Elisabeth & Hildegard Roeder-Herford

Elisabeth Roeder

(born probably in Trier (Saarland) around 1890-1895 - after 1923)

German painter and printmaker.

Probably working and living in Herford near Bielefeld. 

Today I keep my promise to Peter and share what I was able to find out after finding this monochrome print by Elsisabeth Roeder-("Herford"). All examples of works shown in this posting are (available) in the collection of Peter: the link to his collections, offers and gallery is at the end of this posting/article. 

With the help of Peter I not only was able to add this nice print by "a new kid on the block" to my collection but also urged me to create a new short-biography to my Lexicon of

German (speaking) women artists born 1850-1900 and involved with "Farbholzschnitt" 1900-1935. 

Elisabeth is not mentioned in any of the artist lexicons or address books and a quick survey of possible queries and hits in the www. did have not much result. Until I received notice of the subtitle of this print:

 "Hildegard am Hausorgel" 

I liked the print at first sight but knowing the artist is portraying her probably younger sister (Hildegard is 18 in 1923) makes it even lovelier and intimate. 

Besides: one must own a pretty big house to install a church organ: you do not have to apply rocket science to figure out her father either was the vicar of one of Herfords churches or he had "something to do" with church music. So here goes: 

This shy and bearded gentleman is Elisabeth's father Karl Roeder, born in Neunkirchen in Saarland in 1860 as son of Karl Roeder Sr. a primary school master. Although Karl Jr. followed in the footsteps of his father as a  primary schoolmaster in Trier he also studied church organ in Berlin. No doubt he taught his daughter Hildegard (b. 1904) too. Hildegard was later married to one Hermann Steinmetz and was a co-author to a commemoration Herford Schools and teacher Karl Roeder booklet in 1960. 

Perhaps the view on the Neustadt Apotheke (from a second floor ?) holds a clue were Elisabeth or the Roeder family lived ? Hopefully a local historian or interested resident of Herford one day will pick up this posting.

Karl Roeder married Auguste Schaun and besides Elisabeth and Hildegard they had another 7 children probably born in Trier but also in Herford because in 1903 Karl Roeder was appointed head of Herford "Musikseminar" also having a position in several Herford schools, being a private teacher, composer, educator choir-master etc... He died in 1933. In his day he was a prolific composer of organ music and much involved in school and community singing. Most of his many compositions (Organ Choral Preludes) were lost in a fire in the last days of WW-II but if you search youtube there are actually some pieces that can be heard: He is no Johann Sebastian but nevertheless wrote some very agreeable music.

So, from having nothing at all on this forgotten artist before today we now have at least a start or a beginning of a short biography and a first catalogue of works. She was probably a local artist, possibly self-taught but judging from the quality of her paintings and prints I certainly had expected to find some local references. It could also be I looked in the wrong places and welcome all help, clues or suggestions and comments (but only the friendly ones).  

Besides these examples that all show landmarks of her homestead Herford (10 Km. north-east of Bielefeld) she also visited the picturesque village of Schieder-Schwalenberg which is not more then 20 Km to the south of Herford. On her way she will have paused halfway in the stunningly beautiful medieval village Lemgo of which I have very fond memories. Schieder-Schwalenberg was popular with painters and it even had its own "Malerkolonie" but as goes with Elisabeth Roeder: not much can be found.

PS: The lovely province of Detmold is also the home country of printmaker Ernst Rötteken  

All the prints and watercolours in this posting are from the collections and gallery of Peter Weidlich: Gluckburgerkonstkontor in Glucksburg near Flensburg on the Flensburg Fjord near the Danish border. Here's the link to Peters Ebay offers and shop well worth a visit : 

https://www.ebay.de/usr/gluecksbuergerkunstkontor

All other pictures were are borrowed freely from the internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use only. 

Susanne & the elders, Adam and Eve

These two prints have in common their square format and biblical theme, both are from my personal collection and still in need of proper identification.

Susanne and the Elders (German "Holzschnitt, Handdruck" 1922) was a very popular subject for the Old Masters: painters, drawers and engravers, numerous artists have chosen this theme. 

Ernst Nilson, Swedish printmaker: Susanna and the Elders.    

It is funny to see this same (....) woman  modelling and appearing in the Netherlands as well in France. Examples by very unknown Dutch printmakers Jacques Jeichenius Ottens and very famous French printmakers Felix Valloton. 

It is of course (also) a story about the female beauty, male lust, desire and seduction, of dirty old men playing dirty tricks. But behind this theme of a shy bathing woman and the collaborating and blackmailing old bastards is also one of the oldest legal principles: Testis unus testis nullus (one witness is no witness or "no one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness").  

