Hugo Bantau, painter, printmaker and illustrator, was born on 9 January 1890 in Breslau, Germany. He attended the Staatliche Akademie für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe Breslau (State Academy for Art and Crafts), studying under Carl Ernst Morgenstern and Arnold Busch. Bantau was known for his portrait and landscape paintings as well as his bookplate designs. Hugo Bantau died in 1945.