Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
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Period: Early 20th Century
Les Aveugles ( The Blind )
Located in Paonia, CO
Henri DeGroux (1866-1930) was a Belgian Symbolist painter, sculptor and lithographer. He was known for his allegorical, religious and historical subject matter. He became an inspired...
Category
Symbolist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Ambulkance
Located in Paonia, CO
Henri DeGroux (1866-1930) was a Belgian Symbolist painter, sculptor and lithographer. He was known for his allegorical, religious and historical subject matter. He became an inspired...
Category
Symbolist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Kostume, Plakate, und Dekorationen, "Odeon-Casino"
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Walter Schnackenberg’s style changed several times during his long and successful career. Having studied in Munich, the artist traveled often to Paris where he fell under the spell of the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s colorful and sensuous posters depicting theatrical and decadent subjects. Schnackenberg became a regular contributor of similar compositions to the German magazines Jugend and Simplicissimus before devoting himself to the design of stage scenery and costumes. In the artist’s theatrical work, his mastery of form, ornamentation, and Orientalism became increasingly evident. He excelled at combining fluid Art Nouveau outlines, with spiky Expressionist passages, and the postures and patterns of the mysterious East.
In his later years, Schnackenberg explored the unconscious, using surreal subject matter and paler colors that plainly portrayed dreams and visions, some imbued with political connotations. His drawings, illustrations, folio prints, and posters are highly sought today for their exceedingly imaginative qualities, enchanting subject matter, and arresting use of color.
SCHNACKENBERG: KOSTUME, PLAKATE UND DEKORATIONEN, a cardboard bound art book consisting of 43 prints of work by Walter Schnackenberg, 30 of which are color lithographs that are signed and some are titled and dated in the plate, as well as black and white prints and photographs with accompanying text by Oskar Bie; lithographs printed at Kunstanstalt Oskar Consee in Munich, other images printed by Gesellschaft Pick & Co. in Munich, the text and cover with color images by Schnackenberg front and verso printed by R. Oldenbourg in Munich; published by Musarion Verlag, Munich, 1920.
The majority of Walter Schnackenberg’s artistic output was destroyed by bomb attacks in Munich in 1944. The highly publicized 2013 auction in New York of the recovered pre-war poster collection once belonging to German poster aficionado, Hans Sachs has reintroduced the world to Walter Schnackenberg’s graphic genius and priceless ephemeral art from a lost era. Besides the museum world, designer Karl Lagerfeld is one of the most prodigious collectors of Schnackenberg. Flipping through the pages of Kostume, Plakate und Dekorationen, it becomes quite clear that Schnackenberg’s collection is ground zero at the crossroads of early modern fashion where the cult of celebrity meets up with dance, music, theater and cabaret, film and the graphic medium. Berlin and Munich under Germany’s Weimar Republic in the first quarter of the 20th century produced just the atmosphere to feed this burgeoning industry. Rising inflation sparked a recklessness to live large for the moment and heightened a desire for escapism. An influx of Indian and East Asian dancers and musicians added to the artsy bohemian cultural mix. A new decadence and tolerance resulted. Film boldly featured provocative subject matter. Cabarets became popular venues giving rise to the demi-monde in which people from all social stations mixed more freely in a thriving underground economy and culture where there was a blurring of boundaries and of social codes. Noted art historian and cultural doyen, Oskar Bie astutely observes in his introduction to Schnackenberg’s publication that what unites the images is fantasy and advertisement. Schnackenberg uses the eye as an instrument to brilliantly construct and convey this double message. His personages never directly confront the viewer. Their eyes gaze off in the distance like those of the screenplayer and film star Hedamaria Scholz in Schnackenberg’s “Die Rodelhexe” movie poster. Their eyes follow the path of a dance composition or become a transfixed and ogling male gaze such as the iconic 1911 Odeon Casino...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Original vintage Cognac Pellisson poster by Leonetto Cappiello
Located in Boca Raton, FL
Original vintage Cognac Pellisson poster by Leonetto Cappiello of figure carrying Pellison Pere & Co. Cognac barrel printed by Vercasson. Raised Maxmi...
Category
Other Art Style Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
By the Nets - German Expressionism Woodcut Schmidt-Rottluff
Located in London, GB
KARL SCHMIDT-ROTTLUFF 1884-1976
Rottluff, Germany 1884 - 1976 Berlin (German)
Title: By the Nets Bei den Netzen, 1914
Technique: Original Hand Signed Woodcut on Laid Paper
Paper size: 51.2 x 62.4 cm. / 20.2 x 24.6 in.
Additional Information: This original woodcut is hand signed in pencil by the artist "S. Rottluff" at the lower right margin.
This is the fifth woodcut of the portfolio "Zehn Holzschnitte von Schmidt-Rottluff" [Ten Woodcuts by Schmidt-Rottluff] that was published in 1919.
It was published by Graphisches Kabinett J. B. Neumann, Berlin in a limited unnumbered edition of 75 plus some proofs.
The printer was Fritz Voigt...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Woodcut
Man, Wife and Child
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Man, Wife and Child
Etching, 1905
Signed and titled in pencil by the artist below image (see photo)
Annotated in pencil by the artist "100 proofs"
Signed and dated in the plate lower...
Category
Ashcan School Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Reguliersracht during winter, Amsterdam
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching with drypoint on cream wove paper with a deckle edge, 6 7/8 x 4 7/8 inches (200 x 125 mm); sheet 15 x 11 inches (380 x 280 mm), full margins. In excellent condition with mino...
Category
Dutch School Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Drypoint, Etching
"The Night Out - La Garconne Series, " a Color Pochoir
Located in Milwaukee, WI
This color pochoir was done in 1925 on Arches paper No. 739/750 and depicts two couples on a night out all dressed up.
Archivally framed with 12k white gold; white gold fillet, silk...
Category
Art Deco Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Other Medium
Original Vintage Secession Poster celebrating the emperor's jubilee
Located in Zurich, CH
Original Vintage Poster by the Austrian artist Ferdinand Ludwig Graf, a member of the Hagenbund. This Viennese artist association moved as soon a...
Category
Vienna Secession Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
"Exuberant Woman" Copper Plate Heliogravure
Located in Palm Beach, FL
2018 marks the centenary anniversary of Ferdinand Hodler’s death. In that 100 years time, the art world’s esteem of this important artist has proved fickle. It has shifted from extolling his artistic merits during his lifetime to showing something of a feigned disdain- more reflective of the world political order than a true change of heart for Hodler’s work. After years of Hodler being all but a footnote in the annals of art history and generally ignored, finally, the pendulum has righted itself once again. Recent retrospective exhibitions in Europe and the United States have indicated not only a joyful rediscovery of Hodler’s art but a firm conviction that his work and world view hold particular relevance today. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS is not only a collection of printed work reflecting the best of all of his painted work created up to 1914 just before the outbreak of World War I, the portfolio itself is an encapsulation of Hodler’s ethos, Parallelisme.
Hodler developed his philosophy of Parallelisme as a unifying approach to art which strips away detail in search of harmony. By means of abstraction, symmetry and repetition, Hodler sought ways to depict Nature’s essence and her fundamental, universal order. He believed these universal laws governing the natural, observable world extend to the spiritual realm. Symbolist in nature with Romantic undertones, his works are equally portraits of these universal concepts and feelings governing all life as they are a visual portrait in the formal sense. Whether his subject is a solitary tree, a moment in battle, mortal fear, despair, the awe inspired by a vast mountain range, a tender moment or even the collective conviction in a belief, Hodler unveils this guiding principle of Parallelisme.
Several aspects of Hodler’s portfolio reinforce his tenets of Parallelisme. The Table of Contents clearly preferences a harmonious design over detail. The two columns, consisting of twenty lines each, list the images by order of appearance using their German titles. The abbreviated titles are somewhat cryptic in that they obscure the identities of the sitters. Like the image Hodler presents, they are distillations of the sitter without any extraneous details. This shortening was also done in an effort to maintain a harmonious symmetry of the Table of Contents, themselves, and keep titles to a one-line limit. The twenty-fourth title: “Bildnis des Schweizerischen Gesandten C.” was so long, even with abbreviation, that it required two lines; so, for the sake of maintaining symmetry, the fortieth title: “Bauernmadchen” was omitted from the list. This explains why the images are not numbered. Hodler’s reasoning is not purely esoteric. Symmetry and pattern reach beyond mere formal design principles. Finding sameness and imposing it over disorder goes to the root of Hodler’s identity and his art. A Swiss native, Hodler was bi-lingual and spoke German and French. Each printed image, even number forty, have titles in both of Hodler’s languages. Certainly, there was a market for Hodler’s work among francophones and this inclusion may have been a polite gesture to that end; however, this is the only place in the portfolio which includes French. With German titles at the lower left of each image, Hodler’s name at bottom center and corresponding French titles at the lower right of each image, there is a harmony and symmetry woven into all aspects of the portfolio. This holds true for the page design, as it applies to each printed image and as it describes the Swiss artist himself. Seen in this light, Hodler’s portfolio of printed work is the epitome of Hodler’s Parallelisme. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS is also one of the most significant documents to best tell the story of how Hodler, from Switzerland, became caught between political cross-hairs and how the changing tides of nations directly impacted the artist during his lifetime as well as the accessibility of his art for generations to come.
