Marcel Lucien Baron, a Paris aquatint etcher

Stumbling over a pair of aquatint etchings signed “Baron” in a local charity shop brings me to Paris today. Most people will consider this “Souvenir Art” (these color etchings obviously were produced for that purpose), "old fashioned" and perhaps not the most “artistic” or collectable prints: a poor man’s choice. They may have been in the shop for quite a while and before I cleaned them they were very browned and showing very unattractive. Well…………., after next postings you may think otherwise or decide for your selfs.

Thanks to the incredible possibilities of the Internet (a quick Google search) I learned one of them is actually showing “Eglise Sainte Etienne du Mont” in central Paris in the  “Quartier Latin”. Seen from the “Rue de la Montagne Sainte Geneviève” just around “Place Larue”. I particularly love the wall with the advertisements. I think he was familiar with the works of a famous and very successful colleague working in Paris. 

  

And I like it. Very much. OK, it’s not a Tavik Frantisek  Simon (1877-1942) the undisputed king of printmakers of Paris street views. Not by far. Simon, who is very collectable and desirable nowadays, did not do “Eglise St. Etienne” but he choose “Eglise St. Severin” (500 meters away as the crow flies). And also used and included a blind wall with  advertisements............ And he was pretty good with figures. A print not to be picked up in car boot I'm afraid. 

By Eugene Atget (1857-1927) a pioneer Paris photographer

Among the many Baron prints that are available in Ebay every day (most of them however are not as good) this one is probably his finest. I think. Until now nobody ever bothered to look into the life of this bread and butter printmaker who simply signs “Baron”, a bit deeper. Showing some nice old photo’s from the same spot I'll try to avoid showing Barons many etchings here: I will make a selection for a later posting. There are some locations that are in need of identification too hopefully with the help of readers.  

 By "Yvon": Pierre Yves Petit (1886-1969) contemporary photographer of Marcel Lucien Baron 

I found his grave in "Cimetière Pere la Chaise", assuming the “peintre” who lies here is the artist signing the many Paris aquatint etching with a simple “Baron”. One can not be careful enough with assumptions. Until someone knows better let us assume:

Marcel Lucien Baron (Paris 14-06-1872 - 1956 Paris) is mentioned in Benezit Artist Dictionary: “Peintre de paysages forestiers“ (painter of forestry landscapes”, but there’s no mentioning of his graphic activities nor where or with whom he studied. He exhibited in the “Société Nationale des Beaux Arts”, in “Salon d’Automne” and with the “Indépendants. His woody landscape paintings seem all but forgotten a century later.

------------------

It would be nice to know who his parents (or family) were and where and with whom he’d studied. An interesting lead may be these two “Baron” artists I found in “Benezit, Dictionaire des Artistes”. Without speculating, I think there may be some clues here and the time-lines making it not impossible to suspect a relationship. Reasons to investigate further:

Stéphane Baron

 (Lyon 1830 or 32 – around 1921 probably Paris)

He is mentioned in Benezit too and remarkable enough as “Peintre et Aquafortiste” exhibiting also in Paris and winning prizes (1875 and 1926). Stéphane had been a student of his father, amateur engraver Jean Balthazar Baron (1788 -1869) and in Paris by Leon Cogniet (1794-1880) a historical painter, Prix de Rome winner and professor in the “Ecole des beaux Arts”, but best remembered as a teacher who taught over a hundred later well known artists but died forgotten in the 10^th arrondisement in Paris and is also buried in Père-Lachaise. 

Jean Balthazar Baron

(Lyon 14-07-1788 - 24-06-1869 Lyon) 

“Manufacturer of silk products and judge at the “Tribunal de Commerce” 1843-1845 in Lyon. He started making lithographic prints 1824-25 before trying at etching of local (Lyon) motifs but also locations around Paris when he was there for his business trips. It is said his figures weren’t all that good but his work showed great love for nature” (Benezit).

A clue for a family connection might also be he used besides several signatures, a monogram J.B. but also: a simple: Baron. There has been recent interest in J.B. Baron’s work and career, a book was published and his work is collected in Lyon Museums.

 ------------------

But it was the finding of Marcel Baron’s wife, buried with him at Père Lachaise, that gave me a thrill. I'll tell you all about her in my next posting.

