Viktor Böhm

Viktor Böhm
(1880 Brno – 1954 München)

Czech/German printmaker and painter.

Sometimes Ebay is like a treasure cove. Finding this extra ordinairy woodblock print asked for an impulsive and immediate posting. It is signed and dated 1925. By a very talented but obscured printmaker. Still 9 days (sorry, it was sold or withdrawn within an hour after editing this article) to go. It’s neither befitting my budget in September nor is it in my field of collecting. So following in the footsteps of (are we just going to miss him) Clive's legendary "to have and to hang": take your chance. It certainly is very special, very rare and of great skill and the highest artistic quality. A little research on the www. resulted in just a few other but quite amazing prints by this Czech born printmaker

It is written that Viktor Böhm studied in the Akademie für Bildende Kunst  both in Vienna and in München where he later settled as an artist. He travelled into Scandinavia, Galicia (N.-Spain), Hungary and Italy.

But how he came to make these Chinese and Russian prints heaven may know. His future biographer will certainly have look deeper into Viktors travelling history account. 

High Lamas calling for prayer, Chambynks-Dazzan, 1918

Small temple at sacred Gooselake Chambynks-Dazzan 1918.

Russian village church, West-Siberia 1914

I found two oil paintings by Viktor Böhm too and that’ s all I could scratch together for this posting.

Shepherd boy with drinking goats

Again, after Karl Johne in a previous posting, a very good but forgotten Czech printmaker.

NOID (nr. 13, some Alpine problems)

In the footsteps of Steven's recent posting where he's showing a nice but not yet identified Austrian printmaker I grab this opportunity asking again ID-help for another also far from home, Austrian, linocut print of the Stephansdom in Vienna.

Steven's artist most certainly is Austrian illustrator Rudolf Köhl (1896-1966). With this information Steven even managed finding some more examples of Rudolf Köhl. Again a charming printmaker and some nice works lifted from obscurity combining efforts . 

In my Vienna print I fail properly reading the signature (Hübert/Sibert Z/Leclurg '29 or something). It's an Orig. Holzschnitt. I cannot find a clue on the www. It was found in a local Dutch sale.

Update 04-09-2011: Thanks to Klaus (see comments) the signature reads probably Hubert Lechner, Austrian illustrator, ex-libris and postermaker.

I think the artist did a fine job creating a good composition and using nice colours. It is remarkable that there are hardly any pictures, fotographs or works of art showing the Stephansdom from this side, from the South. At first I thought the print was mirrored but looking closely at the details in the church' facade this is not the case.

The artist must have been viewing the skyline of Vienna at an angle of approximately 45 degr. Estimating the distance from the print he would have been positioned at a location approximately around the old city walls looking down at walled court yard and a small tower. 

Click here for a great king-size 16th century woodblock map and a walk in medieval Vienna.

Speaking of travelling alpine woodblock prints and printmakers (in pré globalised Ebay days) with just one known print behind their name: here are some lonely prints from my not identified-yet files. Right: "Dolomiten" by an unknown but talented (Italian ?)  W. Eversta.

Left: "Winter in Einödsbach" by K. Schmidt-W. (sounds as a  warning not to confuse him with K. Schmidt-Rotluff). He is not in the "Deutsche Künstler Verzeichnis" of 1922. 

Right: Alpine meadow with church by Ellen Tornquist. Born June 26th 1871 in Hamburg. My recent researches on this lady printmaker with a Swedish family name, revealing she very undertakingly travelled around in Africa in 1903 ! From 1906 she worked as an artist from the city of Merano (Northern Alpine Italy). 
But also finding a (another?) contemporary Ellen Tornquist maried in 1906 to Swedens most famous missionary (and filmmaker) who dedicated his life working and pioneering in China's province of Xinjiang from 1904-1937. As did his wife from 1905-1923. To be continued (looking forward to any information and help).

Left: This example literally travelled from the Alps. As a best wishes card by an unknown printmaker. Very clever use of only two blocks to a maximum effect. Great little print. Some very good art work was edited in the interbellum as "Ansichtskarte". Very affordable and collectable. 

Right: Dorothea Milde (1887-1964): besides some black and white prints (many edited as Ansichtskarte) this is the only colour printed example I have found by this well educated German printmaker whom's prints were edited at the same editor as world famous Käthe Colwitz but after a life time of teaching drawing to school girls died old, poor and forgotten. I shall tell you more about her art and life story in a following posting.

