Showing posts with label Samuel Jesserun de Mesquita. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Samuel Jesserun de Mesquita. Show all posts

Thursday, 21 January 2016

A.T. = Angela Treu and some considerations.

Angela Treu 

?


Cleaning up and arranging picture files for the publication of my German Women Artists, born 1850-1900, involved in modern color woodblock printmaking Lexicon (I agree: a mouthful to cover the contents. Suggestions for an appropriate but shorter title welcomed)*. 



Somewhere(?), sometime (nov. 2012) I found the picture (not the print) of this toucan monogrammed A.T. and somehow(?) scribbled the name Angela Treu, but never was able to find an artist by that name. 



The only artist (I know of) befitting these inititials is August Trummer (b.1946 -) from Graz.   But I doubt he's the one (above left). As a printmaker he wrote the catalogue-raisonné on  Carl Rotky's (1891-1977) prints and obviously was influenced a lot by the master from Graz (above right). Lovely prints with lovely Rotky pastel colors.   

The artist A.T. must have had access to a Zoo (Tiergarten/Tierpark) nearby: Dresden, Berlin, Graz ?





Dresden printmaker Martin Erich Philipp (1887-1978) saw his family of "Pfeffer-fresser" (species of South American toucan family) no doubt in Dresden Zoo. He created his first print in 1909 (cat. D7) and decided to  do it again in 1924 (cat. D17).



Dutch printmaker Ed Jeska, artist name of Jan Staats Kiewiet (1899-1977) will have seen his toekan-bird in Artis ZOO in Amsterdam and so will have  Willem Hendrik van den Berg (1886-1970) a not widely known painter and printmaker and director of Amsterdam Rijks-Academie 1938-1953.  



Samuel Jesserun de Mesquita (1868-1944) -above- was a regular visitor of Artis ZOO and was even named the "Master of Artis" which did not prevent him being murdered in Auschwitz. Today there is a renewed interest in his wonderful woodblocks and in 2005 a monograph  (380 pages) was published. 



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(*) a Title

(Friedrich Fabrizius Max Karl Freiherr) or short: Fritz von Ostini  (1861-1927) -left- was an influential German editor, author humorist and lyric. He wrote the monograph's of a dozen or so contemporary painters (many famous and all male). He is most renowned for his "verdict" on woman painters calling them  "Malweibchen" in 1914. I think "painting bitches" comes close as to describe the contempt he held for women-art and women artists. Not very humorous, not a nice man. Women artist had suffered greatly to reach to the levels and positions they'd earned in 1914 and still not being admitted or allowed in the Academies. After the death of Anton von Werner (1943-1915) who had been in charge of the Berlin "Hochschule für Bildende Künste" from 1875(!) and personally stood between admittance of women in the Academy it became only possible for women to enter the Academie in 1919 after WW1 had ended.  


Datei:Edmundhellmer.jpgSome teachers, like Vienna professor sculptor Edmund Ritter von Hellmer (1850-1935) -right- declared openly it to be "a waste of time educating women as artists since they married anyway". Despite chauvinist pigs like Ostini and von Hellmer there were women who by sheer perseverance managed to have a career. Discovering this new technique and creating the most fantastic woodblock prints (and other works of art of course) never surpassed in originality and quality in the history of Art to this day.


"Druckweiber" (printmaking galls ?) would be a "fun" title, with historical meaning and relevance, but of course could easily be explained as inappropriate. Many of the women artists (most of them Ladies) involved in early printmaking, let us say from the start of Orlik's Berlin training classes, from 1905 onwards, were not "galls" but accomplished artists  already in their 40's and 50's when attending. 



     
Orliks 1905 poster (although it says 1895 when Orlik still was in Munich, for the "Verein der Berliner Künstlerinnen". A welcome gift to the  Berlin colleagues and sisters he would soon co-operate with, in the year of his appointment in Berlin? Or more probable: commissioned by its director Margarethe Hoenerbach 1848-1924).
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All pictures borowwed freely from the Internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use only.  

Friday, 4 April 2014

Bernard Willem Wierink: in Artis ZOO

Bernard Willem (Ben) Wierink
(1856-1939)

Dutch drawer , painter, juwelry and toy designer
bookband designer and books illustrator, printmaker.
and teacher.




Initially Ben Wierink was trained as a teacher, and working with Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers (1827-1921) he assisted in planning the building (1885) of the new Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The recently remodeled, reopened and truly spectacular museum was visited by president Barack Obama last week.




Wierink came along in my recent Jan Uri posting as one of the many artists that worked in Artis Zoo. Earlier I showed Gerrit Dijsselhof (1866-1924), Samuel Jesserun de Mesquitta (1886-1944). The list of fine artist working in Amsterdam Zoo is long: Nicolaas van der Waaij (1875-1936) who painted (and etched) one of the concerts that was given in Artis, obviously influenced by the Germany's greatest impressionist painter Max Liebermann (1847-1935) whom he would will have known: Liebermann visited and painted frequently in the Netherlands and van der Waaij was a professor in the Rijks Akademie for 30 years. 
 Nic. van der Waaij
Max Liebermann

But also Henri Verstijnen (188201940, Maria Kelting (1886-1969), Willem van den Berg (1886-1870) and so many others.  
I love  Wierink’s use of color and his fabulous drawing technique and although I know he created some very fine woodblock prints I've never ever actually saw one. So here’s a good moment to show what I scratched together from the Internet. 


This watercolor, below, was created for the “liber Amoricum for Artis director Dr. Coen Kerbert (1849-1927).  


This is Wierinks woodblock portrait of his friend the painter and etcher Maurits van der Valk (1857-1935) of whom I have a work, this lovely “Friesland”, as it happens, the place where I live. Closing nicely the circle of this posting. 



All pictures are mouse-clickable to embiggen. 

