Readers may remember that back in November, 2010, there was a post on Walther Klemm's Vogelbuch, or Book of birds. This was in fact a portfolio of six colour woodcuts in an edition of only forty, published in Germany in 1912. At that point Klemm was still a member, along with his friend Carl Thiemann, of the artists' colony at Dachau near Munich.
The impression I get is that complete sets are rare and predictably some of them do come up as single prints without any reference (so far as I know) to the original project. But now I find that he seems to have begun the project as early as 1909 because I have recently come across two further colour woodcuts in exactly the same format but much closer to the Vienna Secession style he was using during his stay at Liboc near Prague. Ducks diving, above, is very similar to his print of underwater ducks in the Vogelbuch, likewise a study in monochrome but considerably more subdued. Personally I think the 1909 print is alot more attractive. I don't think he was every quite so devil-may-care decorative as this. His ability to flip styles is one of the things I admire most about Klemm even if he was soon to change to styles I find less congenial. The subtle integration of greys and blues is really so masterly, it may as well be an object lesson.
Not surprisingly the swan doesn't have a corollary in the second Vogelbuch. It's considerably less successful. I don't know why the project appears to have been abandonned. I can hardly believe it was because no one liked what he had done. I am very smitten with his virtuoso ducks. It is almost post-modern in its playful awareness of form and pattern and appearances. Here is the artist who not only studied under Kolo Moser but studied history of art as well. And here is the accomplished awareness that led him only four years later (at the age of only thirty) to his professorship at Weimar, the image an apt metaphor for Klemm's own performance: agile, delving, disappearing, deft.
And if you click on to gerrie-thefriendlyghost.blogspot.com/2011/10/emil-pottner-feathers.html you will see that, just like Klemm and Thiemman, Gerrie and I are laying in the same barn.
Charles,
ReplyDeleteI like the swan better than Thiemann's! I have never seen it before. As for the ducks, there are two very similar Koson prints of diving mallards, so I think here the influence is quite obvious. The later version in the "Book of birds" is less detailed, more restricted to the silhouette, to the typical, emblematic. I think that it was this that Klemm was aiming at.
Klaus
It's always hard to know exactly what an artist as subtle as Klemm does intend unless you have the actual print in front of you. A pc monitor is a poor substitute for the real thing.
ReplyDeleteDo you know his monochrome woodcuts of animals? I have two but I don't really like them all that much. They are pure shape and texture, which doesn't really come across in reproduction.
I had a look at Koson's mallards. Many artists borrow but the loans from Koson, if that is what they are, are interesting. He also loaned from European contemporaries for 'Vogelbuch', as you will see in the next post!
Charles
Charles,
ReplyDeleteI guess it also depends on our individual interpretation what we see and cherish in an artist, doesn't it? I don't like Klemm's monochrome (that means black and white, doesn't it?) woodcuts, either. He also made illustrations for books, as you know, for example Goethe's "Reinecke Fuchs". There are some nice images among these illustrations, but I wouldn't like to hang them, which for me is the ultimate criterion. But I have his "Heron" and "Flamingoes", and I love them both. They are similar yet completely different at the same time, the "Heron" solemn as a statue with its pointed beak, the "Flamingoes" all soft and curved lines with a wonderful art deco touch. Not many artists were able to achieve this!
Can't wait to see your next post on one of my favourites!
greetings,
Klaus
He became so interested in muted, near monochrome prints, I suppose he just decided to do straight woodcuts. But the magic isn't there.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of information and access we have to work by artists like Klemm is often fairly limited in the UK because obviously so much is in German. So, I am always very grateful for any additional information that you give me.
Charles
i have been dying to see the swan in colour for ages. i've had a copy of it in black and white for three years, and it was worth the wait. my god it's gorgeous, such subtlety, such perfect balance. thank you!!
ReplyDeletei too like the duck, amazing feather work, but to me, what with everyone from utamaro to koson, the idea has been done, so i'm not seeing it with new eyes.
as re klemm's stork -- i love it so much that i once made notecards with it!
(if anything interesting goes on in that barn, please do let us know)
As you are the second person to be enthusiatic about his swan, I definitely regret writing it off the way I did and have taken a second look.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to bring these prints out of the nooks and crannies of webworld so everyone can appreciate them.
Charles
absolutely! well, you've found the wonderfully obscure ones from the beginning.
ReplyDeletedon't feel required to love the swan! everybody brings their own taste and history to these things... !
(darn! please delete those!)
ReplyDeletehere is utamaro's.
Someone else has just said exactly the same thing to me about unheard-of artists. Well, I picked up something wonderfully obscure on ebay last night. But you will all of you have to wait.
ReplyDeleteCharles
charles. you're such a tease.
ReplyDelete