Lisbet Schulz, was she, a Dresden printmaker ?

A collective and ultimate attempt to solve the mystery of the identity of this printmaker with the help of readers and passers-by of my humble Blog. 

Lisbet Schulz 
from Dresden ?

The printmaker 

In my ongoing research into the world of forgotten German women printmakers born in the 19th century I have discovered and revealed much, but there are still many identities to be cleared and many uncertainties to be solved. Recently I may have found a clue to who enigmatic printmaker Lisbet Schulz actually was (next posting).  

One of the most intriguing "only known by a name and a monogram" printmakers in my files and archive is Lisbet Schulz. Prints by her surface mostly in Germany but sometimes also in the Netherlands. But never a clue or a hint who she was, not an address not a birthday or a place of origin. And although much (almost all of Dresden with all its inhabitants living in the centre) was destroyed by allied bombing (considered by many an allied war crime) this printmaker is far to good to be so "unknown". Because of the nature of multipliable art, many copies were spread outside Dresden before hell brook loose over one of Germany's most  beautiful cities. To this moment however there's little to no trace of her identity. A faith that overcame also many (almost all), Jewish printmakers.  

This printmaker signs her work, deliberately, with the unusual Lisbet Schulz (not Lisbeth as in Elisabeth !) and/or uses in various forms the monogram LS. I do not know of any exception.

Lately so-called "Nachlass" (= from the estate of, or possibly even posthumously printed) prints come to the market so maybe there's some-one out there owning the original blocks. Typically they sometimes seem to lack a (or 2) two color blocks, so these sheets may be saved proofs or failures. There's also evidence she changed some of the compositions.  

These are the 17 examples that I've collected in my pictures archive from auction sites, catalogues and from readers who found me through earlier postings mentioning her. So for this special occasion and purpose only I share them in this posting. If you have other examples or better copies: please send and share !   

Lisbet Schulz seems to have had a weak for floral designs and birds. There's only one "geographical" print: this Hamburg view on the "Altstadt" (totally destroyed by allied bombing). 

In her floral prints her personal style is easily recognizable: from modest to somewhat extravagant. Recent discoveries show she was an exciting and very interesting printmaker, definitely not a good amateur. One of the top favorite prints in my personal collection of German woodblock prints by 19th century born German woman printmakers is her very large sunflowers print, bringing any wall in a joyful summer mood the way only sunflowers can do. 

Whenever there's any information given by auctioneers, it is always "Dresden Künstlerin" Lisbet Schulz. If more details are added the seem mostly derived from the Thieme-Becker Lexicon biography of Dresden painter Elisabeth Sarah von Schulz (1884-1963)) and in some semi- official archives Lisbet Schulz, the printmaker, actually = Elisabeth Sarah von Schulz although I've never seen any real evidence she is or was. The painter, who was also graphically active, will appear in the next posting.
  

I have not been able to find any mentioning of any biographical facts concerning the printmaker Lisbet Schulz. Which is surprising and is probably what made "the choice" for the painter a "logical one". So by way of exception, I decided it is high time to call in the troops and share what I have found to this moment and before publishing "the book" in which she will appear with the biographies of over 200 printmaking sisters active in Germany 1900-1940. 

From today I also make available my collection of male German printmakers for swapping or trading against desired prints by German women printmakers that may improve my personal collection. Feel free to ask.

PS:  I do not own all the prints shown, but would love to find and add others. (I have nrs.  5, 6, 7, 9, 14, 15 and 17)
   

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

All pictures are moms-clickable to embiggen.

    

Cläre Schmidt-Weissenberg: forgotten printmaker from Dresden

I share with you all I've been able to find trying to create something of this printmakers biography. All help is welcomed by those who might stumble over this humble posting.  

Cläre Schmidt-Weissenberg

Painter and printmaker, she is known to me by two colour woodblock prints both floral compositions, the autumn bouquet surfacing very recently in America. The signature in both prints probably reads M.C. Schmidt-Weissenberg (Marie Claire ?). 

She may have been the wife of Dr. Kurt Schmidt (Colmnitz near Dresden 22-04-1866 - in or after 1932) who lived/worked in 1932 at the exact same Dresden address where Cläre Schmidt-Weissenberg lived in 1930. But she could also have been his sister, or even his aunt, living at the same address (see below)

Dresses Kunsthandbuch 1930: “Frau Cläre Schmidt-Weissenberg:  M(alerin)”, Dresden-Strehlen, Josefstraße 12. (She is not mentioned in the 1920 edition). 

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Dr. Curt Schmidt (Colmnitz near Dresden 22-04-1866 - in or after 1932) was a neurologist who ran a private sanatorium at Josefstrasse 12b. He attended (high school) at Batten gymnasium 1881/82 earning the "Stipendium Hautmannianum" (I have no idea about this award). Bautzen is located some 25 km east of Dresden. (the School below) 

He was the son of theologist Clemens Gottlob Schmidt (Kaditz near Dresden 1827-1904 Dresden) and his wife Johanna N.N. His 6 uncles were all professors, physicians and theologists in Dresden en Leipzig. 

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Dresdens Josefstrasse was renamed in 1940 Caspar Friedrich Davidstraße.