Last day of summer

Today:

Last day of summer
(link) 

 Woodblock prints by Adolph Kunst (1883-1937

 Music by Nina Simone (1933-2003)

Thea Gütmann-Voigt: Laburnum

Thea Gütmann

Personally finding this “Goldregen” print by illusive artist Thea Gütmann-Voigt hidden in an antiques shop in the medieval town of Lemgo near Detmold (province of Lippe, Germany) made my (holi)day. It is the homeland of Ernst Rötteken (1881-1945) one of my favorite printmakers of whom I will show a very rare collection of never before seen prints soon. This is just the second print known to me by Thea Gütmann. And believe me, I looked everywere.  In my early Blogging days I showed this (below) auction catalogue picture “Flieder” or Lilacs (Syringa vulgaris) by her.

artist impression

Thea Gütmann-Voigt

What Wisteria was to the Japanese printmakers Laburnum must be for the European. European printmakers tend to choose a more botanical approach when depicting blossoming Laburnum. 

 

Japanese artists (almost all but this print by Kamisaka Sekka (1866 - 1942) show blossoming Wisteria along with birds, buildings and city views. 

Creating a posting on Wisteria and the Japanese woodblock print might prove to be an impossible endeavour because of the countless prints dedicated to this beautiful flowering ornamental shrub.

So let me start showing the examples by European printmakers trying their best at the  European but yellow counterpart: Laburnum, Golden chain (or rain) (Engl.), Goldregen (Germ.), Gouden regen (Dutch),  L’aubour (French). Laburnum the name of the form of woodrot that easily occurs when pruning or cutting this native to Soutern Europe shrub.

H.J. van der Werf
(Dutch  ca. 1930)

Arie Zonneveld
(Dutch 1905-1941)

E. Meinshausen
-Felsing (German)

Ernst Rötteken (German 1882-1945)

Carl Thiemann
(German 1891-1966)

Comparing this last and rare Carl Theodoor Thiemann (1881-1966) composition with Mrs. Gütmann's "Goldregen" one or the other must have had knowledge of the other's work. Thieman made some great flowers prints, in very different styles, but his "Goldregen" came to my knowledge only recently. Mostly and best known for his city views, Venician sailing ships, trees, swans and landscape prints you can look forward to a collection of his lesser known flower prints soon.  


I would very much like to know more of both illusive Thea Gütmann-Voigt as well as Mrs. E. Meinshausen-Felsing, "tätig" (working) in  Kaiserslautern" is all I was able to find besides the bare pictures in the posting following the link. But I'll keep trying.

Closing this thematic posting here’s the nicest of illustrations (although rather   sweet) by British childrens book illustrator Cicely Mary Barker (1895-1973)  

NOID, help requested

On behalf of Thomas in Berlin today I ask readers to help identify this nice woodblock print. It is in the style and colors of Oscar Droege. I perticularly like the gulls and  the small detail of the blotch of yellow light shining from the bridge of the ship (and the reflection in the water) suggesting twilight. 

See for more harbour and fishing boat compositions the marine prints by American Todd Lindenmuth (click)

Karl Heinz Kroll

Karl Heinz Kroll

unknown German printmaker

worked around the 1920's

Today a small posting with only two linocut prints printed on woven art paper and printed from the actual blocks.

These are the only works I could find after stumbling over these two. They were printed in Der Sturm (leading German modernist Art Magazine edited from 1910-1932) in 1925. Good enough to be taken in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (German expressionist department). Even the LACMA has no further data on who Karl Heinz was. 

Schöne Dinge (revisited)

Today I pay a visit again to Thomas’ shop Schöne Dinge in Berlin. Three new acquisitions in his in shop are on offer and worth sharing:

To begin with an old acquaintance (treated in Clive's Blog): Erich Buchwald Zinnwald (1884-1972) this reasonably priced lonely alpine fir tree in good condition and a copy printed in wonderful colours.

Click !

A good opportunity showing here some of my favourite prints by this artist: his experiments with printing starry nights, winters solitude and a rare atmospheric city view:

Secondly for the specialist collector this (1920/30’s) sensitive black and white composition of mother and child by German printer Arnold Willings (1899-1987) who later turned to abstract work. His work is present in several German museums.

Here are two other examples of his work I scratched from the www.

And last your help is asked identifying this possibly Russian originated woodblock print (Nr.5 from 10) with some great details depicting a no doubt heroic construction site.

Click !

Click !

Any suggestions are very welcomed. I think there's a world of quality prints by Russian printers that are still very unknown "in the West" and awaiting discovery. Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva (1871-1955) maybe one of the first and famous Russian academic woodblock printers but she can't be the only good and talented Russian printer ofcourse. 

Further information about these prints at: Thomas Treibig