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Style: Symbolist
Amor, Tod und Jenseits - Etching by M. Klinger - 1881
Located in Roma, IT
Amor, Tod und Jenseits, (Cupid, death and afterlife) is an original etching and aquatint on paper Chine collé, realized by Max Klinger in 1881, plate XII from “Intermezzi” Opus IV,...
Category

1880s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

Le Sept Péchés Capitaux
Located in OPOLE, PL
Marc Chagall (1887-1985) - Le Sept Péchés Capitaux Etching from 1925. Edition of 300 proofs. Dimensions of work: 25 x 19.5 cm. Publisher: Tériade, Paris. Reference: Kornfeld 47....
Category

1920s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Christophorus II - Lithograph by Hans Thoma - 1916
Located in Roma, IT
Lithograph realized by Hans Thoma in 1916 on light yellow paper. Date and monogrammed in the plate. Hand signed lower right. Very good condition.
Category

1910s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

"Retreat from Marignano" set of 3 Copper Plate Prints
Located in Palm Beach, FL
The three prints included in this set are: "Retreat from Marignano", "Retreat from Marignano (left panel)", "Retreat from Marignano (right panel)". 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 and subsequent Expressionist artists such as Egon Schiele. He was born into an impoverished family in Bern, Switzerland in 1853. His entire family succumbed to tuberculosis, and he was orphaned by the age of 13, the only surviving child among his 13 siblings. In the absence of family, the influence and guidance which his art instructors provided Hodler was foundational and profound. Hodler began formal studies in 1872 at the Geneva School of Design. Under Barthelemy Menn, Hodler was drawn to the ordered beauty of Euclidian geometry and Durer’s fundamentals of human proportion that proved to be guiding principles informing his art throughout his life. By the 1880s, Hodler began to enjoy some recognition for his work which put him on a new path towards stability. Remaining in Geneva, he became assistant to the well-known muralist, Edouard Castres. Following his first solo show in 1885, Hodler’s work took on a Symbolist quality. He frequently associated with a group of Swiss Symbolist...
Category

1910s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Paper

"Woman Turning Around" 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 and subsequent Expressionist artists such as Egon Schiele. He was born into an impoverished family in Bern, Switzerland in 1853. His entire family succumbed to tuberculosis, and he was orphaned by the age of 13, the only surviving child among his 13 siblings. In the absence of family, the influence and guidance which his art instructors provided Hodler was foundational and profound. Hodler began formal studies in 1872 at the Geneva School of Design. Under Barthelemy Menn, Hodler was drawn to the ordered beauty of Euclidian geometry and Durer’s fundamentals of human proportion that proved to be guiding principles informing his art throughout his life. By the 1880s, Hodler began to enjoy some recognition for his work which put him on a new path towards stability. Remaining in Geneva, he became assistant to the well-known muralist, Edouard Castres. Following his first solo show in 1885, Hodler’s work took on a Symbolist quality. He frequently associated with a group of Swiss Symbolist...
Category

1910s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

"Night" 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

1910s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Paper

"Young Peasant Girl" 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 extol...
Category

1910s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Paper

"Portrait of Sculptor James Vibert" 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

1910s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Paper

Moonlit Night from Intermezzi - Etching by Max Klinger - 1881
Located in Roma, IT
Moonlit Night from Intermezzi belongs to a series of prints called Intermezzi realized by Max Klinger, published by Nurnberg: Stroefer, 1881. Etching on paper. Signed on the plate ...
Category

1880s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Prêtresse antique (Ancient Priestess)
Located in Middletown, NY
Heliogravure by Félicien Rops (1833 – 1898), a Belgian artist, known primarily as a printmaker in etching and aquatint. He is noted for his drawings depicting erotic and Satanic them...
Category

Late 19th Century Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Handmade Paper, Photogravure, Stencil

Message Intime
Located in OPOLE, PL
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) - Intime Mitteilung (Message intime) Etching and aquatint in color from 1925. The editon of 52/300. Dimensions of work: 57 x 45 cm. Monnogramed and ...
Category

1950s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Watercolor, Etching

Bridges. From the series “My Riga”. 1967. Paper, linocut, 69x103 cm.
Located in Riga, LV
Bridges. From the series “My Riga”. 1967. Paper, linocut, 69x103 cm.
Category

1960s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Paper, Linocut

Nude of a Man - Hand Colored Lithograph by Max Lingner
Located in Roma, IT
Nude of a man is a wonderful double-colored lithograph on paper realized by the German artist, Max Lingner (Leipzig, 1988- Berlin, 1969). Signature and date on plate on lower right...
Category

