Friday 7 October 2011

Tales from ebay: Siegfried Berndt's 'Auf der Rehde'


It is somehow rewarding to see a print that has been recently featured on the blog come up for sale on ebay. I'm not suggesting there is a connection but from Germany we have Siegfried Berndt's first version of the colour woodcut Auf der Rehde from 1911. This is the ebay print above; I have added, below, the proof that I used on the post, for comparison.


I'm never sure why it is that sellers don't get the image square but it doesn't always fill me with confidence. But one important thing included, all the same, is the full paper size, which shows the deckle edge at the bottom. But the image isn't signed and so far there has only been one bid so that it stands right now at €1 only. Unfortunately, the dealer also adds Blatt im unteren linken Teil etwas knittrig,  as you can see below:


                                                                                  
Now, this creasing detracts but I don't want to go on about the disadvantages because, etwas knittrig or not, this is a fine print, romantic and well-expressed, and well worth having depending on how you feel about creases. I've bought unsigned and imperfect images of German work in the past because they are interesting to have and can be expensive otherwise. As for the change in the colours you can see, his version from 1925 (see August post) is radically different. He experiemented, as I said in the post. This is one of the most attractive things about Berndt. He never really stayed the same. And if you already have one version of this print, it may be wise to buy another. I am only waiting now for a deluge of versions. Go!

7 comments:

  1. Berndt's "Auf der Rehde" has been for sale quite frequently at German auction houses recently, this might be one of two prints that were sold two weeks ago (one for peanuts). It really is a remarkable woodcut, similar in colour, mood and subject to some of Riviere's works. I definitely know that also a version with a deep blue background exists.

    Klaus

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, it's the 1925 one.

    And you are quite right to compare the mood and to some extent the style to Riviere. In fact, I was going to say so in the post but then I thought I may as well leave that to readers! He is obviously much less precise in his habits than the Frenchman. Of course, he did study in Paris so he must have known HR's work. Berndt was forever absorbing new ideas.

    I wonder whether the defects are printing creases. It's hard to say.

    Charles

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't think the crease is that bad.

    Charles, if you are interested, I have some images of quite rare Berndt woodblocks, at least I had never seen them until about 2 weeks ago. But I suppose I would need your email- address in order to show them to you.

    Klaus

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's cgc@waitrose.com. Berndt is always interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Charles,

    I'll give it a try tomorrow (if I manage).
    In the meantime, you might want to check the website of the German auction house "Hauff & Auvermann". They are selling about a dozen prints by Berndt in their next auction. Very interesting - and very expensive...

    Klaus

    ReplyDelete
  6. Klaus, this really is the kind of feedback Modern Printmakers needs so thank you very much for the tip.

    The Hauff & Auvermann catalogue is impressive. There is so very little of Berndt's expressionist work easily available online, I shall use the images in a post first thing.

    Look forward to seeing the new images, too. Good luck.

    Charles

    ReplyDelete
  7. an undiluted pleasure for a hardcore fan of your blog.

    ReplyDelete