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

Selma de Coudres-Plawneek

Coudres-Plawneek, Selma des

(Riga 02-01-1883 – 04-03-1956 Fürstenfeldbruck)

Painter and printmaker.

I met this unknown painter/printmaker researching Cläre Neuhaus in before posting. Just the one woodblock print I was able to find. Like Cläre she will have been to Klemm and Thiemann in Dachau for training and study. Before it became synonym with the atrocities of Nazi Germany Dachau was one of Germany’s best known artist colonies. 
  

She was born Zelma Pļavniece (or Plawneck), daughter of timber trader Thomas Plawneek (d.1891) and Olga Brunowski. Studied in Riga  in the “Zeichenschule” with Elise Jung-Stilling (1829-1904) and graduated from St. Petersburg academy as a teacher at drawing in 1903. Elise Stilling proved to be a highly interesting and very influential woman: more later.

Further studies with Jan Rosenthals (1866-1917)) and Vilhelms Purvitis (1872-1945) in Riga 1909-1919 she exhibited drawings, wood- and linocut prints with the Riga “Städtische Kunstverein”. Works were bought by director Wilhelm Neumann (1849-1919) for his Riga Museum. With a grant from the estate of George Wilhelm Timm (1820-1895) she was able to study from 1909 in Munich with Max Doerner (1870-1939) and in Dachau with Adolf Hölzel (1853-1934) and 1909-1911 with Julius Exter (1863-1939) in Feldwies am Chiemsee. Until 1914 she travelled between Riga and Munich. 

Much of her work was exhibited in the 1918 Livland-Estland exhibition in the Berlin Academy. In 1919 she settled in Fürtsenfeldbruck and 1921 married 20 year older (and a head and a half shorter) painter Adolf des Coudres (1862-1924).

In 1923 she exhibited for the last time in Munich.  She was actively involved in the founding of the Fürstenfeldbruck artists association also action as board member. She lost her fortune in the depression and during the Nazi and WW2 period had to give up her avant-garde and expressionist style of painting to make a living, suffered from bad health and died impoverished.

She exhibited paintings, wood and linocut prints as one of the best known Baltic artists in the exhibitions of the Baltic “Künsterbundes” in the “Kunstverein Riga” and in the “Städtischen Kunstmuseum Riga”. Prints were published from 1907(!) in “Jahrbuch der Bildender Künstler der Ostseeprovinzen’.

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

Else Ruest, Heimatkünstler aus Hannover

Before I try to continu following printmaker Cäre Neuhaus (in before posting) I must "fit in" this artist first. I met her in september 1915 with Cläre Neuhaus in Bonn Obernier Museum in the “Graphische Wanderausstellung” (traveling exhibition) with later famous painter/etcher Anna Feldhusen (1867-1951) from Bremen, and many others. 

Anna Feldhusen

Ruest, Elisabeth (Else)

(Hannover 19-04-1891 – 28-03-1945 Hannover)

 Landscape and flower painter, “Gebrauchsgraphiker” and graphic artist (no woodblock prints known).

"Heimatkünstlerin"

"Home-painter: working locally choosing mainly topics "close to home".  

She died in the allied bombing of Hannover in the night of march 28th 1945 destroying also her house, studio and all her remaining work (90% of the city's centre was destroyed by allied bombing killing 6000 inhabitants). These 4 examples are all I was able to find. This print below I found in Neil's Adventures in the Printtrade (2012) who has stumbled also over this forgotten printmaker.  

She had been a student of the “Großherzoglichen Malerinnenschule Karlsruhe“ which was founded October 1885 and in function until 1923 by uniting private painting schools and classes and was under the patronage of grand-duchess Luise of Prussia (1838-1923). Because of the overwhelming numbers of women students the Karlsruhe academy professors, many ran private schools besides their academy work, were not able to take any more private students. Women had to wait untill 1923 before being allowed to study in the Academies. In the school students were taught by academy professors. On of Else's teachers in the school is mentioned to have been  "V.Roman". See end of this posting for more details and some remarkable findings. 

Although she must have been a prolific artist  just a few examples (and not the best pictures, sorry) of her etchings are available.

