Otto Völckers

Otto Völckers

German Archict and author (1888-1957)

Just lucky I stumbled upon this "Sanddorn in Vase" Holzschnitt. Having been living on a North-Sea island the warm orange colored dunes in the fall are such a feast. The same warm orange of Physalis or Chinese Lantern plant.
The picture showed up in a German collection of all sorts of paintings displayed on the Internet in something called "Flickr".

After emailing begging for a scan or xeroxcopy it turned out I'm now the new keeper of this lovely little (11 x 12 cm.) woodblock print and its counterpart. Thank you Herr Raymond Löhr, the friendly elderly German gentlemen offering to part from them, knowing they would again be loved for many ears.

"Sandorn"

"Liebitzer Leuchter"

A "Leuchter" is a candlestick, but what about "Liebitzer"? I found two small villages "Gross and Klein Liebitz", situated some 50 km south east of Berlin, in the Liebitzer Berge. So maybe a very typical locally styled 4 piece candleholder with a very specific name ? The little green dish very simple but effectively cut, as he did suggesting the light around the 4 candletips: very clever !

Otto Völckers must have had some hidden talent other then designing Modern buildings. He belonged to the "das Neue Bauen" movement combining Historical and the Jugenstil elements into a new form of archticture. In the Netherlands this movement is known as "De Stijl", later called "de Nieuwe Zakelijkheid".

some books published by Otto Völckers

Even in this 1951 Japanese (?) bulletin his book on the use of glas in structural building was advertised.

Both prints sadly show some heavy brown staining. I must make inquiries if this can be washed out before reframing and rematting them. Together.

Sanddorn, Duindoorn, Havtorn, Sea buckhorn, Seaberry

(Hippophae Rhamnoides)

Sea- and elderberry together so very typical for older dune valleys. Seaberry a hosting plant for many species of Lepidoptera (Moths, night flying butterflies, the very sour berries extremely rich in Vitamin C and when fermenting in fall I 've seen birds feeding very drunk and hungover. I wonder why they do that.

Seaberry + a symbiotic bacteria (Frankia) bringing nitrogen into the sandy soils thus creating new chances for succeeding shrubs, bushes and plants. After 10-15 years they disapear from the spot. The berries sprouting only when this special bacteria is around.

Orange + Bleu + Form

To my humble easthetic feelings nothing beats a composition using these 2 complementary colors combined with the classic and eternal shape of the Ginger jar

But I am not the first to now and notice.

Flowers + Ginger pot (or is it a jar ?)

seems an almost exclusive Dutch affair. Im I right or am I wrong ?

Color, from Pedro de Lemos' : the art teacher 1931