The Munich-based publisher of the portfolio, R. Piper & Co., Verlag, plays a crucial role in this story. Publishing on a wide range of subjects from philosophy and world religion to music, literature and the visual arts; the publisher’s breadth of inquiry within any one genre was equal in scope. Their marketing strategy to publish multiple works on Hodler offers great insight as to what a hot commodity Hodler was at that time. R.Piper & Co.’s Almanach, which they published in 1914 in commemoration of their first ten years in business, clearly illustrates the rapid succession- strategically calculated for achieving the deepest and broadest impact - in which they released three works on Hodler to hit the market by the close of 1914. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS was their premier publication. It preceded C.A. Loosli’s Die Zeichnungen Ferdinand Hodlers, a print portfolio after 50 drawings by Hodler which was released in Autumn of 1914 at the mid-level price-point of 75-150 Marks; and a third less expensive collection of prints after original works by Hodler, which had not been included in either of the first two portfolios, was released at the end of that year entitled Ferdinand Hodler by Dr. Ewald Bender.
The title and timing of DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS' debut leaves little doubt as to the connection it has with another avant-garde portfolio of art prints, Das Werk Gustav Klimts, released in 5 installments from 1908 -1914 by Galerie Miethke in Vienna. Hodler, himself, was involved in Klimt’s ground-breaking project. As the owner of Klimt’s 1901 painting, “Judith with the Head of Holifernes” which appears as the ninth collotype print in the second installment of Das Werk Gustav Klimts, Hodler was obliged to grant access of the painting to the art printers in Vienna for them to create the collotype sometime before 1908. Hodler had been previously invited in 1904 to take part in what would be the last exhibition of the Vienna Secession before Klimt and others associated with Galerie Miethke broke away. In an interview that same year, Hodler indicated that he respected and was impressed by Klimt. Hodler’s esteem for Klimt went beyond the art itself; he emulated Klimt’s method aimed at increasing his market reach and appeal to a wider audience by creating a print portfolio of his painted work. By 1914, Hodler and his publisher had the benefit of hindsight to learn from Klimt’s Das Werk publication.
Responding to the sluggish sales of Klimt’s expensive endeavor, Hodler’s publisher devised the same diversified 1-2-3 strategy for selling Hodler’s Das Werk portfolio as they did with regards to all three works on Hodler they published that year. For their premium tier of DAS WERKS FERDINAND HODLERS, R. Piper & Co. issued an exclusive Museum quality edition of 15 examples on which Hodler signed each page. At a cost of 600 Marks, this was generally on par with Klimt’s asking price of 600 Kronen for his Das Werk portfolio. A middle-tiered Preferred edition of 30, costing somewhat less and with Hodler’s signature only on the Title Page, was also available. The General edition, targeting the largest audience with its much more affordable price of 150 Marks, is distinguishable by its smaller size.
Rather than use the subscription format Miethke had chosen for Klimt’s portfolios which proved to have had its challenges, R. Piper & Co. employed a different strategy. In addition to instantly gratifying the buyer with all 40 of the prints comprising DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS and the choice among three price points, they advertised in German journals a fourth possibility of ordering single prints from them directly. These printed images are easily discernible from the three complete folio editions. The paper size of the single purchased images is of the larger format like the Museum and Preferred editions, measuring 65 h x 50 w cm; however, the paper itself is the same copper print paper used in the General edition and then mounted on poster board. The publishing house positioned itself to be a direct retailer of Hodler’s art. They astutely recognized the potential for profitability and the importance, therefore, of having proprietary control over his graphic works.
R. Piper & Co. owned the exclusive printing rights to Hodler’s best work found in their three publications dating from 1914. That same year, a competing publication out of Weimar entitled Ferdinand Hodler: Ein Deutungsversuch von Hans...
Category
Symbolist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
Illustration for "Les Chanson Erotiques" - Original Etching by Chas Laborde
Located in Roma, IT
Illustration for "Les Chanson Erotiques" by Pierre-Jean de Beranger.
Image Dimensions :15 x 13.5 cm
This artwork is shipped from Italy. Under existing legislation, any artwork in It...
Category
Post-Impressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Vienna Opera House
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork titled "Vienna Opera House" 1922 is a color etching by Austrian artist Luigi Kasimir 1881-1962. It is estate signed in pencil at the lo...
Category
Realist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Don Juan
By Louis Icart
Located in Missouri, MO
Aquating Engraving
Image Size: approx. 20 1/4 x 13 3/8
Framed Size: 28 x 20.5 inches
Pencil Signed Lower Right
Louis Justin Laurent Icart was born in Toulouse in 1890 and died in Paris in 1950. He lived in New York City in the 1920s, where he became known for his Art-Deco color etchings of glamourous women.
He was first son of Jean and Elisabeth Icart and was officially named Louis Justin Laurent Icart. The use of his initials L.I. would be sufficient in this household. Therefore, from the moment of his birth he was dubbed 'Helli'. The Icart family lived modestly in a small brick home on rue Traversière-de-la-balance, in the culturally rich Southern French city of Toulouse, which was the home of many prominent writers and artists, the most famous being Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Icart entered the l'Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Toulouse in order to continue his studies for a career in business, particularly banking (his father's profession). However, he soon discovered the play writings of Victor Hugo (1802-1885), which were to change the course of his life. Icart borrowed whatever books he could find by Hugo at the Toulouse library, devouring the tales, rich in both romantic imagery and the dilemmas of the human condition. It was through Icart's love of the theater that he developed a taste for all the arts, though the urge to paint was not as yet as strong for him as the urge to act.
It was not until his move to Paris in 1907 that Icart would concentrate on painting, drawing and the production of countless beautiful etchings, which have served (more than the other mediums) to indelibly preserve his name in twentieth century art history.
Art Deco, a term coined at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs, had taken its grip on the Paris of the 1920s. By the late 1920s Icart, working for both publications and major fashion and design studios, had become very successful, both artistically and financially. His etchings reached their height of brilliance in this era of Art Deco, and Icart had become the symbol of the epoch. Yet, although Icart has created for us a picture of Paris and New York life in the 1920s and 1930s, he worked in his own style, derived principally from the study of eighteenth-century French masters such as Jean Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean Honoré Fragonard.
In Icart's drawings, one sees the Impressionists Degas...
Category
Art Deco Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Engraving, Aquatint
$2,800 Sale Price
20% Off
Kostume, Plakate, und Dekorationen, "Odeon-Casino"
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Walter Schnackenberg’s style changed several times during his long and successful career. Having studied in Munich, the artist traveled often to Paris where he fell under the spell of the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s colorful and sensuous posters depicting theatrical and decadent subjects. Schnackenberg became a regular contributor of similar compositions to the German magazines Jugend and Simplicissimus before devoting himself to the design of stage scenery and costumes. In the artist’s theatrical work, his mastery of form, ornamentation, and Orientalism became increasingly evident. He excelled at combining fluid Art Nouveau outlines, with spiky Expressionist passages, and the postures and patterns of the mysterious East.
In his later years, Schnackenberg explored the unconscious, using surreal subject matter and paler colors that plainly portrayed dreams and visions, some imbued with political connotations. His drawings, illustrations, folio prints, and posters are highly sought today for their exceedingly imaginative qualities, enchanting subject matter, and arresting use of color.
SCHNACKENBERG: KOSTUME, PLAKATE UND DEKORATIONEN, a cardboard bound art book consisting of 43 prints of work by Walter Schnackenberg, 30 of which are color lithographs that are signed and some are titled and dated in the plate, as well as black and white prints and photographs with accompanying text by Oskar Bie; lithographs printed at Kunstanstalt Oskar Consee in Munich, other images printed by Gesellschaft Pick & Co. in Munich, the text and cover with color images by Schnackenberg front and verso printed by R. Oldenbourg in Munich; published by Musarion Verlag, Munich, 1920.