-  Dresden, Josefstrasse Nr.3. In 1904 (the year his father died) a villa in Jugendstil style was build for Dr. Curt Schmidt by Dresden architect Heino Otto (1869 – probl. after 1929). It was the first house designed with a garage for an automobile in Dresden (or Germany). Before WWI Robert Sterl (1867-1932), impressionist painter and Berlin Secessionist,  professor in Dresden Art Academy lived and worked here for several years. He worked as a war artist during WW1 and moved in 1919 to nearby Naundorf.

-  Dresden, Josefstraße Nr.12 (above, was build shortly before WW1 as a private sanatorium for neurologist Dr.Curt Schmidt. He is mentioned living/working there in 1932. From 1932 the sanatorium at nr. 12 was continued by psychiatrist Dr. Heinrich Stoltenhof (1898-1979) making it plausible Dr. Curt Schmidt either retired or died (aged 66) in 1932.

A Klara Schmidt was 1881-1887 “Leiter” (director) of Dresden “Schul- und Erziehungsanstalt für Töchter gebildeter Stände” (“English School”) at Kurfürstenstrasse 11 (source: Stadtwiki Dresden). Above and Below. She could be related to Kurt Schmidt (his sister or his aunt ?). She was succeeded in 1887 by one Dr. Christiane Wiederhold. 

It could very well be the -Weissenberg is not a maiden name but an addition to the very common family name of Schmidt (compare artists Schmidt-Wolfartshausen, Schmidt-Hild, Schmidt-Rotluf  etc…).

Weissenberg is a small town 30 km. east of Dresden and 5 km east of Bautzen (where Curt Schmidt attended the Gymnasium). 

All information and help is very much appreciated and  welcomed.

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

Florence Lundborg, an American printmaker in Europe.

A recent posting in the Blue Lantern, acting as a teaser, revealed this printmaker to me:

Florence Lundborg

American (1871–1949)

Noted painter, illustrator and muralist Florence Lundborg was born in San Francisco, California in 1871. She studied with Arthur Mathews (1860-1945) at San Francisco School of Design and (like Mathews) went to Paris to study with James Abbot McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). See the before post: Charlotte Popert in Rome, she also was a friend of Whistler. 

Lundborg’s reputation as a muralist was confirmed when she won a bronze medal at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. Shortly after, she moved to New York where she gained recognition as an illustrator of such books as, “The Rubaiyat”, “Yosemite Legends” and “Odes and Sonnets”.

She produced many posters, influenced by art nouveau and the arts & crafts movement of the early 1900s. Lundborg cut her own woodblocks for her posters and produced seven posters, as such, for “The Lark”, a literary and humor magazine to which she also contributed articles and cover illustrations. She received commissions to paint murals in private homes in Portland, Chicago, New York and San Francisco.

And I suppose its is not unthinkable she was acquainted with the works of (Sir) Lawrence Adema-Tadema (1836-1912) who regularly visited Rome and Pompei. The spectacular use of perspective in Tadema's 1895 "Coign of Vantage" has similarities with Lundburgs illustration for "Yosemite legends" by Bertha Smith (1872-1922).

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

Text/Biography copied and borrowed freely from:

Marie Hager, unexpected Mecklenburg printmaker 1919

The never ending research into the lives of forgotten and obscured first generation german printmaking women artists today leads to Marie Hager. I found her in a 1919 catalogue.  

Hager, Marie 

(Penzlin in Mecklenburg 20-03-1872 – 25-04-1947 Burg Stargare in Mecklenburg)

Post-Impressionist landscape and architectural painter and printmaker.

Known from 320 paintings but as printmaker by just this one woodblock print represented in the woodblock section of a 1919 Lissner and Wohlgemut Grafik Katalog with an introduction by Berlin art dealer, collector and galerist Fritz Gurlitt (1854-1893). Other printmaking women represented besides Alexander Brendel: Helene Isenbart, Helene Mass, Anna Bähker, Helene Frauendorfer-Muhltaler.

Below Wismar harbour (near Lübeck) Ostsee. 

Daughter of pastor Adolf Hager (1836-1923). She grew up in Dargun Mecklenburg where her father was “Probst” (comparable with archdeacon). She started musical studies as a singer in Hamburg but switched to painting studying 1904 with Berlin Secessionst and professor in Berlin Academy Max Uth (1863-1914) who had been a student of Eugen Bracht (1842-1921) in Berlin and by Bracht himself and also with impressionist Hans Licht (1876-1935) and Ernst Kolbe (1876-1945). Both had been also Bracht students. 

Below: Poel Island near Wismar, Ostsee. 

She exhibited for the first time 1910 in Hannover and in 1911 in Berlin regularly represented in exhibitions in Germany (Munich, Hamburg, Berlin) and in Paris. Through her teachers she became familiar with the village of Stargard where they lead summer painting classes (“Stargarder Malschule”) and where she had a house build in 1921. 

After her death she left the house, paintings, collections etc. to a niece who donated it to the city of Burg Stargard. Known as the “Marie Hager Haus” it is managed by the “Marie Hager Kunstverein Burg Stargard” arranging exhibitions and visits.

Marie Hagens house in Burg Stargard. 

Dresslers KHB 1921 & 1930: Stargard im Mecklenburg. Member VdK 1913-1940, exh. 1928/29, 1934.

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