A painter, architect, designer, and cofounder of the Munich Secession, Franz von Stuck (1863-1928) was an influential teacher of artists studying at the Munich Academy including Josef Albers, Vassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee. In his American debut at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Stuck was praised by contemporary critics as "one of the most versatile and ingenious of contemporary German artists." In 1898, Stuck exhibited his most famous painting,<i>Sin</i>, an iconic work of the fin de sicle, at the Third Annual Exhibition at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. Two years later, at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, Stuck was awarded a gold medal for furniture he designed for his magnificent Villa in Munich, itself a Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art.<p>On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Stuck's birth and the 120th anniversary of his American debut, Franz von Stuck is celebrated in the first monographic exhibition of his work in the United States, a joint project of the Frye Art Museum and the Museum Villa Stuck, Munich.<p><b>Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker</b> is director of the Frye Art Museum.