DOI Heft:
No. 70 (January 1899)
DOI Artikel:Singer, Hans Wolfgang: Modern german lithography, [1]: Greiner and some Dresden artists
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19230#0292
Modern German Lithography
A DIPLOMA FROM A LITHOGRAPH BY OTTO GREINER
About the only man who handled lithography in
Germany in a new fashion was Menzel. His pen
drawing, his brush and scraped work is splendid,
and it seems extraordinary that he did not of
himself bring about the revival of lithography, which
has now occurred so long after 1851, in which year
Menzel's wonderful "Versuche auf Stein mit dem
Pinselund Schabeisen" were published.
Of the men of to-day, Otto Greiner was probably
the first in the field. Greiner apparently saw Men-
zel's lithographic work, such as the large series of
" Soldiers of Frederic the Great," and based his
first attempts on them. His earliest productions
are rapid pen sketches. He draws a rather heavy
and broad line like Menzel, and in the shades, where
the lines run close together, blots and patches are
apt to occur. Even in these first attempts the pen
and the stone have well responded to his will; no
places are perceptible where the line seems to have
failed to cling to the stone, such as one meets with
in Menzel's lithographs. But this may be due to
the skill of the printer rather than to that of the
draughtsman. Moreover, these stones by Greiner
were not subjected to the test of a large edition;
for the one or two dozen copies that were pulled
of each the technical knowledge shown proved
sufficient.
Gradually Greiner acquired a more delicate touch
and operated with the help of finer pens. His
lithographs lost their broad character, and the line
grew in the end almost as fine as a dry-point line.
It is indeed hardly credible that some of the intricate
and wiry line-work of his later large lithographs
was executed with the help of a pen. It looks
rather as if he had employed the method of work-
ing with a steel point on a gummed stone. Litho-
graphs like the Judgment of Paris and Hercules
at the Crossways might be, and indeed have been,
taken for careful etchings. Whether developing
lithography in this direction is to be considered
a very happy venture I am not prepared to say.
Surely, however, Greiner has outstripped all attempts
of the kind, and the reason that he devoted his
attention to it is, because it allowed him to work
out the finest chiaroscuro possible. The more
delicate the lines the more variety of tones and
half-tones are obtainable, and this is what Greiner
delights in when he turns his attention to black-and-
white.
Greiner is a pupil of Klinger, and has developed
in the same way as his master, going ultimately even
a step beyond him. His training has been very one-
sided, for he has really never studied anything except
the human form, and that is the only subject he takes
261
A DIPLOMA FROM A LITHOGRAPH BY OTTO GREINER
About the only man who handled lithography in
Germany in a new fashion was Menzel. His pen
drawing, his brush and scraped work is splendid,
and it seems extraordinary that he did not of
himself bring about the revival of lithography, which
has now occurred so long after 1851, in which year
Menzel's wonderful "Versuche auf Stein mit dem
Pinselund Schabeisen" were published.
Of the men of to-day, Otto Greiner was probably
the first in the field. Greiner apparently saw Men-
zel's lithographic work, such as the large series of
" Soldiers of Frederic the Great," and based his
first attempts on them. His earliest productions
are rapid pen sketches. He draws a rather heavy
and broad line like Menzel, and in the shades, where
the lines run close together, blots and patches are
apt to occur. Even in these first attempts the pen
and the stone have well responded to his will; no
places are perceptible where the line seems to have
failed to cling to the stone, such as one meets with
in Menzel's lithographs. But this may be due to
the skill of the printer rather than to that of the
draughtsman. Moreover, these stones by Greiner
were not subjected to the test of a large edition;
for the one or two dozen copies that were pulled
of each the technical knowledge shown proved
sufficient.
Gradually Greiner acquired a more delicate touch
and operated with the help of finer pens. His
lithographs lost their broad character, and the line
grew in the end almost as fine as a dry-point line.
It is indeed hardly credible that some of the intricate
and wiry line-work of his later large lithographs
was executed with the help of a pen. It looks
rather as if he had employed the method of work-
ing with a steel point on a gummed stone. Litho-
graphs like the Judgment of Paris and Hercules
at the Crossways might be, and indeed have been,
taken for careful etchings. Whether developing
lithography in this direction is to be considered
a very happy venture I am not prepared to say.
Surely, however, Greiner has outstripped all attempts
of the kind, and the reason that he devoted his
attention to it is, because it allowed him to work
out the finest chiaroscuro possible. The more
delicate the lines the more variety of tones and
half-tones are obtainable, and this is what Greiner
delights in when he turns his attention to black-and-
white.
Greiner is a pupil of Klinger, and has developed
in the same way as his master, going ultimately even
a step beyond him. His training has been very one-
sided, for he has really never studied anything except
the human form, and that is the only subject he takes
261