Nikolaus Friedrich

[1] After completing his primary education, he studied drawing with Wilhelm Albermann at the arts and crafts school.

In 1896, the Prussian Academy of Arts awarded him their "Rom-Preis" (modelled after the French Prix de Rome), which enabled him to stay at the Villa Strohl-Fern; an artists' retreat.

From 1897 to 1901, he was a master student and assistant of Reinhold Begas, who initially had a great influence on his style.

[2] Later, during his studies, he became one of the followers of the stylistic movement begun by Adolf von Hildebrand, away from the Neo-Baroque, and received an award at the Exposition Universelle (1900).

His small statue, "Der Tauzieher" (a rope puller, mooring a ship), presented in 1908 at an exhibition of the Vereinigung Kölner Künstler (artists' association), at the Flora Botanical Garden, proved to be very popular.