The majority of Walter Schnackenberg’s artistic output was destroyed by bomb attacks in Munich in 1944. The highly publicized 2013 auction in New York of the recovered pre-war poster collection once belonging to German poster aficionado, Hans Sachs has reintroduced the world to Walter Schnackenberg’s graphic genius and priceless ephemeral art from a lost era. Besides the museum world, designer Karl Lagerfeld is one of the most prodigious collectors of Schnackenberg. Flipping through the pages of Kostume, Plakate und Dekorationen, it becomes quite clear that Schnackenberg’s collection is ground zero at the crossroads of early modern fashion where the cult of celebrity meets up with dance, music, theater and cabaret, film and the graphic medium. Berlin and Munich under Germany’s Weimar Republic in the first quarter of the 20th century produced just the atmosphere to feed this burgeoning industry. Rising inflation sparked a recklessness to live large for the moment and heightened a desire for escapism. An influx of Indian and East Asian dancers and musicians added to the artsy bohemian cultural mix. A new decadence and tolerance resulted. Film boldly featured provocative subject matter. Cabarets became popular venues giving rise to the demi-monde in which people from all social stations mixed more freely in a thriving underground economy and culture where there was a blurring of boundaries and of social codes. Noted art historian and cultural doyen, Oskar Bie astutely observes in his introduction to Schnackenberg’s publication that what unites the images is fantasy and advertisement. Schnackenberg uses the eye as an instrument to brilliantly construct and convey this double message. His personages never directly confront the viewer. Their eyes gaze off in the distance like those of the screenplayer and film star Hedamaria Scholz in Schnackenberg’s “Die Rodelhexe” movie poster. Their eyes follow the path of a dance composition or become a transfixed and ogling male gaze such as the iconic 1911 Odeon Casino...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Waschemagazine Metzger
Located in New York, NY
Loupot, Charles. Waschemagazine, Munsterberg 2/Metzger/B. Brunnen Freistrasse/Herrenhemden-Kragen Damenwasche & Aussteuern. 1922. Color lithograph. On linen.Good condition with the e...
Category
Art Deco Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Palais de la Femme, Art Nouveau Lithograph by Georges Henri Privat-Livemont
Located in Long Island City, NY
Vintage poster by Henri Privat-Livemont created for the Exposition Universelle (the 1900 Paris Exposition) before the lettering was added on the upper portion of the image.
Palais d...
Category
Art Nouveau Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Ballet und Pantomime "Scherzo I", plate #4.
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Walter Schnackenberg’s style changed several times during his long and successful career. Having studied in Munich, the artist traveled often to Paris where he fell under the spell of the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s colorful and sensuous posters depicting theatrical and decadent subjects. Schnackenberg became a regular contributor of similar compositions to the German magazines Jugend and Simplicissimus before devoting himself to the design of stage scenery and costumes. In the artist’s theatrical work, his mastery of form, ornamentation, and Orientalism became increasingly evident. He excelled at combining fluid Art Nouveau outlines, with spiky Expressionist passages, and the postures and patterns of the mysterious East.
In his later years, Schnackenberg explored the unconscious, using surreal subject matter and paler colors that plainly portrayed dreams and visions, some imbued with political connotations. His drawings, illustrations, folio prints, and posters are highly sought today for their exceedingly imaginative qualities, enchanting subject matter, and arresting use of color.
SCHNACKENBERG BALLET UND PANTOMIME...
Category
Art Deco Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
E. Strache, Handzeichnungen folio, "Female Nude, Back View" Collotype plate
Located in Palm Beach, FL
after Egon Schiele (1890 – 1918), AUSTRIA
“ART CANNOT BE MODERN, ART IS PRIMORDIALLY ETERNAL.” -SCHIELE
Defiantly iconoclastic in life and art, Egon Schiele is esteemed for his mas...
Category
Vienna Secession Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
Grim Orvieto
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on watermarked FJ Head cream laid paper with a deckle edge, 11 1/8 x 8 3/4 inches (283 x 223 mm); sheet 14 3/4 x 11 1/2 inches (374 x 292 mm), full margins. Signed and dated ...
Category
American Modern Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching, Laid Paper
NIGHT WINDOWS
By John Sloan
Located in Portland, ME
Sloan, John (American, 1871-1951). NIGHT WINDOWS. Morse 152. Etching and drypoint, 1910. The 5th state of 5. Edition of 100. Titled, signed, and inscribed...
Category
Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Drypoint, Etching
Avril
By Manuel Robbe
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Avril (April)
Color aquatint and etching, c. 1906
Signed in pencil lower right
Edition: c. 100
Excellent impression, fresh colors
Reference: Merrill Chase Volume 1, No. 9
Condition: ...
Category
Impressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Aquatint
R. Layni, Zeichnungen folio, "Torso" Collotype plate IV
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Egon Schiele (1890 – 1918), AUSTRIA
“ART CANNOT BE MODERN, ART IS PRIMORDIALLY ETERNAL.” -SCHIELE
Defiantly iconoclastic in life and art, Egon Schiele is esteemed for his masterful...
Category
Vienna Secession Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
Sha'ar Shchem Damascus Gate Old City Jerusalem 1930s Bezalel School
Located in Surfside, FL
Genre: Israeli
Subject: Cityscape
Medium: Etching, Drypoint
Surface: Paper
Country: Israel
Dimensions: 11" x 14"
Dimensions w/Frame: 11 3/4" x 14 3/4"
Jacob Eisenberg (1897–1965) (a...
Category
Modern Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Kostume, Plakate, und Dekorationen, "Schnackenberg-Ausstellung 1914""
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Walter Schnackenberg’s style changed several times during his long and successful career. Having studied in Munich, the artist traveled often to Paris where he fell under the spell o...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Sur la Marne
Located in New York, NY
Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Sur la Marne, engraving, 1924, signed in pencil lower right [with the initial lower right in the plate]. Reference: S. Laboureur 277, third state (o...
Category
Cubist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Engraving
"Chestnut Tree" Copper Plate Heliogravure
Located in Palm Beach, FL
2018 marks the centenary anniversary of Ferdinand Hodler’s death. In that 100 years time, the art world’s esteem of this important artist has proved fickle. It has shifted from extolling his artistic merits during his lifetime to showing something of a feigned disdain- more reflective of the world political order than a true change of heart for Hodler’s work. After years of Hodler being all but a footnote in the annals of art history and generally ignored, finally, the pendulum has righted itself once again. Recent retrospective exhibitions in Europe and the United States have indicated not only a joyful rediscovery of Hodler’s art but a firm conviction that his work and world view hold particular relevance today. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS is not only a collection of printed work reflecting the best of all of his painted work created up to 1914 just before the outbreak of World War I, the portfolio itself is an encapsulation of Hodler’s ethos, Parallelisme.
Hodler developed his philosophy of Parallelisme as a unifying approach to art which strips away detail in search of harmony. By means of abstraction, symmetry and repetition, Hodler sought ways to depict Nature’s essence and her fundamental, universal order. He believed these universal laws governing the natural, observable world extend to the spiritual realm. Symbolist in nature with Romantic undertones, his works are equally portraits of these universal concepts and feelings governing all life as they are a visual portrait in the formal sense. Whether his subject is a solitary tree, a moment in battle, mortal fear, despair, the awe inspired by a vast mountain range, a tender moment or even the collective conviction in a belief, Hodler unveils this guiding principle of Parallelisme.
Several aspects of Hodler’s portfolio reinforce his tenets of Parallelisme. The Table of Contents clearly preferences a harmonious design over detail. The two columns, consisting of twenty lines each, list the images by order of appearance using their German titles. The abbreviated titles are somewhat cryptic in that they obscure the identities of the sitters. Like the image Hodler presents, they are distillations of the sitter without any extraneous details. This shortening was also done in an effort to maintain a harmonious symmetry of the Table of Contents, themselves, and keep titles to a one-line limit. The twenty-fourth title: “Bildnis des Schweizerischen Gesandten C.” was so long, even with abbreviation, that it required two lines; so, for the sake of maintaining symmetry, the fortieth title: “Bauernmadchen” was omitted from the list. This explains why the images are not numbered. Hodler’s reasoning is not purely esoteric. Symmetry and pattern reach beyond mere formal design principles. Finding sameness and imposing it over disorder goes to the root of Hodler’s identity and his art. A Swiss native, Hodler was bi-lingual and spoke German and French. Each printed image, even number forty, have titles in both of Hodler’s languages. Certainly, there was a market for Hodler’s work among francophones and this inclusion may have been a polite gesture to that end; however, this is the only place in the portfolio which includes French. With German titles at the lower left of each image, Hodler’s name at bottom center and corresponding French titles at the lower right of each image, there is a harmony and symmetry woven into all aspects of the portfolio. This holds true for the page design, as it applies to each printed image and as it describes the Swiss artist himself. Seen in this light, Hodler’s portfolio of printed work is the epitome of Hodler’s Parallelisme. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS is also one of the most significant documents to best tell the story of how Hodler, from Switzerland, became caught between political cross-hairs and how the changing tides of nations directly impacted the artist during his lifetime as well as the accessibility of his art for generations to come.
