DOI Heft:
No. 36 (March, 1896)
DOI Artikel:Studio-talk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17296#0133
Studio- Talk
his treatment of them. Some of his studies of
heads, like one of his street scenes, can only be
described as most unfortunate examples of a
deliberate avoidance of all that is graceful and
charming. Other of his productions simply excite
wonder, without enthusiasm ; and this applies par-
ticularly to some of his landscapes. One series of
his works, however, excites our complete and sym-
pathetic interest, and enables us to see the artist's
undoubted creative ability—his Flax-spintter, for
instance, a worthy modern counterpart of Velas-
quez' Carpetworkers. Mention must also be made
of the masterful technique of his etchings, The Beer
Garden, The Boy Bathing, and The Knitting Shep-
herdess—examples full of artistic interest.
The special exhibitions on view last month at
Littauer's salon come under the black-and-white
category. In the first place there was a collection
of lithographs and etchings by the genial Felicien
Rops, the property of the accomplished author and
discriminating collector, W. YVeigand. We have
here a display of this artist's work, from his early
lithographs—which show him as a follower, in
point of subject, of Gavami, Daumier and others
of that school, with a technique which is the wonder
and the delight of all good judges—down to his
etchings, full of glowing fancy, and revealing him
akin in spirit to Klinger himself. Despite the rich
choice of works before them the promoters of the
exhibition showed only a small selection of the
Weigand collection and of the artist's CEuvre, as
a great part of them had to be withheld from public
view by reason of their grossness. As it was, many
of the works actually exhibited were calculated to
offend prudish susceptibilities on account of their
rather daring nature. All question of morals apart,
however, and viewed exclusively from the artistic
standpoint, Felicien Rops' productions remain an
altogether remarkable example of the most mature
work, full of knowledge and splendid in treatment,
and as such are worthy of all honour.
The Rops Exhibition has now been followed by
a collection of etchings by the Scandinavian, Anders
Zorn, who offers a brilliant illustration of Northern
austerity and originality allied with the chic of the
Parisian. No doubt he is strongly mannered, but
his manner is full of power, and the problems he
attempts, like the solutions he finds for them, are
decidedly ingenious. The best of his etchings
have been issued as reproductions of some of his
own paintings—Im Omnibus and Ballszene, for
instance, and particularly his portraits, which are
very striking in their fresh and life-like treatment.
G. K.
DRESDEN.—We have had an exhibi-
tion of Raffaelli's works. It is sur-
prising that so powerful a genius
can at once be so universal. There
were oil-paintings, water-colours,
pastels, drawings, etchings, and dry-points in black
and colours, and also statuary. All these things
were not only interesting but good, which, in the
case of the statuary, was especially astonishing.
The half-length bronze of a social democrat poli-
tician, addressing a meeting, with his glass upon
the table before him, would do credit to any man
who had devoted all his life to sculpture.
There seems to be an unlucky star guiding the
poster competitions in Germany, where interest in
this branch of art is gradually increasing. In
Hamburg there was a competition for the poster of
this year's picture-show. It was limited to local
artists, and the jury found a design which they
considered worthy of the first prize. I have not seen
it, but, according to reports, it must be a bold,
effective poster, somewhat on the " Beggarstaff"
plan, with few colours and no detail. In place of
the allegorical figure customary here, there ap-
peared a woman in modern dress. After the
prize had been adjudged all the competing designs
were publicly exhibited. The public, however,
kicked up a row over them, and the newspapers
all agreed in condemning the posters, so that the
committee had to give in. As the people of
Hamburg do not like the committee's poster,
they will have to go without one, and this year's
show will not be advertised.
The competition for the Dresden poster 1897
was open to all German artists, and about two
hundred designs were sent in. About thirty of
these were modern in style, and some very good,
as, for instance, one of a genius rising up out of a
brightly illuminated city ; the whole figure could be
printed from two stones, one an orange-tint for the
flesh, the other a purple tint for the shadows.
