A happy New Year &
Best Wishes for 2015 !
Thanks to reader Archimandrill this identification problem of a print commemorating a 25th anniversary in what looks like (or could be) a circus tent print is solved. It is by Frieda Mentz-Kessel (Graz, Austria 1878 -1969 Jena) she was working as a linocut printmaker in Jena (near Weimar). There's not much to be revealed in the Internet about her life or work. She was married to history professor Georg Hugo Mentz (1870-1942) and exhibiting in the 1930's wilt fellow women artists in the "Jena Kunstlerinnen Verein" announcements found in newspaper and she was actively involved in the Womens Rights Movement.
Among them I found Dachau painter and printmaker Paula Wimmer (1876-1971). Besides her bathing boys (a theme after Max Liebermann) she is best remembered by her prints that are often also located in a circus tent. I will show more of her work soon.
Frieda's print was in an auction and, when it was sold, the Internet connections obviously were deleted. I just was lucky to stumble over it in this short window of opportunity.
All pictures borrowed freely from the Internet fro friendly, educational and non commercial use only.
Happy New Year to all, and congrats, Gerrie and Archimandrill on your teamwork to identify the print by Frieda Mentz-Kessel. Until internet searches become 'fuzzier," we must depend on both the poster and the searcher to spell with great accuracy. Then again, a couple of my best purchases on eBay came thanks to poor spelling on the part of the lister.
ReplyDeleteThank you Tom. The reward was great indeed. It's the spelling, the recognition, the encrypting. But in this case it was Mea Culpa: the discipline and accuracy of "not postponing labeling and filing when trying to build and maintain a reliable archive" is a thing not to be underestimated. Best Wishes to you too.
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