1910s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Composition with Nudes - Hand Colored Lithograph by Max Lingner - 1911
Located in Roma, IT
Symbolic composition with nudes is a wonderful double-colored lithograph on paper realized by the German artist, Max Lingner (Leipzig, 1988- Berlin, 1969). Monogram and date on pla...
Category

1910s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Pursued Centaur (Verfolgter Centaur) - Etching by Max Klinger - 1881
Located in Roma, IT
Pursued Centaur (Verfolgter Centaur) belongs to a series of prints called Intermezzi realized by Max Klinger, published by Nurnberg: Stroefer, 1881. Etching on paper. Signed in the...
Category

1880s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Seaside from Intermezzi - Etching by Max Klinger - 1881
Located in Roma, IT
Seaside from Intermezzi belongs to a series of prints called Intermezzi realized by Max Klinger, published by Nurnberg: Stroefer, 1881. Etching on paper. Signed on the plate Good ...
Category

1880s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Ex Libris - Memento Vivere - Woodcut by Michel Fingesten - 1930s
Located in Roma, IT
Ex Libris - Memento Vivere is a colored woodcut print created by Michel Fingesten. Hand Signed on the lower right margin. Good conditions. Michel Fingesten (1884 - 1943) was a ...
Category

1930s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Woodcut

"The Graces Lie Shy" Intaglio Etching
Located in Soquel, CA
"The Graces Lie Shy" intaglio etching by Chaim Koppelman (American b.1920 d.2009). Moody etching by prominent American printmaker and educator Chaim Koppelman. In this piece a nude...
Category

1950s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Paper, Etching, Intaglio

Le Calvaire - Etching and Heliogravure by Félicien Rops - 1882
Located in Roma, IT
Le Calvaire is an original etching, soft ground and colour héliogravure on Japanese paper, realized by Félicien Rops in 1882, signed on plate, plate from Les Sataniques In very ...
Category

1880s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching, Engraving

Andra Samelson, Jalü #1, archival pigment print, Ed. 4/5, Rainbow reflections
Located in Darien, CT
Rainbow Light can manifest anywhere and anytime, representing ominscience and it can dissolve instantly, representing impermanence. It is without shadow and represents awareness with...
Category

2010s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Archival Pigment

Suzanne Benton, Renaissance Student, 2017, Monoprint
Located in Darien, CT
“I still look at and learn from the art of the past, and enjoy making interpretations of works which I admire.” Henry Moore Infanta, Floating Balance, Point in Time, and Visionary are monoprints with Chine collé from Suzanne Benton's Paintings in Proust series. This grouping also includes the dry-point etching with Chine collé. Infanta (edition of 10). The monoprints (unique prints) employ the collage technique, chine collé (glued paper). Collé papers are pre-inked and hand-painted. Dimensional printing plates emboss texture onto the prints. The plates are inked individually for each solo print. The images and collé papers are then laid onto the plate and adhere to the printmaking paper as the plate and paper run through the etching press. Other monoprint series have been devoted to Indian and Turkish miniature painting...
Category

2010s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Monoprint

Vieux Chevalier - Lithograph by Odilon Redon - 1896
Located in Roma, IT
Wonderful, rare and perfect proof on china paper before letter, signed with initials in pencil. First final edition before the letter, in 100 pieces realized for the “Album des pein...
Category

1860s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

L'agonie - Etching by Félicien Rops - 1896
Located in Roma, IT
L’agonie is an original colored etching on paper realized by Félicien Rops in 1886, 3rd state of colours proof n°8, from Pellet éditeur, inscribed in p...
Category

1890s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Illustration from the series "Les Fleurs du mal" - Etching After O. Redon
Located in Roma, IT
Monogram of the artist on plate. Edition of 150 copies. One of the 50 H.C.copies in Roman Numerals. This print is one of the illustrations realized by Odilon Redon for an important e...
Category

1920s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Passage d'une Ame - Etching by O. Redon - 1891
Located in Roma, IT
Passage of a Spirit is an original etching, realized by Odilon Redon in 1891, frontispiece for “La Passante”, edition of 420 copies, titled: " Passage d’une âme ". Image dimensio...
Category

1890s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Bear and Elf from "Intermezzi" - Etching by Max Klinger - 1881
Located in Roma, IT
Bear And Elf from "Intermezzi" is a print realized by Max Klinger in 1881. Signature and number of the print on plate. Black and white etching and aquatint. Original title: Bär und...
Category