(I read ? .Nolte or Holte, 1973, but here also I have my doubts)

And then there's this 1973 archaic (...) and quite "different" Adam and Eva probably linocut print by a still unknown (possibly) Dutch printmaker. Crude and bold in execution and delicate in expression. It would be nice to have a makers name with these prints because they are chosen to  appear in the Bathers and Nymphs Pavilion of the planned exhibition:

"Das Haus der Frau 1935"

(revisiting Leipzig 1914 BUGRA)

Farbholzschnitt: Kunst durch Deutsche Künstlerinnen

(Colour woodblock prints by German women artists) 

(1900-----1935)

Rembrandt's also very "different" Adam and Eve..


All help and suggestions are welcomed.

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

   

Jungfrau, Interlaken: T. Kranz-Böhm

T. Kranz-Böhm
(died 1949)
(forgotten etcher)

"Original Radierung - Jungfrau mit Lütschine"

Not even his/her first name is delivered to us and he (or she ?) is not mentioned in any of the Lexicons. It was found in this mornings flea-market visit. It is  nothing special but a quite nice small etching of a well known Alp. And a nice puzzle. The year of death could not be verified. 

Googling I found these, around 1900, photographs of the "Bernese Oberland" near Interlaken and Gorge (canyon) of river Lütschine.

It would be nice to know the name of the artist and when and where he/she was born and perhaps something more about the artist. All information is welcomed. There are about half a dozen others examples of this artist to be found Googling: Venice, Freiburg, Cologne etc... 

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

  

Hertha Hoffmann & Angela Merkel

Hertha Hoffmann & Angela Merkel

What do these two women, born almost a century apart possibly could have in common ?

In my collection was for a long time this unspectacular violets print. Scribbled in pencil: "Linolschnitt, Handdruck, Gefarbt" and titled "Stiefmütterchen" and signed Hertha Hoffmann-Rudolph. 

Violets in German are called: "Stiefmütterchen" (little stepmothers). Because it needs so little care and  thrives on neglect. (note: not all stepmothers being bad mothers). 

  

I found just one other example of a print by very unknown Mrs. Hoffmann. Researching the artists trying to compose something of a first biography was until recently without any success. She is not mentioned in any of the artists lexicons nor in Dresslers "Kunsthandbuch" 1921 or 1930 (last edition). She was probably still living in 1959. 

But recently I did find found a small clue, in Berlins 1943 "Adressbuch", the last before old Berlin was thoroughly destroyed in the aftermath of WW-II: she lived at Kupfergraben 6. Which surprised me because this is a very special location in Berlin. It is the entrance to and located opposite one the worlds finest Museums: the Pergamon Museum.

Paris has its Île de la Cité and Notre Dâme but Berlin has its "Museum Insel" housing 6 of the worlds finest Museums. + the Berlin Dom + the reconstructed Castle (Schloss). 

Composition new & old by GC

To answer the question: Berlin Kupfergraben Nr. 6 today is the (guarded) private quarters of the Worlds most powerful woman: Angela Dorothea Merkel (1954): Germany's first woman Chancellor since 2005. To proof there's alway a nice story to tell even when an artist is so obscured as Hertha Hoffmann-Rudolph.

All help from readers and passers-by and any information on Hertha Hoffmann-Rudolph is warmly welcomed and still can be included in the upcoming publication (next post).         

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

Karl Hentschel: German printmaker & ceramist in Holland.

Hentschel, Karl Franz Gustav

           (Dessau, Sachsen-Anhalt 01-12-1884 – 08-05-1859 Tittmoning, Lower Bavaria)

Painter, graphic artist, printmaker and ceramist. Son of Karl Hentschel and Louise Wolf. Studied at Dresden “Königliche Kunstakademie” under Eugen Bracht (1842-1921). Hentschels presence in the Netherlands is recorded from 1909 (when he was 25), living and working in several places in the Netherlands (Egmond aan Zee, Alkmaar, Amsterdam, Heerlen, Schoorl etc..). He married in 1918 Helena Catharina (Lena) Block (born Amsterdam 1891).

In the years he lived in Holland Hentschel is known to have taught woodblock printmaking techniques to Dutch printmaker Jo Bezaan(1894-1952). He  returned to Germany in 1923, settling in Dresden, with an address living in Groß Schönau. Today he seems largely forgotten and obscured, I happened to stumble over a postcard print by him in a local auctions site selling old postcards and decided to investigate.    

Het huis 't Sluisje" in the historic inner city of Amersfoort. A medieval city palace.
Where I (the author) spend a good deal of my late teens with my best friend JW who happened to live here. 
Lithographic print by artist Jo Bezaan.  

This house is probably the best known historic landmark of old-Amersfoort. Numerous artists have created paintings, etching, prints, photos etc.. of this spot.     