Albert Klingner, an academy student of Berlin re-
ceived the first prize for a design of which I shall
say a word anon; O. Schindler of Dresden the
second, for a design of a half-figure growing out of a
purplish fantastic flower (this is what it looks like;
the artist himself explained it as sound-waves ema-
nating from the mouth of a man who proclaims the
119
his treatment of them. Some of his studies of
heads, like one of his street scenes, can only be
described as most unfortunate examples of a
deliberate avoidance of all that is graceful and
charming. Other of his productions simply excite
wonder, without enthusiasm ; and this applies par-
ticularly to some of his landscapes. One series of
his works, however, excites our complete and sym-
pathetic interest, and enables us to see the artist's
undoubted creative ability—his Flax-spintter, for
instance, a worthy modern counterpart of Velas-
quez' Carpetworkers. Mention must also be made
of the masterful technique of his etchings, The Beer
Garden, The Boy Bathing, and The Knitting Shep-
herdess—examples full of artistic interest.
The special exhibitions on view last month at
Littauer's salon come under the black-and-white
category. In the first place there was a collection
of lithographs and etchings by the genial Felicien
Rops, the property of the accomplished author and
discriminating collector, W. YVeigand. We have
here a display of this artist's work, from his early
lithographs—which show him as a follower, in
point of subject, of Gavami, Daumier and others
of that school, with a technique which is the wonder
and the delight of all good judges—down to his
etchings, full of glowing fancy, and revealing him
akin in spirit to Klinger himself. Despite the rich
choice of works before them the promoters of the
exhibition showed only a small selection of the
Weigand collection and of the artist's CEuvre, as
a great part of them had to be withheld from public
view by reason of their grossness. As it was, many
of the works actually exhibited were calculated to
offend prudish susceptibilities on account of their
rather daring nature. All question of morals apart,
however, and viewed exclusively from the artistic
standpoint, Felicien Rops' productions remain an
altogether remarkable example of the most mature
work, full of knowledge and splendid in treatment,
and as such are worthy of all honour.
The Rops Exhibition has now been followed by
a collection of etchings by the Scandinavian, Anders
Zorn, who offers a brilliant illustration of Northern
austerity and originality allied with the chic of the
Parisian. No doubt he is strongly mannered, but
his manner is full of power, and the problems he
attempts, like the solutions he finds for them, are
decidedly ingenious. The best of his etchings
have been issued as reproductions of some of his
own paintings—Im Omnibus and Ballszene, for
instance, and particularly his portraits, which are
very striking in their fresh and life-like treatment.
G. K.
DRESDEN.—We have had an exhibi-
tion of Raffaelli's works. It is sur-
prising that so powerful a genius
can at once be so universal. There
were oil-paintings, water-colours,
pastels, drawings, etchings, and dry-points in black
and colours, and also statuary. All these things
were not only interesting but good, which, in the
case of the statuary, was especially astonishing.
The half-length bronze of a social democrat poli-
tician, addressing a meeting, with his glass upon
the table before him, would do credit to any man
who had devoted all his life to sculpture.
There seems to be an unlucky star guiding the
poster competitions in Germany, where interest in
this branch of art is gradually increasing. In
Hamburg there was a competition for the poster of
this year's picture-show. It was limited to local
artists, and the jury found a design which they
considered worthy of the first prize. I have not seen
it, but, according to reports, it must be a bold,
effective poster, somewhat on the " Beggarstaff"
plan, with few colours and no detail. In place of
the allegorical figure customary here, there ap-
peared a woman in modern dress. After the
prize had been adjudged all the competing designs
were publicly exhibited. The public, however,
kicked up a row over them, and the newspapers
all agreed in condemning the posters, so that the
committee had to give in. As the people of
Hamburg do not like the committee's poster,
they will have to go without one, and this year's
show will not be advertised.
The competition for the Dresden poster 1897
was open to all German artists, and about two
hundred designs were sent in. About thirty of
these were modern in style, and some very good,
as, for instance, one of a genius rising up out of a
brightly illuminated city ; the whole figure could be
printed from two stones, one an orange-tint for the
flesh, the other a purple tint for the shadows.
Albert Klingner, an academy student of Berlin re-
ceived the first prize for a design of which I shall
say a word anon; O. Schindler of Dresden the
second, for a design of a half-figure growing out of a
purplish fantastic flower (this is what it looks like;
the artist himself explained it as sound-waves ema-
nating from the mouth of a man who proclaims the
119