Berlin - Portrait Prints

Gérard Edelinck (1640 Antwerp - 1707 Paris), Joan of Austria, 1707. Copperplate engraving, 51.2 cm x 29.8 cm, inscribed below the image: "Jeanne d'Autriche Grande Duchesse de Toscane...

Bernhard Pankok (1872 Münster - 1943 Baierbrunn), General Wilhelm von Blume, 1915, aquatint etching, 34 x 29.5 cm (sheet size), 26 x 22 cm (plate size), signed in the plate at upper left, in pencil at lower right and dated in pencil at lower left. - At lower left old collection stamp, at the right broad margin with a small spot, otherwise very good condition. About the artwork The 1915 aquatint etching of General Wilhelm von Blume is based on a 1912 oil painting in the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur in Münster. A second oil portrait of the general by Pankok is in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. When Pankok painted the first oil portrait in 1912, the general had already been retired for 16 years. It is therefore a retrospective portrait. Accordingly, the orientation of his head is such that he is looking back in both the oil painting and the etching. Without fixing on anything in particular, he looks thoughtfully inwards and reflects on his life. Uniformed and highly endowed, it is his military activities in particular that he is reviewing attentively and, as his gaze reveals, quite critically. Pankok has literally written the sum of his experiences on Wilhelm von Blume's face: The physiognomy is a veritable landscape of folds, furrows, ridges and gullies, all the more striking against the flat background. It is clear that each of the medals was also won through suffering. However, by breaking the boundaries of the picture, his bust appears as an unshakable massif, which gives the general a stoic quality. The fact that the design of the portrait was important to Pankok can be seen from the different versions, the present sheet being the third and probably final revision, which Pankok dates precisely to 18 February 1915. Compared with the previous state, the light background now has a dark area against which the sitter's face stands out, the dark background in turn combining with the uniform to create a new tension in the picture. Pankok's taking up of the portrait of the high-ranking military veteran and its graphic reproduction can also be seen in relation to the First World War, which had broken out in the meantime. In the face of modern weapons of mass destruction, Wilhelm von Blume's warfare and military writings were relics of a bygone, more value-oriented era. About the artist After studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1889 to 1891 under Heinrich Lauenstein, Adolf Schill, Hugo Crola, and Peter Janssen the Elder, Bernhard Pankok went to Munich in 1892, where he worked primarily as a graphic artist for the two major Jugendstil magazines "Pan" and "Jugend," which established his artistic success. Through this work he met Emil Orlik, with whom he had a lifelong friendship. In 1897, he exhibited his first furniture, and in 1898, together with Richard Riemerschmid, Bruno Paul and Hermann Obrist...

Kurt Mühlenhaupt (1921 Klein Ziescht - 2006 Berlin), Myself, c. 1975. Woodcut, 32 cm x 29 cm (image), 36.5 cm x 32.5 cm (sheet size), signed in pencil lower right and titled “Selbst....

Charles Uzzell-Edwards aka 'Pure Evil' (*1968), John F. K.'s Nightmare, c. 2010. Color serigraph, 35.4 x 25 cm, signed in pencil lower right with artist's name and artist's signet, i...

Reiner Schwarz (*1940 Hirschberg), Little mouse, 1968. Lithograph, 30 cm x 21 (sheet size), signed “R.[einer] Schwarz” in pencil lower right, dated “[19]68”, identified as copy no. 1...

Reiner Schwarz (*1940 Hirschberg), The Hunchback, 1969. Lithograph, 33 cm x 22 (depiction), 59 cm x 42 cm (sheet size), signed “R.[einer] Schwarz” in pencil lower right, dated “[19]6...

Reiner Schwarz (*1940 Hirschberg), Under the mask of the Venetian girl, 1968. Lithograph, 30 cm x 24 (image), 59 cm x 42 cm (sheet size), signed “R.[einer] Schwarz” in pencil lower r...

Reiner Schwarz (*1940 Hirschberg), The Dirndl Model, 1969. Lithograph, 33 cm x 26 (depiction), 59 cm x 42 cm (sheet size), signed “R.[einer] Schwarz” in pencil lower right, dated “[1...

Charles Uzzell-Edwards aka ‘Pure Evil’ (*1968), Marlene Dali, around 2010. Color silkscreen, 35.9 x 24.5 cm, signed in pencil lower right with artist's name and artist's signet, iden...

Reiner Schwarz (*1940 Hirschberg), The Hut, 1967. Lithograph, 32.5 cm x 32.5 (depiction), 59 cm x 42 cm (sheet size), signed “R.[einer] Schwarz” in pencil lower right, dated “[19]67”...

Fred Tiger (*1976), Chief John Winston Ono Lennon!, 2020. Hand-finished canvas print, 60 cm (height) x 40 cm (width), signed “Fred Tiger” lower right and dated “2020”, on the reverse...

Heinrich Haberl (1869 Passau to 1934 Munich), Sturmhaube, c. 1900. drypoint, 14 x 10 cm (platemark), 28 x 21 cm (sheet size), 39 x 29 cm (passe-partout), titled "Sturmhaube" in lead at lower left and inscribed "Kaltnadelradierung", signed and locally inscribed "Heinrich Haberl Mchn. [Munich]" at lower right, inscribed again in lead on verso and with old collection stamp. - slightly darkened, fixed and mounted - The target in sight - About the artwork The theatrical "role-portrait" is to be seen against the background of the Rembrandt cult, which reached its climax at the end of the 19th century. The soldier seems to have stepped straight out of Rembrandt's Night Watch (1642) to fix something outside the picture with an alert and ready gaze. The steeply rising brim of the morion frames the gaze and thus perspectivises it as the actual 'pictorial action'. The gaze represents both the vigilant defence and the visionary goal of the battle. Not only the subject, but also the style of the etching needle reflect Rembrandt's understanding of the times. Strong contrasts of light and dark are created in a virtuoso free stroke, without losing the effect of the reflections on the helmet and in the eyes. This shows a kinship with the early prints of Lovis Corinth, who also saw himself as an artist in the role of the knight. Against this background, Haberl's picture can also be seen as a representation of his artistic self-image. About the artist Heinrich Haberl first attended the art school in Nuremberg and from 1892 studied at the Munich Academy. There he was a master student of Johann Leonhard von Raab, Rudolf von Seitz, Franz von Defregger...

Johann Friedrich Bause (1738 Halle a. d. Saale - 1814 Weimar). Half-length portrait of a man with beard and cap after a drawing by Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich. Etching and coppe...

Reiner Schwarz (*1940 Hirschberg), The Lady with the Dog, 1971. Lithograph, 33 cm x 26 (image), 59 cm x 42 cm (sheet size), signed in pencil at lower right "R.[ein] Schwarz", dated "...