In the late 1930 when Hentschel was forbidden to work as a painter (“Berufsverbot”), being of the Jewish faith, he turned to ceramics and became a respected and well-known potter and ceramic artist.

Besides his pottery, collectable and regularly offered in auctions, Hentschel is remembered by his monochrome woodblock prints published as postcards showing picturesque Dutch scenes (Amsterdam & Dordrecht are the only two examples I found so far) published by W. Nederkoorn in Alkmaar (above), and an iconic 1919 poster for Amsterdam warehouse “de Bijenkorf”. 

After his death the potter’s studio in Tittmoning on the Austrian border was continued by potter Erna Leitner(b. 1919) in 1959. It produced some really  nice pottery, simple straight forward design and a joy for for every day use. 

  

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

German Drawing: lithographic nude - Of Matisse, Picasso & the Inkwell Press

Without any hesitation the hand that drew the outlines of this sketch created body, volume and even transferred the almost tangible softness and warmth of the lovely model onto the paper. In 1962, with the eyes of Matisse and the hand of Picasso. Or visa-versa because both men were great observers, fine drawers and into old age under the influence of female, form and mystery. 

    

 

The signature and identity of the probably German artist are a puzzle: H.W.

Speaking of Matisse, muzes, nudes and lovely models: these woodblock prints by American Vincent Torre are inspired by Matisse' drawings, reducing the original works by Matisse to the essential (out) lines.

Torre (1930) was (is?) an American artist who created handprinted and handbound books, in the beginning (early 1950's) on Navy equipment while serving in the US Navy stationed on USS Orion, a submarine tender. 

Later Torre acquired an old VanderCook press printing his books in (very) small editions. The  Matisse interpretations are from his 1978 "Forty Four Woodcuts of the Nude" in an edition of 100 published by his "The Inkwell Press" in New York. He is known to have created some 100 books in 50 years.

Besides 5 prints after Matisse the book(let) includes his own designs and this nude after a drawing in the German "Expressionist way" pointing to the many nudes drawn by German Expressionists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) and Otto Mueller (1974-1930).

Although rare, unique and highly collectable books obviously sometimes are broken up for profit. Individual prints, offered for $150 up, occasionally show up in Internet stores and auctions. 

  

Any help or suggestions to identify the artists signature are welcomed.

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

Wilhelm Christens: Düsseldorf Sunflowers and Bachante

Wilhelm Christens 

(1878-1964) 

Wilhelm Christens was a Dusseldorf academically trained and based painter and printmaker. He is known for his landscapes, portraits and still-life painting, was an etcher and lithographer and worked as art restorer. I'd never heard of him until last week when this large "Farbholzschnitt" showed up. 

Created in the classic way, nice composition, fresh, modern and using a wonderful colour palette. Although not dated it was probably created around 1950-60 so at the end of his long artistic life, like the 1963 painting (above). Why did he try at woodblock printmaking so late in life, or did I miss something? 

I found several of his "classic" elaborate flower stillifes in auctions passed, this academic 1909 nude and Schloss Benrath a well known castle and gardens in his Düsseldorf.

There is a mentioning Christens himself considered a work (a painting ?) titled "Bachantin" and dated 1906 his best, his Opus Magnus. I could not find a painting fitting its description but I did find this portrait with grapes and vines   (probably by the not so educated guessing auctioneer) "Pomona", but: no apples . 

The subject obviously is not Pomona, the Roman goddess of Abundance, flowering orchard and orchard fruits, but a Bachante. Pomona is usually depicted holding an apple not grapes: L: Pomum = Orchard, orchard fruits  (Fr. Pomme = Apple). 

< Aristide Maillol's "Pomona" at the Louvre in Paris 

Bachante or Menaeds (German "Bachantin") however were companions, nymphs, servants to the Greek God of wine Dionysos. His Roman alter ego is known as: Bacchus.

Perhaps Friedrich von Kaulbachs (1850-1920) 1897 "Bachantin" was Wilhelms inspiration. Kaulbach was an important portrait painter who tried all his life to match his great example Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98 - 1543) 400 years earlier. Although Holbein is not known to have drawn a nymphs portrait. 

Many artists painted a, or several Bachante but I think I like Lovis Corinth  happy version best. 

And although I do not think Swiss Frank Behrens (1883 - 1945) meant showing Pomona there is of course a nice reason why he was chosen to witness these lovely creatures in the apple  and chestnut trees. Helas, no matter how hard I try ...... 

A nice co-incidence is Behrens obviously painted Bachante.....Perhaps even portrayed his wife Nanny, who died in 1925 and was well known breeder of Swiss Berner-Sennen dogs. But that is an altogether other story.

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