Margarete Gerhardt (continued) and Helène Mass

Lina Elisabeth Margarete Gerhardt

(Frankfurt a/d Oder 1873 Berlin 1958)

painter and wood/lincut printer 

After some detective work new information about Margarethe Gerhardt came to me from friendly contact Thomas in Berlin.



Margarethe was born Jan. 8th 1873 in Frankfurt an der Oder and was trained in Berlin at the Schule der Berliner Künstlerinnen (Berlin Women Art School and Institute esth. in 1869). One of her teachers was influential and important Dora Hitz (1856-1924) friend and colleague of Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) one of Germanies most important artists.


Dora Hitz: Mädchen im Mohnfeld (Girl in field of poppies)

Margarethe traveled in Europe and received further training in Italy and in Paris. She was a member of many Berlin Art Institutions and was even appointed member of the board of the school where she was trained: in 1930, 1933 and 1936 probably until WW2 broke out. In addition to the earlier posting here are a painting (view on the Wannsee, probably around 1910-1920) and a picture from the van der Grinten Collection of a linocut print. The very nice oil painting is for sale at 400€. 

Margarethe (L.E.M.) Gerhardt, oil painting

Margarethe exhibited at the Grosser Berliner Kunstausstellung (Great Berlin Art Exhibition) with paintings and wood- and linocut prints in 1922, 1926, 1928 and 1933. After her death in 1958 an in memoriam exhibition was held in her honor in Berlin by her former School and Institute.

Helene Mass, oil painting

Among her fellow board members I found printer Helène Mass (1871-?) It is assumed she died during WW2. I found this nice oil painting (it's for sale on Ebay, modestly priced, might you consider to hang it) by her and in addition to the excellent postings and discussions by Charles (Modern Printmakers and Clive (Art and the aesthete: this Blog is sadly discontinued). Links to these Blog postings you'll find below. This is a good opportunity showing three new examples of her woodblock prints.

(from the van der Grinten collection)

Imagine listening to Beethoven's 6th symfony and looking at these merry musicians coming from the woods after the thunderstorm.

Another board member and colleague of Margarethe and Helène was Auguste Lind-Graf. The haystack in this nice print below is probably situated at the Ostsea, maybe the peninsula "kurische Nehrung".  I couldn’t find any biographical facts about her, but what nice colors.

http://gerrie-thefriendlyghost.blogspot.com/2011/04/margarethe-gerhardt.html 
http://haji-b.blogspot.com/2010/10/helene-mass.html
http://haji-b.blogspot.com/2010/11/helene-mass-four-more-woodcuts.html

Surfinia's !

This posting was updated 17th march 2012 with new information 

*here*

At first glance this looks like a fantastic and inveracious bouquet. Daring colors, very bright and fresh like the day they were printed. It came in a great frame and the print only in need of window cleaning and a new mat. (Getting the wrinckels due to the old mat gluying, out of the very thin and old Japan paper is very costly and it really doesn't bother me too much considering it's almost a century old.) 

The framers label on the back: ”Max Schmidt Bau und Bilder Glase” (building and picture glass) Bunzlau Schl. Bunzlau, now Bolaslawiec in Poland, then capital of lower Silesia, Schlesiën, until 1919 a province of Prussia. Near Dresden. A busy town crowded with shops and craftsmen, but I couldn't identify Max' shop in the old postcards of Bunzlau shopping streets.

Opening the frame revealed written instructions for (and by ?) glaser and framemaker Max Schmidt about the color of the mat and choice of frame: “gold und blau”. And a name, probably of the owner/commissioner: Kuhlendahl. The headmaster of Bunzlau Königliche Waisenhaus und Schulanhalt (Royal orphanage and School Institition) in the 1920 was named Kuhlendahl.

Identifying the flowers was a bit of a puzzle too. Under the old matting lower left was written something in old German. Finding the species and variety of flowers made the reading easier: Surfinia. As it happens a very perticular brand of Petunia: Roze Veine. Only two(!) pictures among the thousands of Petunia’s I found are Surfinia Roze Veine. An old, forgotten but spectacular variety ?

But what is the most important, I still haven’t been able deciphering the signature. Nor do I remember ever having seen similar work and colors. I need the help of readers.

Problems with Blog commenting now fixed.

Some bug or switch blocked commenting on most Linosaurus postings in June. These problems, not receiving and not being able to leave comments on other Blogs but anonymously seem both to be fixed. Feel free to return to earlier posts and if you want leave a comment. This is also the easiest way of checking all is working properly again. 

Thank you Lily from Japonism  http://lotusgreenfotos.blogspot.com/ for sending me this picture of "My Home" magazine cover of november 1929, solving the mystery of these two free posters by Hall Thorpe.

Now the search is on for the magazine that (also?) gave these two away. And if there have been more such magazine presents.