She was among the early visitors and regularly staying in the village of Schwalenberg in beautiful county Lippe near Detmold. Thanks to artists like her the little town grew into an artist colony. Berlin Academy professor  Hans Licht (1876-1935) took his students here for "en plein-air" (outdoors) painting in the french Barbizon school (1830-1870) tradition.  

Hans Licht

Printmaker and "Heimat" painter Ernst Rötteken who was born, lived, worked and died in Detmold was a frequent visitor. 

Ernst Rotteken (1910)

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


-----------------

V.(iktor) Roman (1841-1916) was a teacher at drawing in the “Bender’schen Lehranstalten” in Weinheim (in Bavaria’s Black Forest). His younger brother Max Wilhelm Roman (Freiburg 30-0-4-1849 – 08-05-1910 Karlsruhe) however was a painter and lithographer and had studied in Nürnberg. He was appointed 1886 as a teacher in the newly founded Karlsruhe “Malerinnenschule” acting as its director from 1895.  I think “V. Roman” as Else's teacher is probably a mistake. 

Max Wilhelm is more likely to have been Else Ruest’s teacher at the “Malerinnenschule“ in Karlsruhe. He married 1891, 21 one years younger, painter, book cover designer and illustrator, graphic artist and ceramist Käthe Foersterling (Dresden 1871 – after 1910 Dresden) daughter of Dresden painter Otto Foersterling (1843-1904). She had possibly been his student because she’d also studied at Karlsruhe “Malerinnenschule”. She later taught in this school as a professor of flower painting in 1902 and also in the “Kunstgewerbeschule” 1903-07. 

She and her two children returned to Dresden 1907 giving up her position as a professor, it was said “because of her sickly children” Maria and Wilhelm: Maria indeed died Dresden 04-02-1910. The real reason was her husband and her mother discouraged her and made her give up her career and position because of her mental health. She'd moved to her native Dresden for treatment where she lived disillusioned. Wilhelm Jr. and his father are said to have created linocut prints. Hear year of death is unknown. 

--------------------

Cläre Neuhaus-Nissen, printmaker

Neuhaus-Nießen (Nissen), Cläre 

(Hannover 1878 – 1950 Olten)

I still know so little about this painter and printmaker and what follows is what I've puzzled together so far. I traced Cläre to the small town of Fürstenfeldbruck some 20 Km. east of Munich. Seeing the few prints I know by her I think I have a pretty good idea whom she turned to learning the art of woodblock print making: Dachau is not more them 15 km. from where she lived.  

Walter Klemm (1883-1957) and Carl Thiemann (1881-1966) in Dachau passed on their pioneering printmaking skills to numerous contemporary artist. 

She is mentioned as “die Malerin Cläre Nießen-Neuhaus” present at the founding meeting of the “Kunstverein Fürstenfeldbruck” in 1924. In Fürstenfeldbruck..

Fürstenfeldbruck in 1929

The picturesque village had become a refuge for artists fleeing overcrowded Munich. Also present at that meeting was Selma des Coudres (1883-1956) a painter also known to have tried at  woodblock printmaking and in a style betraying lessons by Carl Thiemann in Dachau too. We shall follow and trace Selma in next post bringing us to Riga in Latvia and meeting some more interesting artists. 

Proof of a trip to........ Italy, Dalmatia ?

Cläre (for Klara, Clara ?) exhibited, with others*, in 1915 in the “Wanderausstellung der Vereinigung nordwestdeutscher Künstler” in the Obernier Museum in Bonn: Cläre Neuhaus (München) showed “Alte Gasse”. I do not know which print that was but I do not think it is the ("mediterranean") one above. 

* One of them was Elisabeth (Else) Ruest (1861-1945) an painter-printmaker from Hannover known by several etchings showing the artist village of Schwalenberg near Detmold. She will also be shown in next posting.     

These two examples (Dachau moor landscapes ?) are clearly signed Cläre Neuhaus. The monogram she uses seems to be designed after Thiemans example. 

