoph Eckener, worked as a cigar manufacturer, while his mother, Anna Maria Elisabeth Lange, was the daughter of a shoemaker. He was the youngest of several children, growing up in a household shaped by the practicalities of German commerce. His brother, Hugo Eckener, would later achieve his own distinction in the history of aviation, but Alexander’s path was directed toward the visual arts. The foundations of his cr…