All pictures borrowed freely from the Internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use only. 

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Han Mulder

Johanna (Anna, Han) Mulder
(b. the Hague, 1935 - )
Dutch graphic artist.



Recently I was given this print as a present by my old friend Bauke "that was more befitting to my rather then his collection". And do I love it.  


There's absolutely nothing I can find other then the artist's birthday and place (the Hague, 16th oktober 1935) and her involvement with Dutch artist Gaby Bovelander (b.1931) and that she may have lived (and worked ?) in Apeldoorn and/or Arnhem in the late 1960's. That's all. 

There're two things that makes it both charming and interesting: A) The goat itself, immediately reminding of the most famous of all Dutch "poor men's cows" of them all. By short lived but brilliant painter and printmaker Jan Mankes (1889-1920). He did both a painting and a woodblock print of his goat. And Arie Zonneveld  (1905-1941) did a great lam.


I have no intention try showing all goats on prints here. But there's a tradition of goats on prints from Nicholas Berchem (1620-1683) to William Nicholson (1872-1949)

And only recently I discovered the wonderful animal world of Kurt Meyer-Eberhard (1895-1977). 

Who, I learned, happened to be a student of Walter Klemm (1883-1857). He preferred a lifelong private career as an etcher of animals over a professorate.


And I stumbled over this most charming Dutch "one off" by Gra (Gerharda Johanna Wilhelmina) Rueb (1885-1972). She did only one in this medium and I think she was familiar with the works of Samuel Jesserun de Mesquita, Mr. Artis Zoo, whom I presented earlier in this Blog. 
     

And there's B) the second feature of this little print. It's the brilliant and clever positioning of the outline or suggestion of buildings at the upper most margins of the composition thus creating a "dramatic" change in perspective and great suggestion of depth. With just a bit of gray paint. I've seen it applied in several other works, like this woodcut by Rudolf Treumann (1873-1981) above.


But applied most spectacularly I remembered it in this great print "the timber Crane" by Australian Ethel Spowers (1890-1947). It's that little triangle of light , the few centimeters of roof tops in the upper right corner that changes the way the brain digests what the eyes began exploring. Glancing over the scene from lower left upwards. Because the black mass and direction of the crane's boom are working as an forceful invitation to "start over here". Enhancing a feeling of enormity even more dramatically as the already chosen very low viewpoint not "allowing" the whole crane in the composition: there's no need to show the whole of the huge crane because of this great "trick". A truly spectacular work.  
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I've seen it also in a prints of River Seine in Paris but wasn't able to dig them up from my pictures archive because I didn't label them accurately enough as such. When I find them I will, but maybe there'll be help from readers who know more examples. 

All pictures borrowed freely from the Internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use only.               

   

Monday, 24 September 2012

Visit the ZOO


Todays posting is a bridge to an extraordinairy Japanese printmaker I've recently discovered and was unknown to me before, so first: let's visit the ZOO !

 



These are posters based on woodblock prints by Louise Welsh and Hugh Stevenson. Two unknown printmakers of the 5000 artists employed by president Roosevelts (New Deal) Federal Art Projekt (1935-1943) in 1936. 


These charming and amazingly modern prints are bij Japanese printmakers Koizumi Kishio (1893-1945) and Koshiro Onchi (1891-1955) the printmaker we shall have a closer look on in following posting.

Gerd Arntz (1900-1988) a Dutch graphic artist from German origin mainly famous for the 4000 "Isotyopes" he designed you'll have to visit here*. Many of which are in use and very recognizable to this day. He created some very great prints in his very own and recognisable style too but hardly anyone knows. I promise to get back to him.


Samuel Jesserun de Mesquita (1868-murdered in Auschwitz 1944) the Jewish artist I showed before and will have his own posting soon. Most of his wonderful prints were made in Amsterdam ZOO: ARTIS.

Charles M. Turzak (1899-1986) American from Czech origin (above and right), must have had a reason for lining up perambulators in battle formation in this Zoo print. He went to Europe in 1929 "to meet the Masters" (!) and after returning, besides the many woodcut prints, created some very nice color prints. I presume he started in London because I sense "influences" and use of color of the British schools and am curious to know if he's left any traces in British archives. 




Roaming the internet I found this great ZOO illustration by American artist Erin E. Stead (b.1982). She uses a combination of woodblock print and drawing for her childrens book illustratons. This above design reminding me of the delightfull raunchy Paris pissing dogs by Russian Frenchman Arthur Boris O'Klein (1893-1985).

O'Klein must have been the inspiration to the artist who made this hilarious mural, but now I'm wandering off my path too much.
If you know of more Zoo prints donot hesitate letting me know.

Next: Koshiro Onchi, Japanese printmaker. 

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Hans Beers

Henri (Hans) Beers


(1891-1979)



Drawer, painter, book cover designer, scissor artist, wall decorator (paint and weaving), batik artist, glas window designer, linoleum and woodblock printer.
And then there was this print. On offer on a local auction site. Supposedly a linocut print on cloth 180 x 90 cm. The stunning design of fish and plants in a pond made me curious enough to do some research. The size suggesting this is a batik, a unique painting in wax, and dyed cloth. Or did he use multiple blocks printing the composition ?
Beers was a pupil of Chris Lebeau (1878-1945 Dachau, for helping Jews) and Samuel Jesserun de Mesquita (1868-1944 Auschwitz, for being Jewish), both famous and influential Dutch Art Nouveau artists. The woodcuts of Samuel J. de M. I shall show in a fortcoming posting.  Versatile artist Hans Beers probably married Go Volker who was also a batik artist.
I only managed to find one painting and the two other prints above by Hans Beers although he was awarded an exhibition in 1972 in Epe in the Netherlands.
1927 album cover designed by Hans Beers.