See also earlier postings in this Blog on John Hall Thorpe and Ralph Mott. By using the Blog search.

Flamingo posting (June 16th) omission

How could I forget this lonely flamingo print by important and prolific Swiss printer Martha Cunz (1876 - 1961). She created it in 1904, the flamingo probably living in St. Gallen Zoo, esthablished in 1892 when Martha was 16. The picture is also added to the posting of June 16th.

For even more Flamingo's on posters and prints visit Japonism Blog:
http://lotusgreenfotos.blogspot.com/2011/07/firebird.html and
http://lotusgreenfotos.blogspot.com/2007/03/crane-wife.html

John Hall Thorpe (update)

A few days ago I received from Australia this nice email-commentary on the Linosaurus' most consulted pages: the postings on John Hall Thorpe's Flower Prints. Glenda agreed sharing the information with readers of the Linosaurus and all those interested in JHT prints.

Gerrie:

Your three unknown prints are in order Polyanthus (c1921), The Country Bunch (c1922) and The Chinese Vase (c1920). My husband R. is the great nephew of JHT (paternal) and directly and through his mother inherited many, many prints, including etchings going back to the 1890s.

His wife died in the 1950s and they were childless, so his collection came to Australia. It was divided between his four nephews some were sold and others I suppose dispersed through their various children. Except for some of the prints displayed at home and some sold or given away, others perished over the years, as R. was an only child the collection was virtually intact and stored away in cupboards, we even found prints in the garage. So the prints had hardly seen the light of day for about 40 years.

I found that JHT printed on different papers ie. Sweet Peas in Glass Vase is printed on like a thick sort of paper, the smaller flower prints were on a shiny cardboard, others on a more porous sort of paper. Also I came across some variations of the colour of the vases, if memory serves Nasturtiuams and Sweet Peas and possibly Marigolds. Parrots and Possum was a Christining gift given to R. by JHT that has the birds in different colours.

Would you believe we even have his original letter of recommendation and introduction to England from the newspaper he worked for here in Sydney it's dated 1900.

Regards,
Glenda

This last picture from Felicity from http://www.bellagraphica.com/

Otto Ackermann

Otto Ackermann

(Berlin 1872 - Düsseldorf 1956)

German painter, woodcarver and woodblock printer.

Otto Acckermann according to the few biographical facts there are was trained at "Eschke in Berlin". This undoubtedly was naval and landscape painter Hermann Escke (1842-1900) who was awarded the title of Professor Imperial  and close enough to the German Imperial House of Hohenzollern to have his son Hans Hermann appointed German Consul General of Singapore, in 1889, so that must have been by Kaiser Wilhelm II who came to power in 1888 (until 1918). Hans-Hermann Eschke became the first full time German diplomat.

Otto Ackerman however stayed closer to home and wandered from Berlin to Düsseldorf in 1897, where he was to stay the rest of his life traveling to Belgium, Italy and into the Netherlands. He painted landscapes and Belgian and Dutch coastal scenery.

Possibly Otto A. is identical with the (G or O) Ackermann of the before posting. This woodblock print by Otto Ackermann, it is the only(!) one I could find, from the van der Grinten collection depicts Kaiserswerth on the Rhine near Düsseldorf. Sadly the signature isn't visible in this photo. German colleague painter Theodor Hagen (1842-1919) painted this romantic location too, the Ferry house and Inn on the banks of the Rhine river.

And, according to this early 1900 postcard, they were both pretty acurate.

G or O Ackermann (?)

Who was the artist that created this woodblock print titled "Auerhahn" (Wood grouse, Tetrao Urogallus) ? I read G (maybe O) Ackermann but cannot find a printer by that name. It's a big print, 32 x 37 cm. with nice blues. This big and illusive bird is also depicted on this most famous Finnish (it's in the Finlands National Gallery) painting by Ferdinand von Wright (1822-1906), It's the biggest of the grouse family.

The simpleton that framed the print cut the matt too narrow and glued the print onto it thus hiding the black border margins behind the matt. Instead of creating a nice and even space around the printed area. Maybe it was ignorance or maybe it was instructed by the buyer. On the back is written "nr. 6315, No: 65 and in Silver frame". Most probably instructions for shop catalogue identification, matting and framing. It was sold (or maybe only framed ?) in the Netherlands by "the Bijenkorf". A Dutch Harrods, having a Fine Arts Department. A new, posh and very modern shopping centre openend right in the heart of Amsterdam in 1914,

with pré-WWII branches opening in the Hague in 1924, designed by architect Piet Kramer (1881-1961): 

and Rotterdam designed by architect Willem Dudok (1884-1974), opening in late 1930. This great, beautiful and much loved modernistic building was distroyed only 9 years later  in the cowardly bombing raid and folowing firestorm of Rotterdam May 14th 1940. There are plans of rebuilding it. On the same spot, now housing a new Maritime Museum.