It can be difficult in Germany how to read a married girls name. Her families (maiden) name can be either placed before or after her husbands name. I have not yet found a rule explaining. Considering she was mentioned Neuhaus in 1915, Nissen-Neuhaus in 1924 and Neuhaus-Nissen in 1942 I guess she met and married a Mr. Nissen somewhere between 1915-1924. 

She is represented in the 1942 “Ausstellungskatalog der Großen Deutschen Kunstausstellung im Haus der Deutschen Kunst” in Munich with a painting: Cläre Neuhaus-Nissen, München:  Nr. 354 in room 4: “Sonneblumen, Öl”. 

"Haus der Deutsche Kunst" was the first of Adolph Hitlers prestigious and megalomane Nazi megastructures to open in 1937 showing to the Nation Nazi approved art. 

And although the surviving 1942 exhibition catalogue photograph wants us to believe it is painting 354a, showing a mixed bouquet, I really think it's the big one to the far left, 93a, showing some serious SUNFLOWERS ! Hitlers helpers bought works of art here for the proposed Nazi Museums. Cläre's Sunflowers were sold by the way btw.

"Somewhere, someone" wrote: 1932 in Dresden as her year of death and I'\m not sure if the 1942 Munich exhibition showed her work posthumously. She is not mentioned in any Artists Lexicon nor in my Dresslers Kunsthandbuch (1921 & 1930) other then mentioning her living in Fürstenfeldbruck Münchner-strasse 31 in 1930. 

-----------------------------

Please send anything (any scrap of information, fact or pictures that may contribute to better understanding the life and career of Cläre Neuhaus-Nissen for sharing in this Blog and to help complete my Pioneering German Women Printmakers Index. 

Or just leave a comment.

-----------------

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

Max Kahlke: Frisian and Schleswig coast

Kahlke, Max

(Glückstadt  13-01-1892 – 28-02-1928 Kiel) 

Painter and graphic artist. 

Kahlke's rendering of "Clouds, Sea, Tide and Space". And a much treasured print by my favorite but much obscured and neglected Dutch printmaker: Louis Haver (1906-1969).

Max Kahlke was the son of Jacob Kahlke (1866-1935) and Minna Raave (1869-1964). He was born on the banks of the Elbe estuary in the small village of Glückstadt ones important for its herring ("matjes") fishery. 

He studied 1911-12 in Stuttgart “Akademie für bildende Künste” with Robert Poetzelberger (1856-1930) and 1912-14 in Weimar “Großherzoglich-Sächsiche Kunstschule” with Fritz Mackensen (1866-1953). But according his own words he did not think very highly of his academical training but being mostly inspired and influenced by Tirol painter Albin Egger-Lienz (1868-1926). Albin Legger taught in Weimar 1912-13 after being denied a professorship in Munich Academy in 1910 because of a Kaiser  displeasing painting.... 

Sea and Clouds 

He was a member of the “Schlewig-Holsteinische Kunstgenossenschaft” and the “Hamburger Künstlerverein von 1832”. In WWI he fought as a soldier in Flanders, was wounded and treated for many months in field hospitals. 

Friedrich Lissmann, Sea & Tirns. 

Kahlke's fascinating for this landscape reminds me of Bremen born Friedrich Lissmann (1880-1915) he fought in the trenches too but did not return from Flanders Fields. I shared my admiration for Lissmann in this Blog 6 years ago here* and here*.

A photograph of a farmhouse seen through wind battered trees on Island Ameland (Neth.), much like in Kahlke's print. 

A print I showed many years ago here*

Short lived Kahlke, he only reached 36, is known and reminded for his portraits, moor landscape paintings and religious work for Schleswig churches but to me his woodcuts showing the North German coastal and tidal Wadden-sea landscapes are the most interesting works he created. His work is collected in several North German Museums: Altona-Hamburg, Flensburg, Glückstadt, Itzehoe and Schleswig Museums. 

And here's a photograph I took only last week on Island Ameland. Nord-Friesland (Germ.) near the Danish border and my Friesland (Neth.) aren't that far apart. There are 100 years and some 150 miles (as the crow flies) between both observations in this beautiful (World Heritage) part of the world. 

Tönning in Nord-Friesland (Ger.) a small village until the 1970's important for crab fishing. 

Do not hesitate sending me more examples of Kahlke's work for sharing in this Blog.

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