The Munich-based publisher of the portfolio, R. Piper & Co., Verlag, plays a crucial role in this story. Publishing on a wide range of subjects from philosophy and world religion to music, literature and the visual arts; the publisher’s breadth of inquiry within any one genre was equal in scope. Their marketing strategy to publish multiple works on Hodler offers great insight as to what a hot commodity Hodler was at that time. R.Piper & Co.’s Almanach, which they published in 1914 in commemoration of their first ten years in business, clearly illustrates the rapid succession- strategically calculated for achieving the deepest and broadest impact - in which they released three works on Hodler to hit the market by the close of 1914. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS was their premier publication. It preceded C.A. Loosli’s Die Zeichnungen Ferdinand Hodlers, a print portfolio after 50 drawings by Hodler which was released in Autumn of 1914 at the mid-level price-point of 75-150 Marks; and a third less expensive collection of prints after original works by Hodler, which had not been included in either of the first two portfolios, was released at the end of that year entitled Ferdinand Hodler by Dr. Ewald Bender.
The title and timing of DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS' debut leaves little doubt as to the connection it has with another avant-garde portfolio of art prints, Das Werk Gustav Klimts, released in 5 installments from 1908 -1914 by Galerie Miethke in Vienna. Hodler, himself, was involved in Klimt’s ground-breaking project. As the owner of Klimt’s 1901 painting, “Judith with the Head of Holifernes” which appears as the ninth collotype print in the second installment of Das Werk Gustav Klimts, Hodler was obliged to grant access of the painting to the art printers in Vienna for them to create the collotype sometime before 1908. Hodler had been previously invited in 1904 to take part in what would be the last exhibition of the Vienna Secession before Klimt and others associated with Galerie Miethke broke away. In an interview that same year, Hodler indicated that he respected and was impressed by Klimt. Hodler’s esteem for Klimt went beyond the art itself; he emulated Klimt’s method aimed at increasing his market reach and appeal to a wider audience by creating a print portfolio of his painted work. By 1914, Hodler and his publisher had the benefit of hindsight to learn from Klimt’s Das Werk publication.
Responding to the sluggish sales of Klimt’s expensive endeavor, Hodler’s publisher devised the same diversified 1-2-3 strategy for selling Hodler’s Das Werk portfolio as they did with regards to all three works on Hodler they published that year. For their premium tier of DAS WERKS FERDINAND HODLERS, R. Piper & Co. issued an exclusive Museum quality edition of 15 examples on which Hodler signed each page. At a cost of 600 Marks, this was generally on par with Klimt’s asking price of 600 Kronen for his Das Werk portfolio. A middle-tiered Preferred edition of 30, costing somewhat less and with Hodler’s signature only on the Title Page, was also available. The General edition, targeting the largest audience with its much more affordable price of 150 Marks, is distinguishable by its smaller size.
Rather than use the subscription format Miethke had chosen for Klimt’s portfolios which proved to have had its challenges, R. Piper & Co. employed a different strategy. In addition to instantly gratifying the buyer with all 40 of the prints comprising DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS and the choice among three price points, they advertised in German journals a fourth possibility of ordering single prints from them directly. These printed images are easily discernible from the three complete folio editions. The paper size of the single purchased images is of the larger format like the Museum and Preferred editions, measuring 65 h x 50 w cm; however, the paper itself is the same copper print paper used in the General edition and then mounted on poster board. The publishing house positioned itself to be a direct retailer of Hodler’s art. They astutely recognized the potential for profitability and the importance, therefore, of having proprietary control over his graphic works.
R. Piper & Co. owned the exclusive printing rights to Hodler’s best work found in their three publications dating from 1914. That same year, a competing publication out of Weimar entitled Ferdinand Hodler: Ein Deutungsversuch von Hans...
Category
Symbolist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
Sortie de Theatre a Londres
Located in New York, NY
Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Sortie de Theatre a Londres, etching and drypoint, 1911, signed in pencil lower left [also signed and dated in the plate upper right]. Reference: Laboureur 104, third state (of 3). Published for La Societe des amis de l’eau-forte, with the blindstamp with the inscription: Circle Librairie Estampes. From an edition in the third state of 109; there were also 5 impressions of the first state and five of the second state. In excellent condition, the full sheet with deckle edges bottom and sides, 6 3/4 x 14; a remarque lower left 2 x 3 1/2, the sheet 12 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches.
Provenance: unknown collector’s mark verso (GOE in oval)
A fine rich impression, printed in dark brown ink on cream laid paper with the Arches watermark.
The small remarque lower left is actually another print printed on a separate plate; it shows a man running after a London horse...
Category
Naturalistic Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Drypoint
Kostume, Plakate, und Dekorationen, "Anne Lemans"
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Walter Schnackenberg’s style changed several times during his long and successful career. Having studied in Munich, the artist traveled often to Paris where he fell under the spell of the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s colorful and sensuous posters depicting theatrical and decadent subjects. Schnackenberg became a regular contributor of similar compositions to the German magazines Jugend and Simplicissimus before devoting himself to the design of stage scenery and costumes. In the artist’s theatrical work, his mastery of form, ornamentation, and Orientalism became increasingly evident. He excelled at combining fluid Art Nouveau outlines, with spiky Expressionist passages, and the postures and patterns of the mysterious East.
In his later years, Schnackenberg explored the unconscious, using surreal subject matter and paler colors that plainly portrayed dreams and visions, some imbued with political connotations. His drawings, illustrations, folio prints, and posters are highly sought today for their exceedingly imaginative qualities, enchanting subject matter, and arresting use of color.
SCHNACKENBERG: KOSTUME, PLAKATE UND DEKORATIONEN, a cardboard bound art book consisting of 43 prints of work by Walter Schnackenberg, 30 of which are color lithographs that are signed and some are titled and dated in the plate, as well as black and white prints and photographs with accompanying text by Oskar Bie; lithographs printed at Kunstanstalt Oskar Consee in Munich, other images printed by Gesellschaft Pick & Co. in Munich, the text and cover with color images by Schnackenberg front and verso printed by R. Oldenbourg in Munich; published by Musarion Verlag, Munich, 1920.
The majority of Walter Schnackenberg’s artistic output was destroyed by bomb attacks in Munich in 1944. The highly publicized 2013 auction in New York of the recovered pre-war poster collection once belonging to German poster aficionado, Hans Sachs has reintroduced the world to Walter Schnackenberg’s graphic genius and priceless ephemeral art from a lost era. Besides the museum world, designer Karl Lagerfeld is one of the most prodigious collectors of Schnackenberg. Flipping through the pages of Kostume, Plakate und Dekorationen, it becomes quite clear that Schnackenberg’s collection is ground zero at the crossroads of early modern fashion where the cult of celebrity meets up with dance, music, theater and cabaret, film and the graphic medium. Berlin and Munich under Germany’s Weimar Republic in the first quarter of the 20th century produced just the atmosphere to feed this burgeoning industry. Rising inflation sparked a recklessness to live large for the moment and heightened a desire for escapism. An influx of Indian and East Asian dancers and musicians added to the artsy bohemian cultural mix. A new decadence and tolerance resulted. Film boldly featured provocative subject matter. Cabarets became popular venues giving rise to the demi-monde in which people from all social stations mixed more freely in a thriving underground economy and culture where there was a blurring of boundaries and of social codes. Noted art historian and cultural doyen, Oskar Bie astutely observes in his introduction to Schnackenberg’s publication that what unites the images is fantasy and advertisement. Schnackenberg uses the eye as an instrument to brilliantly construct and convey this double message. His personages never directly confront the viewer. Their eyes gaze off in the distance like those of the screenplayer and film star Hedamaria Scholz in Schnackenberg’s “Die Rodelhexe” movie poster. Their eyes follow the path of a dance composition or become a transfixed and ogling male gaze such as the iconic 1911 Odeon Casino...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
In Schnee - Etching by Fritz Schwimbeck - 1918
Located in Roma, IT
Etching realized by Fritz Schwimbeck in 1918.
Edition of 125 realized in Munich on mulberry paper.
Hand signed in pencil.
