Studio Schmutzer (3/3)

Discussing the use of photographs in early 19th century art let’s have a look and compare some very different works by very different artists. Like these examples of etchings by Anders Zorn 1860-1920 which are so obviously created with the aid of photographic negatives. 

However, I haven’t come across any mentioning not even by critic and connoiseur Malcolm Salaman (1855-1940) who dedicated an album to Zorn in his Modern Masters of Etching in 1925. All he is enthusiastically writing about is the fine line technique and the healthy(..) appearance of the Nordic young women but nowhere is he hinting at the use of photography. 

But they are unmistakenly extremely close to the original photographs. Fine  artisticly executed tracings would be a more appropriate description. Same goes for many of his portraits. But I failed finding any references in literature. Maybe I just have'nt read enough. In the case of Schmutzer many photo's are available, but not so with Zorn. This painting and etching below: all I could find was the admiration for Zorn's realistic rendering of water and the natural postures, the idylle of mother and child. Which are all quite true of course.

Probably the photo's will never be found. In Zorn’s days they wouldn’t be considered Great Art but voyeur or "risque". That is to say to be enjoyed in a gentlemen’s smoking room. Besides very famous they made Zorn, a Swedish icon, also filthy rich. My look towards his otherwise great Art however has changed. I can’t help finding them less appealing and original and wished I hadn’t had such a suspiscious mind. Just not as freely created as they suggest to be ?

On the opposite side of the spectrum is William Hyde. A completely different appraoch but also called photogravure. Looking closely, the use of a photographical source is eminent. But Hyde’s photogravures look like photogravures, Schmutzers’ photogravures look like etchings, while Zorn’s photogravures breath photograph. Hyde is somewhat enigmatic. There are no biographical facts recorded anywhere (to my knowledge) and because other then the illustrations for this one book he is completely unknown and obscured. His London views however are unequaled.   

A photogravure by Leonard Missone (1870-1948) the photographer who really could paint with his camera and saw the gloomy beauty of bad weather and was at his best in twilight and most of all: in rain. 

A great Hamburg harbour scene by German photographer Kurt Hielscher  (1881-1948) excecuted like an etching. Compare this water's surface to Emile Verpilleux Thames (link) print, and I'm convinced he also used photography for his print

From his portraits of famous clergymen by Emile Verpilleux (1888-1964). Obviously created with the help of photographs I’ve excavated. They are relatively unknown, an amalgam of 19^th century silhouette portrait, photograph and wood engraving techniques. And another example of creativity and exploring different mediums and technical possibilities.    

 Portrait photograph and woodblock of preacher Agnes Maud Royden (1876-1956) by Emile Verpilleux

Portraits of Peter van der Braken by Dutch Henri Berssenbrugge (1873-1959) and a head study by Joseph T. Keiley (1869-1914) show how many different approaches can be observed. 

Many artist in different countries became involved in these photography based  techniques, pioneering and experimenting some of them obtaining stunning results. In these examples the many differences in approach and technique are obvious. But in all of them is echoeing their 19^th century training.

L:  photogravure Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966) 
R: etching by Jan Poortenaar (1886-1958)

Photogravure by French painter and photographer Robert Demachy (1854-1936)

 L: Joseph Dudley-Johnston (1868-1955) 

R: Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966)

photogravures

The list of great examples is ofcourse endless. So I'ld better close this posting the way I started.  Great buttocks: painting/study by Felix Valloton (1865-1925) who had either a steady eye and a patient, unnamed, model and/or a camera at hand. And the photogravure by Alfred Steiglitz (1864-1946) showing the glorious  icons of Ellen Koeniger. Sadly I have no further biographical data other then these great athletes were immortalised in 1916. 

There’s a great Website dedicated to photogravure, explaining technical aspects and a free and great database: www.photogravure.com  

Studio Schmutzer (2/3)

Continuing with Ferdinand Schmutzer’s legacy today some examples of his etchings are compared to the discovered photographs. In the above photograph of his wife Alice the grandeur (and dress) rivaling John Singer Sargents (1856-1925) portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw. Schmutzer used a cushion allowing a more reclining position for his wife but left it a bit clumsely in sight. 

