Martin Erich Philipp und Else Staps

Martin Erich Philipp

 (Zwickau 1887 - 1978 Dresden)

&

Else Staps

( ? )

"Damen Akt mit Aras". (Nude with parrots) 1907

On my Odyssey through the land of printmaking and printmakers, educating myself along the voyage I’ve wanted to write this posting for some time but found it difficult to start. Without research on the spot or in museum archives it is very hard to scratch enough facts together making an article worthwhile.  Most of the knowledge about printmakers, with the exception of maybe the most famous, is privatly owned and held anyway. Some good Blogs bringing together and accumulating bits and pieces. Everything helps. So here goes. 

Being busy assembling my personal catalogue (page button above) of Martin Erich Philipp’s color prints with good quality pictures from the www I’ve stumbled over some items that made me wonder and think.

This pastel above showing young Martins skills at sketching and dated 1906 is among the earliest examples I could find. Sketching the Castle Schönfels in his native Zwickau. Restored, stirred by two great wars but not shaken, hardly changed and still very beautiful a 100 years later.
  

Martin’s career start has been documented as “freischaffend Künstler zeit 1913” (independent artist from 1913) after his training in Dresden’s "Kunstgewerbe (Arts and Crafts) Schule" (1904-1907) were he was to become a sculptor at first and later at the "Kunstakademie" 1908-1913 changing his destination towards printmaking. Thankfully.  

His first 7 woodblock prints are dated in Götzes' Werkverzeichnis 1907-1909 and his first parrots, "Aras", D5 and D6, above, dated 1908. 20 years of age and just in Art School. His first print after finishing his education (D8, the 3 snake Eagles) was immediatly awarded a gold medal in the famous Leipzig Bookdesign and Graphics Exhibition (Bugra) of 1914. The last one before the Great War began. What a away to start a career. I found his study dated 1908 !

3 Gauckler 1914

   

Study 1908 

His lifelong fascination for parrots and the female nude is already evident in the above painting "Damenakt mit Ara's" dated 1907 when he was just 19. And in this (academic) drawing below, in a difficult perspective, dated 1913. 

But these two watercolor drawings (below) auctioned as by MEPH (not even "attributed to") made me wonder however about the accuracy of today’s auction house documenteers. 

Nasturtiums with butterfly

Rosehips

They are actually the studies to these woodblock prints below, by the hand of Else Staps and probably dated with an educated guess by the auctioneer as "around 1910" and "around 1920".

Else Staps, Schmetterling und Kapuzinerkress

Else Staps, "Hagebüte",  rosehips

Maybe you knew Else Staps was Martins wife. I did not. Only recently I found out along my journey. It is nowhere documented on the www. They married in june 1925, probably in Zwickau and Martin documented it himself.

Their daughter Christiane Martina was born 8 months later.

I think the father is trying to tell us something about their characters in his amusing announcing-to-the-world card. I could not find any mentioning or biographical dates of either women after januari 1927 (below)

I know of 4 different woodcut prints auctioned (flowers or plants in pots) made by Else much in the style of her husband. One of them is the above rose-hips. And like her husband she must have loved birds.

Else Stapps, in the garden 

Martin Erich Philipp at the Zoo

And they must have been arguing and deliberating “who does who” concerning the titmice in the garden and the birds in Dresdens Zoo Aviaries. It must have been a happy household in Zwickau those years cutting and printing together. Man and wife, teacher and student ?

MEPH, D36: 1931 

MEPH, D52: 1935

Else Staps, blue tit

And this nice bouguet of roses in a great yellow Art Deco vase, monogrammed E.St. recently showed up. An aware and lucky buyer and an unaware seller. 

Another intriguing question is if Martin Erich Philipp anywhere shows his wife in any of his many portraits and nudes. He did a good many self portraits so I guess she must be in there somewhere.

MEPH: Portrait of a young woman:
Else ?

Mystery Print:

For those interested in the identity of the printmaker of the mystery print in before last posting: it was by:

Louise Schnitzler-Wintermeyer

(1894 Wiesbaden -1871 Königstein)

Some 100 readers have seen the print of the Flower market last week (3 of them leaving comments, thank you). 


With the one above (Latin: Lonicera, English: Honeysuckle, German: Geis, French: Chèvre feuilles, Dutch: Kamperfoelie) 


Two examples of this German printmaker are now known (to me). See also the posting of march 2th 2011: 

http://gerrie-thefriendlyghost.blogspot.com/2011/03/luise-schnitzler-wintermeyer.html

Jean Jacques Midderigh: S.S. Aramis

Jean Jacques Midderigh

(Paris 7-7-1877- 14-7-1970 Wassenaar)

Dutch grafic artist. 

Algiers: steamer, harbour and buildings.

The reason for sharing this printmaker on the Blog is because I happened to find these two great posters through his wife Johanna Bernardina Midderigh-Bokhorst (Soerabaja 1880- 1972 Wassenaar). They lived, met and married in Indonesia at the beginning of the XXth century. Their daughter was born there and she married into a family of Dutch-Indonesian descent. 

S.S. Aramis, probably at Saigon Harbour

Somewhere in time the couple, or family, moved to the Netherlands. She became a well know decorator and illustrator of children's books, designer of lithographic school plates and children's room decorations. Clever, skilled and artistically very much "of the period". And very much in demand. They are kind of iconic. I'll show you in a next posting.

