Marcus Behmer Animal Prints

Marcus Behmer (German, 1879 – 1958) Die Geravbte orchidee (The robbed orchid), 1903 Signed ‘Marcus Behmer’ (lower right in pencil) Lithograph on paper 16.1/8 x 12in. (40.8 x 30.5cm.) It is apparent Behmer is influenced by the work of Aubrey Beardsley, though this work is no less beautiful in its execution. Little is known regarding his connections to Oscar Wilde though he is obviously an admirer and has many similarities with his private life and incarceration in prison. These works were a personal gift to Baron Detlev von Hadeln, the aristocrat and prominent art historian of the age. Behmer is known to be, since 1903, a member in the first ever homosexual organization in Berlin and was thus probably a part of Adolf Brand’s circle, and may have contributed to Brand’s publication Der Eigene. Until now, few know that Behmer was sentenced in April 1937 by a court in Konstanz to imprisonment for two years, being arrested in Freiburg and at other locations in southern Germany for being a homosexual. At times he was given the opportunity to work as an artist in prison. The works produced in this period are mostly calligraphic designed tablets with Greek text (prayers and Bible quotes...