1880s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Die Nixen (Mermaids), nudes, German antique engraving
By Virgilio Tojetti
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
'Die Nixen' (Mermaids) German wood-engraving, 1903. 230mm by 320mm (image) 280mm by 410mm (sheet)
Category

Early 20th Century Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Engraving

Profil de Lumiere, Symbolist Collotype after Odilon Redon
Located in Long Island City, NY
Odilon Redon, After, French (1840 - 1916) - Profil de Lumiere, Portfolio: Twenty Four Masterpieces of Graphic Art, Year: Year Printed 1974, Medium: Collotype, Image Size: 14 x 9....
Category

1970s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Photogravure

Illustration from the Series "Les Fleurs du Mal" after Odilon Redon - 1923
Located in Roma, IT
Illustration from the series "Les Fleurs du Mal" is an etching print realized after Odilon Redon and published by Henri Felury in 1923. Monogrammed on the plate. Good conditions. ...
Category

1920s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Das Grausen - Lithograph After A. Kubin - 1903
By After Alfred Kubin
Located in Roma, IT
Das Grausen is a lithograph realized after a work by Alfred Kubin in 1903, Hand-signed and titled, plate from Faksimiledrucke nach Kunstblättern, edition H. Von Weber. Included a...
Category

Early 1900s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Partout des Prunelles Flamboient - Lithograph by O. Redon - 1888
Located in Roma, IT
Everywhere Eyeballs Are Ablaze is an original lithograph on Chine collé, realized by Odilon Redon in 1888, plate 7 “Les tentations de St.Antoine”(1ère série), unique state, 1st edition printed...
Category

1880s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

L'Arbre Vert aux Amoureux
Located in OPOLE, PL
Marc Chagall (1887-1985) - L'Arbre Vert aux Amoureux Lithograph from 1980. Unsigned and unnumbered apart from the edition of 50. Dimensions of work: 64.5 x 48 cm. Reference: Chag...
Category

1930s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Elegant Women in a Park - Original lithograph, 1898
Located in Paris, IDF
Manuel ROBBE Elegant Women in a Park, 1898 Original lithograph (Champenois workshop) Printed signature in the plate On vellum, 40 x 31 cm (c. 16 x 12 in) INFORMATION: Lithograph cr...
Category

1890s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Melancolic Seascape with Sailboats - Original Lithograph, 1898
Located in Paris, IDF
Francis JOURDAIN Melancolic Seascape with Sailboats, 1898 Original lithograph (Champenois workshop) Printed signature in the plate On vellum, 40 x 31 cm (c. 16 x 12 in) INFORMATION...
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1890s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Young Girl Playing in the Woods - Original lithograph, 1898
Located in Paris, IDF
Eugene DELATRE Young Girl Playing in the Woods, 1898 Original lithograph (Champenois workshop) Printed signature in the plate On vellum, 40 x 31 cm (c. 16 x 12 in) INFORMATION: Lit...
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1890s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Young Girl with an Orange - Original lithograph, 1898
Located in Paris, IDF
Louise BRESLAU Young Girl with an Orange, 1898 Original lithograph (Champenois workshop) Printed signature in the plate On vellum, 40 x 31 cm (c. 16 x 12 in) INFORMATION: Lithograp...
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1890s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Forellenweiher - Etching and Drypoint by Franz Von Stuck - 1890s
Located in Roma, IT
Forellenweiher is a wonderful black and white etching and drypoint on wide rod cream paper realized by Franz von Stuck in 1890-1891. Hand signed in gr...
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1890s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Paper, Drypoint, Etching

Kampf - Vintage Héliogravure by Franz von Bayros - 1921 ca.
Located in Roma, IT
Kampf is a very beautiful black and white héliogravure on cream-colored cardboard realized by Choisy Le Conin, as is remembered Franz Von Bayros (Agram, 1866 – Vienna, 1924). From M...
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1920s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Engraving

Thou shalt also anoint Aaron and his sonnes, and shalt... - The Exodus
Located in OPOLE, PL
This work will be exhibited at Art on Paper NYC, September 4–7, 2025. – Marc Chagall (1887-1985) - Thou shalt also anoint Aaron and his sonnes, and shalt consecrate them, that they...
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1960s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Mein Weg mit dem Weib #13 - Original Etching by W.R. Rehn
Located in Roma, IT
Drypoint and aquatint (brown ink) on cream paper. Signed "Rehn" in pencil on the lower right margin. Titled and numbered in pencil on the lower left margin. Edition of 25 prints. Fr...
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1910s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Drypoint, Aquatint

