DOI issue:
Quarterly notes - Vol. xii, No. 4. December, 1925
DOI article:Bloemkolk, W.: The etched work of M.A.J. Bauer
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51531#0553
THE ETCHED WORK OF M. A. J. BAUER
By W. BLOEMKOLK
■ N looking over the work of Marius Bauer,
some striking qualities are obvious : a
boundless imagination, a wonderful per-
fection in composition and facility in handling
such different materials as chalk, paint and the etching
needle. Although Bauer has used the one as well as
the other, it is his etched work which will be discussed
in this article.
His imagination is certainly the most remarkable
and admirable quality, and with the aid of this
mental gift the composition of his works has never
given him any trouble. The impressions committed
to his memory have provided constant food for
various works during many years, and there is not a
case of repetition to be found. This is in contrast
with the trouble that great artists often have in
completing the composition of a proposed work, for
which a good many preparatory studies are usually
necessary.
There are some more important points to be observed
in the work of Bauer, different from that of most other
artists. There is a high degree of perfection in it
from the beginning, and even his very first etchings are
not tentative productions, but real masterpieces. Both
in artistic and in technical merit they are of a high order
393
By W. BLOEMKOLK
■ N looking over the work of Marius Bauer,
some striking qualities are obvious : a
boundless imagination, a wonderful per-
fection in composition and facility in handling
such different materials as chalk, paint and the etching
needle. Although Bauer has used the one as well as
the other, it is his etched work which will be discussed
in this article.
His imagination is certainly the most remarkable
and admirable quality, and with the aid of this
mental gift the composition of his works has never
given him any trouble. The impressions committed
to his memory have provided constant food for
various works during many years, and there is not a
case of repetition to be found. This is in contrast
with the trouble that great artists often have in
completing the composition of a proposed work, for
which a good many preparatory studies are usually
necessary.
There are some more important points to be observed
in the work of Bauer, different from that of most other
artists. There is a high degree of perfection in it
from the beginning, and even his very first etchings are
not tentative productions, but real masterpieces. Both
in artistic and in technical merit they are of a high order
393