DOI Heft:
No. 49 (April, 1897)
DOI Heft:Studio-talk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18388#0207
Studio-Talk
MUSIC WRAPPER DESIGNED BY HERMANN HIRZEL
This young artist, who is a Swiss by birth, spent
some years in the Berlin Academy, and. then for a
long time lived in Italy and Sicily, where he worked
most industriously at everything which took his
fancy—old ruins entangled in the briars, pine-trees
and cypresses standing out darkly on the horizon—
things which must inevitably impress those who are
fortunate enough to live in the country where they
are to be seen.
These etchings—for this was the method he
employed—were always marked by a sincere love
of Nature, which the artist strove to reproduce with
strictest fidelity; and one can readily excuse the
somewhat romantic prettiness which undoubtedly
characterised his work, for every one who visits
Italy is prone to fall into the same error, if error
it be. It was therefore all the more creditable to
the artist that, on his return to North Germany, he
should have left all this behind him, and devoted
himself to the study of our plain and simple land-
scape scenery, endeavouring to imbue his plates
with something of the peculiar character of the
land.
But lately have we realised—for we have been
behind other countries—that artistic taste may be
applied to everything, even the most trivial objects.
Only a little while ago it first occurred to us to en-
trust our commercial advertisements and notices to
the hands of an artist. Stimulated by the work of
this kind coming from abroad, we began to take an
open interest in such matters, and to follow in the
wake of the artists who were devoting themselves to
decorative effort. And among these latter—mostly
talented young men—Hirzel at once occupied an
important place. He began by doing a large number
of commercial wrappers and covers for music—two
of which are reproduced here—headings for art ex-
hibitions and trade circulars, and here his special
qualification—the mastery he has over floral form
—stood him naturally in good stead.
A short time ago he made a further attempt to
utilise his abilities by doing a series of drawings of
ladies' jewellery. One of these designs—a brooch
—Herr L. Werner, the jeweller, executed in gold,
and it is one of the simplest and most artistic
things of its kind that has been produced for a long
time in Berlin. Reproductions of some of his
jewellery designs are given on page 200, and it will
be seen how skilfully a single plant motif has been
incorporated into them, and how harmonious are
the lines employed throughout. It may be hoped
that in the future our jewellers will make good use
of this young artist, and thus imbue their work with
the fresh and modern forms he devises with so much
skill. G. G.
11 it g pnp n
FVR EINE S1NC5TIMME MIT BEGLEITVNG PES PlflN°n»RTE
C0MP0N' VON _ _ -
Han5 Hekitiann,
\__ Op vi
MUSIC WRAPPER DESIGNED BY HERMANN HIRZEL
199
MUSIC WRAPPER DESIGNED BY HERMANN HIRZEL
This young artist, who is a Swiss by birth, spent
some years in the Berlin Academy, and. then for a
long time lived in Italy and Sicily, where he worked
most industriously at everything which took his
fancy—old ruins entangled in the briars, pine-trees
and cypresses standing out darkly on the horizon—
things which must inevitably impress those who are
fortunate enough to live in the country where they
are to be seen.
These etchings—for this was the method he
employed—were always marked by a sincere love
of Nature, which the artist strove to reproduce with
strictest fidelity; and one can readily excuse the
somewhat romantic prettiness which undoubtedly
characterised his work, for every one who visits
Italy is prone to fall into the same error, if error
it be. It was therefore all the more creditable to
the artist that, on his return to North Germany, he
should have left all this behind him, and devoted
himself to the study of our plain and simple land-
scape scenery, endeavouring to imbue his plates
with something of the peculiar character of the
land.
But lately have we realised—for we have been
behind other countries—that artistic taste may be
applied to everything, even the most trivial objects.
Only a little while ago it first occurred to us to en-
trust our commercial advertisements and notices to
the hands of an artist. Stimulated by the work of
this kind coming from abroad, we began to take an
open interest in such matters, and to follow in the
wake of the artists who were devoting themselves to
decorative effort. And among these latter—mostly
talented young men—Hirzel at once occupied an
important place. He began by doing a large number
of commercial wrappers and covers for music—two
of which are reproduced here—headings for art ex-
hibitions and trade circulars, and here his special
qualification—the mastery he has over floral form
—stood him naturally in good stead.
A short time ago he made a further attempt to
utilise his abilities by doing a series of drawings of
ladies' jewellery. One of these designs—a brooch
—Herr L. Werner, the jeweller, executed in gold,
and it is one of the simplest and most artistic
things of its kind that has been produced for a long
time in Berlin. Reproductions of some of his
jewellery designs are given on page 200, and it will
be seen how skilfully a single plant motif has been
incorporated into them, and how harmonious are
the lines employed throughout. It may be hoped
that in the future our jewellers will make good use
of this young artist, and thus imbue their work with
the fresh and modern forms he devises with so much
skill. G. G.
11 it g pnp n
FVR EINE S1NC5TIMME MIT BEGLEITVNG PES PlflN°n»RTE
C0MP0N' VON _ _ -
Han5 Hekitiann,
\__ Op vi
MUSIC WRAPPER DESIGNED BY HERMANN HIRZEL
199