S.S. Aramis: Ships plan

But these two tall (41 x 121 cm) ship posters are the real reason for this posting. They take you back in time, into the world of Travel, the far East, Oceanliners and far away Orient and Indo-Chine harbours. Bygone times.
There's also a story to the beautiful ship in the second print above: S.S. Aramis.

S.S. Aramis 

The good and elegant ship ARAMIS, named after one of the 3 musketeers in the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas (before you ask: Athos and Porthos the others, friends of D'Artagnan) was build and launched in France in 1931 for Messageries Maritimes Marseille-far East service. It had twin company sisters, the George Philippar (left) and the Felix Roussell (Right)

The George Philippar served a ships life time and was eventually scrapped in 1974 but sister Felix Roussell sank after a fire on her maiden voyage in 1932.


Aramis later was used as an Allied merchant cruiser 1939-1942 and then seized by the Japanese in april 1942 at Saigon and renamed Teia Maru. The Japanese used her as a troops and hospital ship. It was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine on august 18th 1944. 

S.S. Aramis

Pictures of ships of this type do take one back to other times, expectations and clearly a complete and different world from our 2011.  

 Aramis renamed Teia Maru

That's why I wanted to show these pictures. Jean Jacques Midderigh did some more of these horizontal prints in the same 1:3 ratio (40 x 120 cm), historical scenes, but imho never as strong a this pair that I excavated and borrowed freely from the www. I don't think he made more ships prints other than this pair. 

Aramis in her days of glory. 

Mystery print

Quiz time

I would like readers to give a direct and honest opinion of this print. I don't think it will be recognized. But, without directly knowing who made it, (I do), is there some one who dares give an opinion: Do you like it ? Is it good or is it mediocre or maybe even a sad print. What is it stylish, when (about) was it made. Does it make you think of some one or do you have a suggestion, do you happen to know comparable  prints ? 

I'll give away it is German and obviously a flower market. And it very well may have been owned by the maker or his/her family. It's biggish: 36 x 40 cm. It has received a new blue matt. And with a saw and glasscutter a vintage 1950's car boot simple wooden frame was made to fitt today. (Do you like it ?)
And here's the details in the advertising board (?) on the wall of the house upper left.

Maybe the text (old German) starts before the picture, there's no clue, (but I don't think so)  so it could say: Reich...... or even Frankreich......... (middle sentence) and last sentence could say: FaWos........ (company name Wos......)

Here's the solution and answer:
http://gerrie-thefriendlyghost.blogspot.com/2011/11/mystery-print.html

Emil Pottner: Feathers !

Emil Pottner

 (1872 Salzburg – 1942 Treblinka)

born in Austria but considered German painter, ceramics and graphic artist

 naturalist and bird behavioral printmaker.

The bridge to my last posting (budgie feathers) and to Charles' recent posting on ModernPrintmakers (link) discussing Walter Klemm, Carl Thiemann and Emil Orlik (poultry feathers) is in these two porcelain love birds by printmaker Emil Pottner.

Artistically gifted but from humble Jewish social background (his father was a singer in the Royal Court Theater in Braunschweig) Emil entered Munich “Akademie der Bildende Künste" in 1891 aged 18 on a scholarship only to become very unhappy and sick with the strong regime ruling in that Institute.

I think, after all, he was the real master of poultry printmaking, as good or even better as the above artists and looking closely he added something special to each and every one of his prints. Maybe he is to be called the first behavioral naturalist printmaker.

Impoverished and on his own after disappointedly leaving the Akademie his first and, thank God, successful public show in the Munich "Künstlerverein” made him to move to Berlin and allowing him to travel to the Netherlands in 1905 to study the Old Masters.

During the stay in neighbouring Netherlands he discovered Delft, centre of Dutch porcelain industry, interested as he was in sculpting birds in porcelain. 

Returning to Berlin after mastering the technique he developed his skills in this art further in winter and in summertime becoming one of the truly Great graphic artists of his time in depicting his love for the Common and the Small.

He needn’t go far to find, observe, sketch, draw, cut and print what he loved most. Common birds, poultry. And bird behavior. In all his bird prints always something of the behavior of the species is shown.

Just common farm birds, roosters, chicken and hens; geese and swans, ducks, cormorants, grebes, magpies, herons and crows. 

But always fighting, courting, nursing, hunting. His birds in flight, deceitfully simple prints, are proof of his extraordinary keen and very accurate observations. Turmoil in the pond, two species of birds and breathtaking rendering and colours in the waters surface. It looks so simple.  

His self-portrait in print showing him the way he choose to depict his birds. In its natural habitat and doing what the species does most and best. Himself at the edge of a pond or ditch with his pencil and sketch book. And even in that print he cannot resist showing the white duck stretching its wings. As only a white duck does. The coots running on water, you almost can hear their splashing and cries. 

He published several books illustrated with lithographs and drawings, all of them on the above subjects.

Thor (Germanic God) casting his shadow over the world. 

In his Secession Period and emotional and political coloured work on the outbreak of WWI it is almost as he foresaw the worlds' and his own terrible fate and unavailing death in Treblinka death camp in 1942.

"The Hands of Destiny intervene in battle with relentless force

The fighter, only shortly before showing his breast

a strong sense of  black destination coming over him now.

Fighting back in despair, there is this feeling, a hunch

This is the End"