It was hard to resist posting two more of Jungnickel's humourous takes on hyperactivity amongst parrots. This first woodcut is wonderfully manic with very little bearing on natural history at all but does employ his later style of sub-expressionism which in fact has more in common with textiles than Schmidt-Rottluff. The second colour woodcut shows a hyacinth maccaw, a rare parrot from Brazil. In his earlier, more strictly secessionist woodcuts, he provided no habitat at all for the animals. In this one we do at least have leaves and what I take to be jazz-age tree-tops. Rather like his parrots, Jungnickel tended to be a law unto himself.
It was his usual method to stalk his subjects in the confines of the Vienna Zoo but he has made a valiant effort to describe the peculiar colour of the bird and the shading of its plumage. The beak is in fact dark grey and he may have emphasised the size of its his head for comic effect. But the humped wings and alarming beak are true to type.
All the more curious, then, for him to come up with this jeu d'esprit of violet maccaws. It's true that violet parrots do exist but the Violet Maccaw is a species that only inhabits LH Jungnickel's drole imagination. Whether the woodcut improves on nature is open to question but the printing is sharper, notably along the bird's neck and on its wing, giving the parrot a much livelier profile. The blacks and greys also stand in greater contrast to the violet than they do to the blue so there was a genuine desire on Jungnickel's part to make a better print. (I'm assuming the blue one is the earlier version, of course). No doubt assiduous readers will soon be finding other maccaws unknown outside the hothouse of Austria-Hungary. And I will have no other option but to post.
The first one (what a find!) is printing gone mad, a show case: I really love it. It's also very "parrot". He must have been a keen observer, behaviour like and the anatomy. That's what makes it a great print. You just have to be one good printer to create something like this. It's also very "Norbertine like" using all paper available. Great to see them together. In this context.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. This shows how good he was. About the only thing left from the Vienna secession style is the square format. A tour de force!
ReplyDeletethat top one is stunning!
ReplyDeleteYes, these prints are powerful, but in my eye they completely lack the masterly elegance of Bresslern-Roth's parrot! If I had to - no, if I COULD pick which one to hang in my living-room, I would definitely go for her woodcut.(I am aware of the fact that my grandma would have done the same :-) I must say that a lot of Jungnickel's prints seem a bit forced and over-anxious to me.
ReplyDeleteTo be painfully honest.
greetings,
Klaus
i actually already *do* have the bresslern-roth or, as she signed sometimes, broth, hanging in my kitchen!
ReplyDeleteLucky you, lotusgreen! And would you swap it for the Jungnickel?
ReplyDeletei don't think so, klaus, but i suppose i should add the i printed it out myself. i have one of those fancy 8-ink jet printer, and a large supply of japanese rice paper suited to ink-jet printers.
ReplyDeletei will tell you, they come out beautifully, and when you add a garage sale frame, you can feel very lucky yourself.
Please tell me/us what paper you use that is best suited and gives satisfacory result. To spare me the trial and error.
ReplyDeletehmmm--i think i would have to actually see if i could find the emails from 7 or 8 years ago. the box only says 'japan.' there are no other labels. i found it on ebay, and if i recall correctly this guy had bought up all of the remaining stock, and i bought a whole lot of what he had (if not everything).
ReplyDeletei mainly go9t it for my own 'woodblock photos,' but a couple of years back it suddenly occurred to me that i could actually be surrounded by the artwork that i most loved.
i actually found it! an emailed receipt from june 7, 2004! the paper is Hahnemuhle Japan 90, and apparently they have stopped making it. i only got two google hits on the paper.
ReplyDeleteNow, Klaus, for what it's worth, the market would also disagree with Lily and yourself (and your gran) about the relative merits of Jungnickel and NBR. I grant the Bresslern Roth is elegant but I am quite sure Jungnickel thought the subject suited woodcut.
ReplyDeleteThat's as may be. Without knowing the dates for many of the prints, it's hard to say how Jungnickel went about the selection process - subject/medium. Orlik certainly flipped between etching and woodcut as he saw fit at around the same time. (See 'O was for Orlik')
Lily you're a dear, my papershop man must know of some equivalent or similar type of paper. I love the idea so much I will try also. Thank you !
ReplyDeletefirstly -- charles -- i implied no comparison when i said i had her image on my wall!
ReplyDeleteand second, gerrie -- i think one of the main tricks is to use the plain paper setting.
Well, Charles, that's just the way I feel about it. I guess it's all a matter of individual taste, too. I used to like expressionist art when I was younger, but nowadays most of that stuff is not my cup of tea any more. I tend to admire those prints that bring out the beauty in simplicity, which might be a more conservative attitude, but I don't care. Having said that, you are definitely right in pointing out that Jungnickel had a very strong influence on NBR, and that he deserves credit for that. In any case, your posts on the two of them are really interesting and inspiring!
ReplyDeleteall the best,
Klaus
No, Lily, but you wouldn't exchange it for a Jungnickel. No matter. You have given me an idea. Tomorrow's post will feature what I have on my kitchen wall. I wish it were Jungnickel, I can tell you, but it will be a welcome break from him - and something different.
ReplyDeleteKlaus, some interests stay with us, others change. The blog is cyclic, as life is. I first came across Jungnickel on a postcard in the 1980s and still have it - his 'Tigerkopf'. I remember my sense of surprise and awe but never followed him up. So, it's been a pleasure to do it recently. And you've all been a very good audience!
ReplyDelete