Category
Symbolist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
"Love" Copper Plate Heliogravure
Located in Palm Beach, FL
2018 marks the centenary anniversary of Ferdinand Hodler’s death. In that 100 years time, the art world’s esteem of this important artist has proved fickle. It has shifted from extolling his artistic merits during his lifetime to showing something of a feigned disdain- more reflective of the world political order than a true change of heart for Hodler’s work. After years of Hodler being all but a footnote in the annals of art history and generally ignored, finally, the pendulum has righted itself once again. Recent retrospective exhibitions in Europe and the United States have indicated not only a joyful rediscovery of Hodler’s art but a firm conviction that his work and world view hold particular relevance today. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS is not only a collection of printed work reflecting the best of all of his painted work created up to 1914 just before the outbreak of World War I, the portfolio itself is an encapsulation of Hodler’s ethos, Parallelisme.
Hodler developed his philosophy of Parallelisme as a unifying approach to art which strips away detail in search of harmony. By means of abstraction, symmetry and repetition, Hodler sought ways to depict Nature’s essence and her fundamental, universal order. He believed these universal laws governing the natural, observable world extend to the spiritual realm. Symbolist in nature with Romantic undertones, his works are equally portraits of these universal concepts and feelings governing all life as they are a visual portrait in the formal sense. Whether his subject is a solitary tree, a moment in battle, mortal fear, despair, the awe inspired by a vast mountain range, a tender moment or even the collective conviction in a belief, Hodler unveils this guiding principle of Parallelisme.
Several aspects of Hodler’s portfolio reinforce his tenets of Parallelisme. The Table of Contents clearly preferences a harmonious design over detail. The two columns, consisting of twenty lines each, list the images by order of appearance using their German titles. The abbreviated titles are somewhat cryptic in that they obscure the identities of the sitters. Like the image Hodler presents, they are distillations of the sitter without any extraneous details. This shortening was also done in an effort to maintain a harmonious symmetry of the Table of Contents, themselves, and keep titles to a one-line limit. The twenty-fourth title: “Bildnis des Schweizerischen Gesandten C.” was so long, even with abbreviation, that it required two lines; so, for the sake of maintaining symmetry, the fortieth title: “Bauernmadchen” was omitted from the list. This explains why the images are not numbered. Hodler’s reasoning is not purely esoteric. Symmetry and pattern reach beyond mere formal design principles. Finding sameness and imposing it over disorder goes to the root of Hodler’s identity and his art. A Swiss native, Hodler was bi-lingual and spoke German and French. Each printed image, even number forty, have titles in both of Hodler’s languages. Certainly, there was a market for Hodler’s work among francophones and this inclusion may have been a polite gesture to that end; however, this is the only place in the portfolio which includes French. With German titles at the lower left of each image, Hodler’s name at bottom center and corresponding French titles at the lower right of each image, there is a harmony and symmetry woven into all aspects of the portfolio. This holds true for the page design, as it applies to each printed image and as it describes the Swiss artist himself. Seen in this light, Hodler’s portfolio of printed work is the epitome of Hodler’s Parallelisme. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS is also one of the most significant documents to best tell the story of how Hodler, from Switzerland, became caught between political cross-hairs and how the changing tides of nations directly impacted the artist during his lifetime as well as the accessibility of his art for generations to come.
The Munich-based publisher of the portfolio, R. Piper & Co., Verlag, plays a crucial role in this story. Publishing on a wide range of subjects from philosophy and world religion to music, literature and the visual arts; the publisher’s breadth of inquiry within any one genre was equal in scope. Their marketing strategy to publish multiple works on Hodler offers great insight as to what a hot commodity Hodler was at that time. R.Piper & Co.’s Almanach, which they published in 1914 in commemoration of their first ten years in business, clearly illustrates the rapid succession- strategically calculated for achieving the deepest and broadest impact - in which they released three works on Hodler to hit the market by the close of 1914. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS was their premier publication. It preceded C.A. Loosli’s Die Zeichnungen Ferdinand Hodlers, a print portfolio after 50 drawings by Hodler which was released in Autumn of 1914 at the mid-level price-point of 75-150 Marks; and a third less expensive collection of prints after original works by Hodler, which had not been included in either of the first two portfolios, was released at the end of that year entitled Ferdinand Hodler by Dr. Ewald Bender.
The title and timing of DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS' debut leaves little doubt as to the connection it has with another avant-garde portfolio of art prints, Das Werk Gustav Klimts, released in 5 installments from 1908 -1914 by Galerie Miethke in Vienna. Hodler, himself, was involved in Klimt’s ground-breaking project. As the owner of Klimt’s 1901 painting, “Judith with the Head of Holifernes” which appears as the ninth collotype print in the second installment of Das Werk Gustav Klimts, Hodler was obliged to grant access of the painting to the art printers in Vienna for them to create the collotype sometime before 1908. Hodler had been previously invited in 1904 to take part in what would be the last exhibition of the Vienna Secession before Klimt and others associated with Galerie Miethke broke away. In an interview that same year, Hodler indicated that he respected and was impressed by Klimt. Hodler’s esteem for Klimt went beyond the art itself; he emulated Klimt’s method aimed at increasing his market reach and appeal to a wider audience by creating a print portfolio of his painted work. By 1914, Hodler and his publisher had the benefit of hindsight to learn from Klimt’s Das Werk publication.
Responding to the sluggish sales of Klimt’s expensive endeavor, Hodler’s publisher devised the same diversified 1-2-3 strategy for selling Hodler’s Das Werk portfolio as they did with regards to all three works on Hodler they published that year. For their premium tier of DAS WERKS FERDINAND HODLERS, R. Piper & Co. issued an exclusive Museum quality edition of 15 examples on which Hodler signed each page. At a cost of 600 Marks, this was generally on par with Klimt’s asking price of 600 Kronen for his Das Werk portfolio. A middle-tiered Preferred edition of 30, costing somewhat less and with Hodler’s signature only on the Title Page, was also available. The General edition, targeting the largest audience with its much more affordable price of 150 Marks, is distinguishable by its smaller size.
Rather than use the subscription format Miethke had chosen for Klimt’s portfolios which proved to have had its challenges, R. Piper & Co. employed a different strategy. In addition to instantly gratifying the buyer with all 40 of the prints comprising DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS and the choice among three price points, they advertised in German journals a fourth possibility of ordering single prints from them directly. These printed images are easily discernible from the three complete folio editions. The paper size of the single purchased images is of the larger format like the Museum and Preferred editions, measuring 65 h x 50 w cm; however, the paper itself is the same copper print paper used in the General edition and then mounted on poster board. The publishing house positioned itself to be a direct retailer of Hodler’s art. They astutely recognized the potential for profitability and the importance, therefore, of having proprietary control over his graphic works.
R. Piper & Co. owned the exclusive printing rights to Hodler’s best work found in their three publications dating from 1914. That same year, a competing publication out of Weimar entitled Ferdinand Hodler: Ein Deutungsversuch von Hans...
Category
Symbolist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
"Eurhythmie" Copper Plate Heliogravure
Located in Palm Beach, FL
2018 marks the centenary anniversary of Ferdinand Hodler’s death. In that 100 years time, the art world’s esteem of this important artist has proved fickle. It has shifted from extolling his artistic merits during his lifetime to showing something of a feigned disdain- more reflective of the world political order than a true change of heart for Hodler’s work. After years of Hodler being all but a footnote in the annals of art history and generally ignored, finally, the pendulum has righted itself once again. Recent retrospective exhibitions in Europe and the United States have indicated not only a joyful rediscovery of Hodler’s art but a firm conviction that his work and world view hold particular relevance today. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS is not only a collection of printed work reflecting the best of all of his painted work created up to 1914 just before the outbreak of World War I, the portfolio itself is an encapsulation of Hodler’s ethos, Parallelisme.
Hodler developed his philosophy of Parallelisme as a unifying approach to art which strips away detail in search of harmony. By means of abstraction, symmetry and repetition, Hodler sought ways to depict Nature’s essence and her fundamental, universal order. He believed these universal laws governing the natural, observable world extend to the spiritual realm. Symbolist in nature with Romantic undertones, his works are equally portraits of these universal concepts and feelings governing all life as they are a visual portrait in the formal sense. Whether his subject is a solitary tree, a moment in battle, mortal fear, despair, the awe inspired by a vast mountain range, a tender moment or even the collective conviction in a belief, Hodler unveils this guiding principle of Parallelisme.