Shepherd - Etching by A. Suares - 1926
Located in Roma, IT
Shepherd is from Illustrations for Cressidra, a print on paper realized by André Suares in 1926.  Etching and drypoint Edition of 200 print, Including a Passepartout Good conditions.
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1920s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Drypoint, Etching

Der Zeichner - Etching by Unknown Artist of circle of Max Klinger
Located in Roma, IT
Der Zeichner is a superb etching made around 1900 by a still unknown author, but surely from the circle of Max Klinger (Leipzig, 1857 - Grossjena, 1920). Title on plate in the lower margin in the center. Posthumous impression of a matrix by an unknown author. The style refers to the Griffelkunst and the prescriptions of the Max Klinger "school of stylus"and of the artists who were close to him. In particular, for the subject in question, in the circle of Max Klinger, Saschia Schneider stands out, who placed male...
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Early 1900s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Der Philosoph - Etching by Max Klinger - 1885
Located in Roma, IT
Image dimension cm 29.7x19.9. Printed in the lower margin, center: «Max Klinger / Der Philisoph / (Aus «Vom Tode, II») / Pan I 2». Engraving from the art periodical Pan, vol. I, no...
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1880s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Le Sire De Lumey
Located in Middletown, NY
Brussels: J. Bouwens, 1867. Etching with aquatint and engraving on laid Japan paper, 9 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches (247 x 163 mm), full margins. Fifth state (of 5). Scattered moderate foxing....
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Late 19th Century Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Laid Paper, Engraving, Etching, Aquatint

Kraft und Mut (Courage and Strength), German antique engraving
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
'Kraft und Mut' (Courage and Strength) German wood-engraving, 1903. 320mm by 230mm (image) 280mm by 410mm (sheet)
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Early 20th Century Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Engraving

Brahms-Phantasie - Rare Portfolio of 41 Engravings by Max Klinger - 1894
Located in Roma, IT
Brahms-Phantasie is a wonderful in-folio volume: the Brahm's Phantasies musical score is incredibly illustrated with 37 numbered plates for a total of 41 original engravings (burin, ...
Category

1890s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Paper, Engraving

Simplicius' Writing Lesson from Intermezzi - Etching by Max Klinger - 1881
Located in Roma, IT
Simplicius' Writing Lesson (Simplici Schreibstunde) (plate VII) belongs to a series of prints called Intermezzi realized by Max Klinger, published by Nurnberg: Stroefer, 1881. Etchi...
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1880s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Pursued Centaur (Verfolgter Centaur) - Etching by Max Klinger - 1881
Located in Roma, IT
Pursued Centaur (Verfolgter Centaur) belongs to a series of prints called Intermezzi realized by Max Klinger, published by Nurnberg: Stroefer, 1881. Etching on paper. Signed on the...
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1880s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Then the Angel of the Lorde appeared unto him in a flame of fire... - The Exodus
Located in OPOLE, PL
Marc Chagall (1887-1985) - Then the Angel of the Lorde appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the middes of a bush; and he looked, and beholde, the bush was not consumed Litho...
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1960s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Musik und Danz (Music and Dance), after Eduard Veith, German antique engraving
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
'Musik und Danz' (Music and Dance) German wood-engraving, circa 1895. Central vertical fold as issued. Eduard Veith was an Austrian portrait painter and stage designer. Many o...
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1890s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Engraving

Untitled (Mother and Child)
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Maurice Denis, Untitled (Mother and Child), lithograph, 1897, edition not stated. Signed in the stone, lower right. Annotated in linotype 'MAURICE DENIS, ORIGINAL LITHOGRAPHIE PAN III' in the lower left sheet corner. A fine, atmospheric impression, in warm, dark gray ink, on buff wove paper, with full margins (2 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches); a small discoloration in the bottom left sheet corner, otherwise in good condition. Image size 8 5/8 x 6 7/8 inches; sheet size 13 7/8 x 10 5/8 inches. As published in 'Pan', the leading German magazine of the period devoted to art and literature. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Collection: Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Reproduced: German Expressionist Prints...
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1890s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Pegase Captif - after Odilon Redon - 1923
Located in Roma, IT
Pegase Captif is a prototype reproduction realized after Odilon Redon. They belong to the suite "Odilon Redon Peintre, Dessinateur et Graveur", published by Henri Felury in 1923. ...
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1920s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Photogravure