I did my best finding the photograph Schmutzer used to create one of his most famous etchings of Rosa Kantor, a Viennese bankers daughter. It's not 1:1 but it's close. The actual etched print, a huge, impresive and never before seen 95 x110 cm. I am very curious about the different and combined techniques he and other artist put to use the photographical negatives to the etching plate. I'm convinced the negatives weren’t only “used as designing aid” as is stated in the accompanying text in the Austrian National Library but far more direct methodes were used. I found this great site www.photogravure.com which answered many of my questions and has a great database. 

In the case of Sigmunds Freud's (1856-1939) etched portrait it's obvious, Photo: etching, 1:1. In the case of composer and conductor Richard Strauss (1864-1949)  (below) it's probably the next  photo from the same sitting session I failed to find. Remnants of the cabinet survived in the background at the eye-level right-side of the etching. And the surviving original photograph had to be mirrored.  

On the other hand Pablo Casals' (1876-1973) portrait (below) was again 1:1 to the photograph.

Wether the negatives, or the copper plate, or both, before, afterwards, were (re)-worked and to what extend I cannot technically answer. Comparing Schmutzer’s work to that of other artists  a great variety of different styles and effects can be seen in next (3/3) posting. 

In the case of Schmutzers view on Dürnstein above I found the etching and a painting in oil but not the photograph that obviously is the source of both.

"Hamburg canal " proving Schmutzers talent and reputation as an important photographer. The list of examples can be much longer; Ferdinand Schmutzer was a prolific artist,  

showing in many photo's and etchings his admiration for Rembrandt (right)

The actual word photogravure however is causing much confusion because it is freely used for an array of artistic grafic expressions. From the relatively basic photographic chemical process of etching the photographical image onto a copper plate, instead of paper, to far more creative and artistic forms of printmaking. Also it is to be taken into account many examples are (still) described as etchings while it is obvious they are, technically, some form of photogravure. 

Next: other artist using photographic images and negatives creating great and famous prints.

Studio Schmutzer (1/3)

After an initial discussion with a certain and prominent writer on Modern Printmaking concerning the suggestion of possible use of early photography in printmaking my rainy day research leading today to the Viennese studio of Ferdinand Schmutzer.

Ferdinand Schmutzer

(1870-1928)

 painter, etcher, printmaker, sculptor, professor, portraitist,

and able early photographer
(left etching, right photo)

was a contemporary and acquaintance of turn-of-the-century celebrities like Albert Einstein, psychoanalyst and shrink Sigmund Freud, composer Richard Strauss, cellist Pablo Casals, violinist Josef Joachim and many others including royalties. He and his wife Alice, né Schnabel, entertained in Villa Schmutzer in the Stenwartestrasse and Schmutzer portrayed them all. Their home the centre of intellectual, literary, musical and artistic life in Vienna.

Viewed in the context of printmaking Schmutzer, appointed professor in the Vienna Kunst Akadamie in 1908, was teacher to Norbertine Bresslern-Roth (1891-1978). Besides world famous for her woodblock animal prints she is less known for creating other work like her self-portrait (left) and this pastoral reclining Diana in her unmistakingly style. Besides she was a very couragious woman defying Nazi intimidations  because of her husband having a Jewish mother. 

See here* for some excelent references and biography of Norbertine Bresslern-Roth.   

Not long ago, in the former residence of the Schmutzers in Vienna, an unexpected treasure was discovered. Thousands of photo's and glass-negatives giving a rare insight in the creative use of early photography. Among them a great many portraits of important and famous people and intimate views in their world, house and studio. Like early photographer and painter George Hendrik Breitner (1857-1923) in Amsterdam and likewise Anders Zorn (1860-1920) in Sweden, Schmutzer understood and put to use the immens possibillities of early photography when in the hands of a creative and skilled artist. 