Several aspects of Hodler’s portfolio reinforce his tenets of Parallelisme. The Table of Contents clearly preferences a harmonious design over detail. The two columns, consisting of twenty lines each, list the images by order of appearance using their German titles. The abbreviated titles are somewhat cryptic in that they obscure the identities of the sitters. Like the image Hodler presents, they are distillations of the sitter without any extraneous details. This shortening was also done in an effort to maintain a harmonious symmetry of the Table of Contents, themselves, and keep titles to a one-line limit. The twenty-fourth title: “Bildnis des Schweizerischen Gesandten C.” was so long, even with abbreviation, that it required two lines; so, for the sake of maintaining symmetry, the fortieth title: “Bauernmadchen” was omitted from the list. This explains why the images are not numbered. Hodler’s reasoning is not purely esoteric. Symmetry and pattern reach beyond mere formal design principles. Finding sameness and imposing it over disorder goes to the root of Hodler’s identity and his art. A Swiss native, Hodler was bi-lingual and spoke German and French. Each printed image, even number forty, have titles in both of Hodler’s languages. Certainly, there was a market for Hodler’s work among francophones and this inclusion may have been a polite gesture to that end; however, this is the only place in the portfolio which includes French. With German titles at the lower left of each image, Hodler’s name at bottom center and corresponding French titles at the lower right of each image, there is a harmony and symmetry woven into all aspects of the portfolio. This holds true for the page design, as it applies to each printed image and as it describes the Swiss artist himself. Seen in this light, Hodler’s portfolio of printed work is the epitome of Hodler’s Parallelisme. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS is also one of the most significant documents to best tell the story of how Hodler, from Switzerland, became caught between political cross-hairs and how the changing tides of nations directly impacted the artist during his lifetime as well as the accessibility of his art for generations to come.
The Munich-based publisher of the portfolio, R. Piper & Co., Verlag, plays a crucial role in this story. Publishing on a wide range of subjects from philosophy and world religion to music, literature and the visual arts; the publisher’s breadth of inquiry within any one genre was equal in scope. Their marketing strategy to publish multiple works on Hodler offers great insight as to what a hot commodity Hodler was at that time. R.Piper & Co.’s Almanach, which they published in 1914 in commemoration of their first ten years in business, clearly illustrates the rapid succession- strategically calculated for achieving the deepest and broadest impact - in which they released three works on Hodler to hit the market by the close of 1914. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS was their premier publication. It preceded C.A. Loosli’s Die Zeichnungen Ferdinand Hodlers, a print portfolio after 50 drawings by Hodler which was released in Autumn of 1914 at the mid-level price-point of 75-150 Marks; and a third less expensive collection of prints after original works by Hodler, which had not been included in either of the first two portfolios, was released at the end of that year entitled Ferdinand Hodler by Dr. Ewald Bender.
The title and timing of DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS' debut leaves little doubt as to the connection it has with another avant-garde portfolio of art prints, Das Werk Gustav Klimts, released in 5 installments from 1908 -1914 by Galerie Miethke in Vienna. Hodler, himself, was involved in Klimt’s ground-breaking project. As the owner of Klimt’s 1901 painting, “Judith with the Head of Holifernes” which appears as the ninth collotype print in the second installment of Das Werk Gustav Klimts, Hodler was obliged to grant access of the painting to the art printers in Vienna for them to create the collotype sometime before 1908. Hodler had been previously invited in 1904 to take part in what would be the last exhibition of the Vienna Secession before Klimt and others associated with Galerie Miethke broke away. In an interview that same year, Hodler indicated that he respected and was impressed by Klimt. Hodler’s esteem for Klimt went beyond the art itself; he emulated Klimt’s method aimed at increasing his market reach and appeal to a wider audience by creating a print portfolio of his painted work. By 1914, Hodler and his publisher had the benefit of hindsight to learn from Klimt’s Das Werk publication.
Responding to the sluggish sales of Klimt’s expensive endeavor, Hodler’s publisher devised the same diversified 1-2-3 strategy for selling Hodler’s Das Werk portfolio as they did with regards to all three works on Hodler they published that year. For their premium tier of DAS WERKS FERDINAND HODLERS, R. Piper & Co. issued an exclusive Museum quality edition of 15 examples on which Hodler signed each page. At a cost of 600 Marks, this was generally on par with Klimt’s asking price of 600 Kronen for his Das Werk portfolio. A middle-tiered Preferred edition of 30, costing somewhat less and with Hodler’s signature only on the Title Page, was also available. The General edition, targeting the largest audience with its much more affordable price of 150 Marks, is distinguishable by its smaller size.
Rather than use the subscription format Miethke had chosen for Klimt’s portfolios which proved to have had its challenges, R. Piper & Co. employed a different strategy. In addition to instantly gratifying the buyer with all 40 of the prints comprising DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS and the choice among three price points, they advertised in German journals a fourth possibility of ordering single prints from them directly. These printed images are easily discernible from the three complete folio editions. The paper size of the single purchased images is of the larger format like the Museum and Preferred editions, measuring 65 h x 50 w cm; however, the paper itself is the same copper print paper used in the General edition and then mounted on poster board. The publishing house positioned itself to be a direct retailer of Hodler’s art. They astutely recognized the potential for profitability and the importance, therefore, of having proprietary control over his graphic works.
R. Piper & Co. owned the exclusive printing rights to Hodler’s best work found in their three publications dating from 1914. That same year, a competing publication out of Weimar entitled Ferdinand Hodler: Ein Deutungsversuch von Hans Muhlestein appeared. Its author, a young scholar, expressed his frustration with the limited availability of printable work by Hodler. In his Author’s Note on page 19, dated Easter, 1914, Muhlestein confirms that the publisher of Hodler’s three works from that same year owned the exclusive reproductive rights to Hodler’s printed original work. He goes further to explain that even after offering to pay to use certain of those images in his book, the publisher refused. Clearly, a lot of jockeying for position in what was perceived as a hot market was occurring in 1914.
Instead, their timing couldn’t have been more ill-fated, and what began with such high hopes suddenly found a much different market amid a hostile climate. The onset of WWI directly impacted sales. Many, including Ferdinand Hodler, publicly protested the September invasion by Germany of France in which the Reims Cathedral, re-built in the 13th century, was shelled, destroying priceless stained glass and statuary and burning off the iron roof and badly damaging its wooden interior. Thomas Gaehtgens, Director of the Getty Research Institute describes how the bombing of Reims Cathedral triggered blindingly powerful and deeply-felt ultra-nationalistic responses: “The event profoundly shocked French intellectuals, who for the most part had an intense admiration for German literature, music and art. By relying on press accounts and abstracting from the visual propagandistic content, they were unable to interpret the siege of Reims without turning away from German culture in disgust. Similarly, the German intelligentsia and bourgeoisie were also shocked to find themselves described as vandals and barbarians. Ninety-three writers, scientists, university professors, and artists signed a protest, directed against the French insults, that defended the actions of the German army.”
In similar fashion, a flurry of open letters published in German newspapers and journals as well as telegrams and postcards sent directly to Hodler following his outcry in support of Reims reflected the collectively critical reaction to Hodler’s position. Loosli documents that among the list of telegrams Hodler received was one from none other than his publisher in Germany, R.Piper & Co. Allegiances were questioned. The market for Hodler in Germany immediately softened. Matters worsened for the publisher beyond the German backlash to Hodler and his loss of appeal in the home market; with the war in full swing until 1918, there was little chance a German publisher would have much interest coming from outside of Germany and Austria. Following the war and Hodler’s death in 1918, the economy in Germany continued to spiral out and just 5 years later, hyper-inflation had rendered its currency worthless vis-a-vis its value in the pre-war years. Like the economy, Hodler’s reputation was slow to find currency in these difficult times. Even many French art fans had turned sour on Hodler as they considered his long-standing relationship in German and Austrian art circles. Thus, the portfolio’s rarity in Hodler’s lifetime and, consequently, the availability of these printed images from DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS since his death has been scarce.
In many ways, Hodler and his portfolios were casualties of war. Thwarted from their intended purpose of reaching a wide audience and show-casing Parallelisme, Hodler’s unique approach to art, this important, undated work has been both elusive and shrouded in mystery. Perhaps DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS was left undated as a means of affirming the timelessness of Hodler’s art. Digging back into the past, Hodler’s contemporaries, like R. Piper, C.A. Loosli and Hans Muhlestein, indeed provide the keys to unequivocally clarify what has largely been mired in obscurity. Just after Hodler’s death, the May, 1918 issue of the Burlington Review ran a small column which opined hope for better access to R.Piper & Co.’s DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS; 100 years later, it is finally possible. Hodler’s voice rings out through these printed works. Once more, his modern approach to depicting portraits, landscapes and grand scale scenes of Swiss history speak to us of what is universal. Engaging with any one of these images is the chance to connect to Hodler’s vision and his world view- weltanschauung in German, vision du monde in French- however one expresses these concepts through language, its message embedded in his work is the same: “We differ from one another, but we are like each other even more. What unifies us is greater and more powerful than what divides us.” Today, Hodler’s art couldn’t be more timely.
