DOI issue:
No. 129 (November, 1907)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28253#0092
Studio-Talk
harmony of detail. So too
in all his other metal-work,
his furniture, and even in
his designs for ladies’
dresses, he has always re-
garded the fundamental
form as essential, and has
been sparing in the appli-
cation of ornament to the
surfaces of things.
TOMBSTONE
Max Pfeiffer came only in mature years to his
present calling as an artist. Previously occupied
in forestry, a profession which he had
originally chosen for himself, and which
accorded with his love of a free and
open life in the woods and fields, the
constant and intimate converse with
nature which his work afforded him
enabled him to see—and always with
the vision of an artist—the myriad
forms of organic growth and decay,
and the beauties which were thus
revealed to him impelled him to exer-
cise his creative faculty in their repro-
duction. In doing so he avoided the
mistake of being satisfied with the
external forms of leaves and flowers;
he sought rather to get at that living
force which calls into existence this or
that formation or ramification; and in
this search for knowledge he found ex-
cellent instructors in Hermann Obrist
and Wilhelm von Debschitz. Art, of
course, can neither be taught nor learnt,
and it was for Pfeiffer himself to give
forth the very best of that which lay
within his power. How thoroughly he
set to work is attested by countless
studies in which he disciplined his
sense of form. The works executed
by him as a novice—silver ornaments
set with semi-rare stones—were marked
by a rare perception of proportion and
76
The same principles are
to be clearly discerned in
Pfeiffer’s grave-monuments.
They are all characterised
by quiet earnestness, and
that repose which becomes
a last resting-place. There
is no ostentation here,
nor any attempt to attract
notice by extravagance of
shape. They fit in harmoniously and unobtrusively
with their natural environment, and breathe that
REPOSITORY FOR CINERARY URNS DESIGNED BY MAX PFEIFFER
DESIGNED BY MAX PFEIFFER
I
harmony of detail. So too
in all his other metal-work,
his furniture, and even in
his designs for ladies’
dresses, he has always re-
garded the fundamental
form as essential, and has
been sparing in the appli-
cation of ornament to the
surfaces of things.
TOMBSTONE
Max Pfeiffer came only in mature years to his
present calling as an artist. Previously occupied
in forestry, a profession which he had
originally chosen for himself, and which
accorded with his love of a free and
open life in the woods and fields, the
constant and intimate converse with
nature which his work afforded him
enabled him to see—and always with
the vision of an artist—the myriad
forms of organic growth and decay,
and the beauties which were thus
revealed to him impelled him to exer-
cise his creative faculty in their repro-
duction. In doing so he avoided the
mistake of being satisfied with the
external forms of leaves and flowers;
he sought rather to get at that living
force which calls into existence this or
that formation or ramification; and in
this search for knowledge he found ex-
cellent instructors in Hermann Obrist
and Wilhelm von Debschitz. Art, of
course, can neither be taught nor learnt,
and it was for Pfeiffer himself to give
forth the very best of that which lay
within his power. How thoroughly he
set to work is attested by countless
studies in which he disciplined his
sense of form. The works executed
by him as a novice—silver ornaments
set with semi-rare stones—were marked
by a rare perception of proportion and
76
The same principles are
to be clearly discerned in
Pfeiffer’s grave-monuments.
They are all characterised
by quiet earnestness, and
that repose which becomes
a last resting-place. There
is no ostentation here,
nor any attempt to attract
notice by extravagance of
shape. They fit in harmoniously and unobtrusively
with their natural environment, and breathe that
REPOSITORY FOR CINERARY URNS DESIGNED BY MAX PFEIFFER
DESIGNED BY MAX PFEIFFER
I