Opus IV, Simplicius in der Waldeinode - Etching by Max Klinger - 1881
Located in Roma, IT
Opus IV, Simplicius in der Waldeinode (Simplicius in the Wilderness) belongs to a series of prints called Intermezzi realized by Max Klinger, published by Nurnberg: Stroefer, 1881. ...
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1880s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

'Le Paradis Terrestre' (Paradise on Earth) — French Symbolism
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Edouard Goerg, 'Le Paradis Terrestre' (Paradise on Earth), etching, 1931, edition 40. Signed, titled, and numbered '3/40' in pencil. A fine richly-inked impression, on heavy, cream w...
Category

1930s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Portrait de Jeune Fille Portrait of a Girl 1970 original aquatint Leonor Fini
Located in Paonia, CO
Portrait de Jeune Fille is a haunting portrait of a young girl also known as .. Justine… she could be either fading into the distance or just materializing out of a dream state. Her hair and the air around her is in shades of pale blue and the background is the white of the paper. This is a limited edition ( 170/300) aquatint , signed in the plate. In good condition with a 1" repaired tear midway on the right border which will not show when framed. Argentinian-born artist Leonor Fini (1907-1996) is considered one of the great female artists of the twentieth century. She moved to Paris in the early 1930’s where she spent most of her life and almost immediately formed friendships with Salvador Dali, Cartier- Bresson, Max Ernst and other intellectuals of the time. At twenty five she had her first one person show in Paris and was included in the 1936 pivotal exhibition at MOMA…Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism…..and that same year had an exhibition at a famous avant garde gallery in New York. Although Fini never considered herself a Surrealist she maintained close personal relationships with several members of the group. One can see how their ideology influenced her work but she remained firmly rooted in the tradition of Symbolism, Metaphysics and Italian and German Romanticism Her works can be found in most important collections of modern art around the world. Fini was renowned as a portraitist and as a painter of erotic sexual tensions with a mysterious atmosphere. She was adamant about being independent and not belonging to any one group. She lived life on her own terms and is sometimes referred to as …..the female Dali. She was also involved with designing for fashion and creating elaborate sets for opera and theatre. As a feminist she was definitely ahead of the times. She produced the first erotic male nude...
Category

20th Century Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Aquatint

Ex Libris Doctor Turis Lustig - Etching by Michel Fingesten - 1930s
Located in Roma, IT
Ex Libris Doctor Turis Lustig is an etching realized by Michel Fingesten in 1930s. 30x24 cm. it includes passpartout. Handigned in the lower right part. Good conditions. Michel ...
Category

1930s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching

Ange Déchu - Lithograph after Odilon Redon - 1923
Located in Roma, IT
Ange Déchu is a prototype reproduction realized after Odilon Redon. They belong to the suite "Odilon Redon Peintre, Dessinateur et Graveur", published by Henri Felury in 1923. Tit...
Category

1920s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Illustration from the series "Les Fleurs du Mal" after Odilon Redon - 1923
Located in Roma, IT
Illustration from the series "Les Fleurs du Mal" is an etching print realized after Odilon Redon and published by Henri Felury in 1923. Monogrammed on the plate. Good conditions. ...
Category

1920s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Le Masque de la Mort Rouge - Lithograph after Odilon Redon - 1923
Located in Roma, IT
Le Masque de la Mort Rouge is a phototype reproduction realized after Odilon Redon. They belong to the suite "Odilon Redon Peintre, Dessinateur et Graveur", published by Henri Felu...
Category

1920s Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Weddigen - Vintage Héliogravure by Franz von Bayros - Early 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
"Weddigen" is an original Black and white héliogravure on cream-colored cardboard realized by Choisy Le Conin, pseudonym of Franz Von Bayros (Agram, 1866 – Vienna, 1924). From Mappe...
Category

Early 20th Century Symbolist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Engraving

Symbolist prints and multiples for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Symbolist prints and multiples available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add prints and multiples created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of orange, blue and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Michel Fingesten, Abel Pann, Franz von Bayros (Choisi Le Conin), and Ferdinand Hodler & R. Piper & Co.. Frequently made by artists working with Lithograph, and Woodcut Print and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Symbolist prints and multiples, so small editions measuring 1.58 inches across are also available. Prices for prints and multiples made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $55 and tops out at $378,675, while the average work sells for $462.

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