FERDINAND HODLER (SWISS, 1853-1918) explored Parallelisme through figurative poses evocative of music, dance and ritual. His images of sex, night, desertion and death as well as his many landscapes exploring the universal longing for harmony with Nature are unique and important works embodying a Symbolist paradigm. Truly a Modern Master, Hodler’s influence can be felt in the work of Gustav Klimt and Kolomon Moser...
Category
Symbolist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
The Thames and the Tower of London
Located in Storrs, CT
The Thames and the Tower of London. 1924. Etching and drypoint. 6 3/8 x 14 3/4 (sheet 10 1/4 x 17 1/4). Mat line; otherwise fine condition. A rich impr...
Category
Modern Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Drypoint, Etching
$975 Sale Price
22% Off
Kinder halten Essensschüsseln, Expressionist Lithograph by Kathe Kollwitz
Located in Long Island City, NY
Kathe Kollwitz, German (1867 - 1945) - Kinder halten Essensschusseln (Children holding Food Bowls), Year: 1923, Medium: Lithograph, Image Size: 16 x 11 inches, Frame Size: 25.2...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Running the Rapids
By Frank Benson
Located in New York, NY
The etching "Running the Rapids" was created by Frank Benson in 1927. Printed in an edition of 150, this impression is signed in pencil, lower left. The image size is 5 13/16 x 7 7/8" (14.8 x 20 cm) and sheet size 8 1/16 x 10 5/16" (20.3 x 26.2 cm).
Frank Weston Benson (1862-1951), well known for his American impressionist paintings, also produced an incredible body of prints - etchings, drypoints, and a few lithographs. Born and raised on the North Shore of Massachusetts, Benson, a natural outdoorsman, grew up sailing, fishing, and hunting. From a young age, he was fascinated with drawing and birding – this keen interest continued throughout his life.
His first art instruction was with Otto Grundman at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and then in 1883 in Paris at the Academie Julian where he studied the rigorous ‘ecole des beaux arts’ approach to drawing and painting for two years.
During the early 1880’s Seymour Haden visited Boston giving a series of lectures on etching. This introduction to the European etching...
Category
American Impressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Portrait de femme en buste, de profil a gauche, un tres large ruban noir du cou
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Portrait de femme en buste, de profil a gauche, un tres large ruban noir du cou, Mme Marthe Letellier
Drypoint, 1900-1901
Signed in pencil lower left (see photo)
Titled in pencil low...
Category
Impressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Drypoint
Jean-Francois ne Chante Alleluia no. 25, Aquatint Etching by Georges Rouault
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Georges Rouault
Title: Jean-Francois ne Chante Alleluia (Jean-Francois Never Sings Alleluia) no. 25 from the Miserere et Guerre series
Year: 1923 (published 1948)
Medium: Aqu...
Category
Modern Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching, Aquatint, Photogravure
Ballet und Pantomime "Scherzo II", plate #15.
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Walter Schnackenberg’s style changed several times during his long and successful career. Having studied in Munich, the artist traveled often to Paris where he fell under the spell o...
Category
Art Deco Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
Vintage Chinese Advertisement Poster, c. 1930
Located in Chicago, IL
This poster from the 1930s melds the meticulous detail of traditional Chinese painting with the craft of color lithography—and a side of risque. The poster features a young woman dressed in a fur-trimmed coat with Western accessories...
Category
Art Deco Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper, Ink
Marc Chagall, Manilov, Nicolas Gogol, Dead Souls, 1923-1927
By Marc Chagall
Located in Southampton, NY
This exquisite etching by Marc Chagall (1887–1985), titled Manilov (Manilov), originates from the celebrated folio Nicolas Gogol, Les Ames mortes, Eaux-fortes originales de Marc Chag...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
$1,996 Sale Price
20% Off
Marc Chagall, The Father of Chichikov…, Nicolas Gogol, Dead Souls, 1923-1927
By Marc Chagall
Located in Southampton, NY
This exquisite etching by Marc Chagall (1887–1985), titled Le pere de Tchitchikov l'eduque (The Father of Chichikov Educates Him), originates from the celebrated folio Nicolas Gogol,...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Marc Chagall, Mrs. Korobotchka, from Nicolas Gogol, Dead Souls, 1923-1927
By Marc Chagall
Located in Southampton, NY
This exquisite etching by Marc Chagall (1887–1985), titled Madame Korobotchka (Mrs. Korobotchka), originates from the celebrated folio Nicolas Gogol, Les Ames mortes, Eaux-fortes ori...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
$1,996 Sale Price
20% Off
Marc Chagall, Sobakevitch, from Nicolas Gogol, Dead Souls, 1923-1927
By Marc Chagall
Located in Southampton, NY
This exquisite etching by Marc Chagall (1887–1985), titled Sobakevitch, originates from the celebrated folio Nicolas Gogol, Les Ames mortes, Eaux-fortes originales de Marc Chagall (N...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
$1,996 Sale Price
20% Off
Marc Chagall, Pliushkin’s Room, from Nicolas Gogol, Dead Souls, 1923-1927
By Marc Chagall
Located in Southampton, NY
This exquisite etching by Marc Chagall (1887–1985), titled La chambre de Pliushkin (Pliushkin’s Room), originates from the celebrated folio Nicolas Gogol, Les Ames mortes, Eaux-forte...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
$1,996 Sale Price
20% Off
Portrait of a Model - Original lithograph
Located in Paris, IDF
Maurice DENIS (1870 - 1943)
Portrait of a Model, Study for the Bacchanale, 1918
Original lithograph enhanced in pastel
On light cream tinted vellum 35 x 26 cm (c. 13,7 x 10,2 inch)
...
Category
Academic Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
"Yanagibashi in Snow, " Color Woodcut Portrait with Umbrella
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Yanagibashi in Snow" is an original color woodcut by Utagawa Kunisada. This woodblock print depicts a woman walking in the snow near the Motoyanagi canal, which was located in Tokyo...
Category
Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Woodcut
Le Tasse de The (The Cup of Tea)
By Manuel Robbe
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Le Tasse de The (The Cup of Tea)
Color aquatint and etching, c. 1906
Signed in pencil in the image (see photo)
Edition: c. 100
Reference: Merrill Chase, Volume 1, No. 85
Condition: F...
Category
Art Nouveau Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Aquatint
"Horse Wrangler, " Original Black & White Lithograph by Lawrence Barrett
By Lawrence Barrett
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Horse Wrangler" is an original lithograph by the artist Lawrence Barrett signed in the lower right hand corner. Four beautifully drawn horses use a moment of commotion to escape a corral. Low hills and an expansive sky serve as a background.
Image: 8.75" x 12.25"
Framed: 11.9" x 16.5"
Lawrence Barrett was an etcher, lithographer, teacher, illustrator, sculptor, writer, and painter. Born in Guthrie, Oklahoma, Barrett was a student at the Broadmoor Academy...
Category
Realist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
On the Kedgwick
By Frank Benson
Located in New York, NY
Frank Benson created the etching "On the Kedgwick" in 1923, in an edition of 150. This impression is the second state of four. There are five known impressions of the second state. It is signed in pencil and inscribed "B-1" and "1 or 5" at the lower left paper edge (pencil). The image size 7 13/16 x 11 7/8" (19.9 x 30.2 cm) and sheet size 15 3/8 x 11 1/2" )29.3 x 39 cm). It is listed in the Frank W. Benson catalogue raisonne by Paff #222.
FRANK W. BENSON (1862-1951)
Frank Weston Benson, well known for his American impressionist paintings, also produced an incredible body of prints - etchings, drypoints, and a few lithographs. Born and raised on the North Shore of Massachusetts, Benson, a natural outdoorsman, grew up sailing, fishing, and hunting. From a young age, he was fascinated with drawing and birding – this keen interest continued throughout his life.
His first art instruction was with Otto Grundman at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and then in 1883 in Paris at the Academie Julian where he studied the rigorous ‘ecole des beaux arts’ approach to drawing and painting for two years.
During the early 1880’s Seymour Haden visited Boston giving a series of lectures on etching. This introduction to the European etching...
