Frantisek Kupka Quatre Histoires de Blanc et Noir

A portfolio of 12 offset-printed heart designs by noted German graphic designer Pierre Mendell (1929-2008) assembled from his work at Mendell & Oberer -...

First edition of the second volume (of three) of the renowned graphic design publication Die Quelle (the Source), deemed, along with the journal Die Flache, as among the finest examples of Secession-style graphic design. Published by M. Gerlach & Co of Vienna and Leipzig; not dated but circa 1902-1905. Buchschmuck und Flachenmuster translates to Book Decoration and Surface Design. It presents the work of Max Benirschke (1880-1961), an Austrian architect, illustrator, and designer who studied at the Kunstgewerbescule in Vienna under Josef Hoffmann and was subsequently hired by Peter Behrens in 1903 to teach at his newly founded School of Applied Arts in Dusseldorf. In 1900, Benirschke was enlisted by the famed Viennese publisher Martin Gerlach to produce a folio for Die Quelle; the result shows Benirschke “at the height of his Jugenstil period with a series of curvilinear plant motifs and patterns.” According to Austrian gallerist Michael Steinbach, the present volume is “one of the most important design portfolios...