From different sources and locations I scratched together examples showing there is no distinct dividing line between artistic photography and other forms of art since the invention of capturing  lasting images on glass or paper.

Artist like Rudolf van Alt (1812-1905), great painter in the footsteps of his father, could only have dreamed about such possibilities he and his father had to do without. Here are two equally phenomenal portraits by Schmutzer of a monumental man in his late eighties (1898), the etching  (left) made with the help of the mirrored photo negative (right).   

Note this etched portrait is hanging on the wall in Schmutzers studio in front of the model. Note also the notched cord hanging next to the standing model. A simple yet effective scaling device. But as you can see Schmutzer did not use the cord (it's strapped-up!) but instead he used  the actual photograph for his etching (of which I sadly couldn't find a better image). Schmutzer, the sculptor, pioneer in the world of etching revival became engaged after seeing Rembrandt's etchings while visiting the Netherlands in 1894-96. He was also the first creating etchings in a large, not used before format and inventing and using new tools and instruments. The photographic negative glass plate one of them. 

Artists had dreamed of such possibillities since Leonardo’s times and did Ferdinand Schmutzer made great use. As a photographer Schmutzer belongs in the same league as Alfred Steiglitz and Edward Steichen. I will show in next episode that it is extremely difficult to avoid work created with "the help of" photonegative glass plates becoming dull and mere amateuristic tracings. A pitfall to many artists who tried.

L: A 1894 build German Dressler camera, the year young Ferdinand (24) started his photographic career. 

All pictures are mouse-clickable

To be continued soon

The Schmutzer photo treasure is published:  Ferdinand Schmutzer,  Das photographische Werk 1894-1928  ISBN 978-3-9812344-1-1. 

Red haired beauty !

Victorian Red Haired Beauty by unknown artist 

Contemporary Red Haired Beauties by Corry Kooy

Charles' latest posting in ModernPrintmakers revealing a lovely small print of two cows: "Rouge and Noire" by Sylvain Boxsius (1878-1941) coincided with a planned posting on woodblock prints showing cows.

So this is a good opportunity starting with the colorful red beauties first. The opening painting of a "herd of red cattle along river Flist" by Dutch artist Corry Kooy. Although not a print perfectly illustrating the nostalgic feeling we  (at least I) have when enjoying a nostalgic scenery that has almost disappeared from our landscapes.  

 William Nicholson (1872-1949)   Anne Faulkner (1862-1933)

Since the times these printmakers took to the meadows, sat and sketched their subjects, much has changed. Many of the herds staying indoors nowadays, the bovine milking types through selective breeding changed into far more powerful and productive feno-types. Red cows and mixed stock have allmost completely disappeared. This posting with these lovely examples of times gone by a tribute to the colorful cow.

Carl Alexander Brendel (1877-1948)

Siegfried Berndt (1889-1946)

Hiroshi Toshida (1876-1950)

Kathleen Hale (1898-2000) - Johan van der Zee (1898-1988)

This "ordinary" black & white sister had to be included here ofcourse. Japanese printmaker Kanae Yamamoto (1882-1946), when staying in Brittany in 1912, made some great and surprisingly Modern (European) prints. After investigating his no doubt relationship with Breton printmaker Henri Rivière (1864-1951) I'll show them soon.

Likewise, although not prints, these cows (thank you Lily Japonisme!) also in Brittany by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) and painted in 1890 before leaving for Tahiti 1891 I couldn't resist. His close friend Vincent, himself a red head, shows his love for red beauties and  simultaniously, with a wink, paying his respect to Old Master Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) 

And while painting this peaceful family group of red ladies (above) one of the more sensitive German printmakers Walther Klemm (1883-1937) perhaps  found his inspiration for this print.

Hans Neumann (1873-1957) printed these probably Alpine red haired cows but they could also be grazing over the white cliffs of Dover. 

Closing this thematic posting with contemporary Dutch printmaker Margriet de Goede.