Category
Impressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
A Greek Idyll - Proof Etching by Robert Walker MacBeth after G F Watts
Located in London, GB
ROBERT WALKER MACBETH
(British 1848-1910)
After GEORGE FREDERIC WATTS
(British 1817-1904)
A Greek Idyll
Proof etching
Signed in pencil by both the artist l.l. and engraver l.r.
Framed
Plate size 42 by 54 cm., 16 ½ by 21 ¼ in.
(frame size 72.5 by 85 cm., 28 ½ by 33 ½ in.)
After Watt’s 1894 painting...
Category
Pre-Raphaelite Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Henri Matisse, Plume, from Drawings by Henri Matisse, 1925 (after)
Located in Southampton, NY
This exquisite lithograph after Henri Matisse (1869–1954), titled Plume (Feather), from the album Dessins de Henri-Matisse (Drawings by Henri Matisse), originates from the 1925 editi...
Category
Modern Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$956 Sale Price
20% Off
H.O. Miethke Das Werk folio "Portrait of Marie Henneberg" collotype print
Located in Palm Beach, FL
DAS WERK GUSTAV KLIMTS, a portfolio of 50 prints, ten of which are multicolor collotypes on chine colle paper laid down on hand-made heavy cream wove paper with deckled edges; under ...
Category
Vienna Secession Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
Young Faun – Bronze Bust by Alfredo Pina (1883–1966), Cast by Arthur Goldscheide
Located in Gent, VOV
Alfredo Pina’s Young Faun is a remarkable bronze bust that encapsulates the vitality and mischievous charm of its mythological subject. Sometimes misidentified as Young Bacchus, this...
Category
Art Deco Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Bronze
Abschied (Parting)
By Emil Nolde
Located in New York, NY
Emil Nolde (1876-1956), Abschied (Parting), etching and aquatint (tonal effects), 1906, signed in pencil lower right. Reference: Schiefler/Mosel 20, third state (of 3). One of only...
Category
Expressionist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching, Aquatint
Portrait of Adolfo Venturi- Etching by Giuseppe Graziosi - 1927
Located in Roma, IT
Etching realized by Giuseppe Graziosi, as illustration of the volume "Studi dal vero by Adolfo Venturi (depicted in the engraving).
Signed and dated in the plate.
Very good condition.
Category
Modern Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Alphonse Mucha Zdenka Cerny 1913 Lithograph (Rare and Large)
Located in Dallas, TX
Alphonse Mucha (Czech, 1860-1939) Original Lithograph 1913 - Very Large -
"Zdenka Cerny" The Greatest Bohemian Violincellist
Prague, Czechoslovak
Color lithograph
Signed and dated "...
Category
Art Nouveau Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
Rare Palestine Antique Hebrew Judaica Yahrzeit Synagogue Sign Memorial Plaque
Located in Surfside, FL
Circa 1890-1920. This Neoclassical, Judaic, Egyptian revival, Orientalist Mizrach sign, was produced in British Mandate Palestine by the chromolithograph process at the beginning of the 20th century. It pictures vignettes of holy places. with a hand written memorial. It was for the Tzedakah charity fund for the century-old institutions in Jerusalem: The great "Torah Center Etz Chaim"; a Free Kitchen for poor children and orphans; the famous Bikur Cholim Hospital with its dispensaries and clinics and the only Home for Incurable Invalids in Eretz Israel. They also worked with Arthur Szyk and Alfred Salzmann.. The A.L. Monsohn Lithographic Press (Monzon Press, Monson Press, דפוס אבן א"ל מאנזאהן, דפוס מונזון) was established in Jerusalem in 1892 by Abraham-Leib (or Avrom-Leyb) Monsohn II (Jerusalem, c.1871-1930) and his brother Moshe-Mordechai (Meyshe-Mordkhe). Sponsored by members of the Hamburger family, the brothers had been sent to Frankfurt, Germany in 1890 to study lithography. Upon returning to Jerusalem in 1892 with a hand press, they established the A.L. Monsohn Lithographic Press in the Old City of Jerusalem. According to the Information Center for Israeli Art A.L. Monsohn "created complex decorations for documents and oriental calendars that combined the tradition of Jewish art with modern printing techniques such as photographic lithography, raised printing and gilding."
The founders of the Monsohn press produced Jewish-themed color postcards, greeting cards, Jewish National Fund stamps, and maps documenting the evolution of the Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel in the nineteenth-twentieth centuries; religious material such as decorative plaques for synagogues, portraits of Old Yishuv rabbis such as Shmuel Salant, Mizrah posters indicating the direction of prayer for synagogues, memorial posters, and posters for Sukkot booths; color frontispieces for books such as Pentateuch volumes and the early song collections of Abraham Zvi Idelsohn (e.g., Shire Zion, Jerusalem 1908); artistic wedding invitations; and labels, packaging and advertisements for the pioneering entrepreneurs of Eretz Israel. The texts appearing in the Monsohn products were in several languages: Hebrew, Arabic, Yiddish, English, German (e.g., a c1920 trilingual Hebrew-English-Arabic "Malaria Danger" broadside warning the public of mosquitoes spreading malaria). Many of the brilliantly colored postcards and maps can be seen online as can the artistic invitations to his children's weddings which Monsohn published in the Jerusalem Hebrew press.
For years, the Monsohn (later, Monson/Monzon) Press was considered the best and most innovative in the country—pioneering in such techniques as gold-embossing and offset printing, among others. Early items for tourists included collections of Flowers of the Holy Land (c. 1910–1918)—pressed local flowers accompanied by scenes from the Eretz Israel countryside and relevant verses from the Bible, edited by Jsac Chagise (or Itzhak Haggis), an immigrant from Vitebsk, and bound in carved olive wood boards. Shortly after World War I Monsohn (now spelled מונזון) used zincography to produce the prints included in the Hebrew Gannenu educational booklets for young children illustrated by Ze'ev Raban of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and printed in Jerusalem by Hayim Refael Hakohen (vol. 1, 1919; vols. 2–3, 1920). In 1934 Monsohn moved into the new, western part of Jerusalem, in a shop with four presses and 30 workers, including Abraham-Leib's sons, David, Yosef, Moshe and Shimon, and his daughter Raytse's husband, Abraham Barmacz. The concern did business with all sectors of the city's population, including Arabs, for whom they printed in Arabic. Among their clients were members of the Ginio, Havilio, and Elite families, and Shemen, Dubek, and other renowned national brands, manufacturing products such as wine, candies, oil, and cigarettes. They also printed movie and travel posters, and government posters, postcards and documents, hotel luggage labels...
Category
Aesthetic Movement Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Bayros-Mappe III - Héliogravure by Fraz von Bayros - 1913
Located in Roma, IT
Héliogravure on japanese paper realized by Fraz von Bayros in 1913 for Ex Libris Verlag K. Th. Senger, Munich.
Mounted on passepartout. Edition of 260, hand signed in pencil by the ...
Category
Symbolist Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Photogravure
Les Bars, selected prints
Located in Wilton, CT
6 plates from the Lobel- Riche books, Les Bars depicting pre- war Paris fashions in the bars and nightclubs.
Category
Art Nouveau Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
$480 Sale Price
20% Off
Les Robes de Paul Poiret
By Paul Iribe
Located in Wilton, CT
The first of Poiret's two deluxe fashion albums featuring 10 full page (2 fold-out) pochoir illustrations by Paul Iribe. Poiret's syles indicate the new freedom in women's fashions ...
Category
Art Deco Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Other Medium
"Under the Street Lamp" Imp. Etching
By Martin Lewis
Located in Houston, TX
Copperplate etching by Martin Lewis titled "Under the Street Lamp." Edition of 100. Printed on laid paper with watermark and 83 recorded impressions. McCarron catalogue raisonne #70. Signed in pencil with "imp" next to the signature. In the bottom right corner is a penciled 75 and in the top right corner is a 50. The etching is framed and was taken out of the frame for condition report and photographs. The gallery label is on the back of the matte inside the frame.
Dimensions without Frame: H 15 in x W 9.5 in.
Artist Biography: Martin Lewis (1881-1962) was born in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia on 7 June 1881. He was the second of eight children and had a passion for drawing. At the age of 15, he left home and traveled in New South Wales, Australia, and in New Zealand, working as a pothole digger and a merchant seaman. He returned to Sydney and settled into a Bohemian community outside Sydney. Two of his drawings were published in the radical Sydney newspaper, The Bulletin. He studied with Julian Ashton at the Art Society's School in Sydney. Ashton, an English-born Australian artist and teacher, known for his support of the Heidelberg School and for his influential art school in Sydney. In 1900, Lewis left Australia for the United States. His first job was in San Francisco, painting stage decorations...
Category
Naturalistic Early 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching, Laid Paper
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