Thursday 26 July 2012

News from ebay: von Bresslern Roth's 'Baboons'

                                                                                      
For starters you can ignore the sales talk about Bresslern Roth being one of the most influential linocutters of the C20th. The fact is she is one of the least original but she was a pretty good designer, even though her groups-of-animals idea was taken wholesale from LH Jungnickel, and her printmaking skills are superb. This is why she is worth buying despite the hyperbole.

Unfortunately 'Baboons' finds her at her least convincing. For some unknown reason she decided to make two of the baboons almost exactly the same. Where Jungnickel introduces character and his own droll sense of humour, Bresslern Roth depends on repetition. Sometimes it comes off; here it is standard stuff. The print of wolves walking down through snowy woodland is exquisite; this one, for all its similarities, doesn't  compare. Admittedly, I have only seen what you see here. The print will look better once you see it. But I would guess it has been picked up relatively cheaply and it now finds itself on British ebay for the minimum starting price you might expect to pay - £600 to you, and probably more to someone else.

                                                                                    

As Klaus mentions LH Jungnickel's Blue Parrots in the comments, I've added an image of the woodcut that's for sale on Austrian ebay at a starting price of  €600. His work is very different from Bresslern Roth's smooth productions, with all their muted tastefulness. Her prints are generally small, some of his surprisingly large and he is serious about pictorial space, decorative effect and the expressive qualities of woodcut. He never once makes any attempt at stylishness. In fact,  I was taken aback by how rough his Flamingoes was when I found it by chance a couple of weeks ago at the V&A in London. I wondered then what Klaus would have thought about it.

                                                                              

And if you don't believe me, this is what the market says about Jungnickel's Tigerkopf , shown here in the frame it was sold in at Dorotheum in Vienna in June of last year. It fetched €6,000.

17 comments:

  1. Charles, I think she was playing/trying with perpective and movement in a couple of identically desigend prints. The seller has the matching antelopes print on offer too. (Who would want to sell them if they came by cheaply ?) She did some more animal groups in a similar way: indeed the wolfes but also cormorants, tigres, panthers and zebra. The perspective (and movement) in these baboons is really surprising if you look closely. Considering I always appreciate your expert and straight forward opinions in this case however I think maybe "less convincing" but certainly not "the least", would be more appropriate.

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  2. I must say that I am not convinced by these two Bresslern Roth prints, either. Compare them to Jungnickel's parrots offered on ebay Austria (for less money!), and I think the difference is quite obvious (even if I am not very keen on most of Jungnickel's work).

    Klaus

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  3. Well, you know what I think, Klaus. All the same, I've said it again in an addition I've made to this post.

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  4. Charles,

    I like Jungnickel's Flamingoes - although I think there are far better ones! (for example by Klemm, Tüpke-Grande or Bresslern-Roth:-))

    Klaus

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  5. It goes without saying, Klaus, that when you pinch another artist's idea, you have to improve on it.

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  6. Klemm and Tüpke definitely did not pinch from Jungnickel, and I am not even fully convinced that Bresslern-Roth did!

    Klaus

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  7. Well, I must admit Klemm's 'Turkeys' of 1906 predates Jungnickel's 'Tigerkopf' by three years. As for NBR, just google the 'Jungnickel and Bresslern Roth' post.

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  8. As a previous owner of one of the baboon prints I can assure you that in person her work, and that work specifically is stunning. It is easy to be dismissive and I think the Austrians are overly hyperbolic about her...however she was a stunning artist. In person the print (if not damaged by sun) is stunningly vibrant and she had a mastery of line and motion. Those were always her intentions. Of course it is always personal preference....I don't mind Jungnickel and the comparison is clear and easy to make. The same goes with Klemm. However, having personally possessed some of her works, and having grown up with an number of them in my home, I can attest to their beauty and the brilliance of NvBR. Having said that, her prices are insane and all dealer created.
    Clive

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  9. Well, the comparisons with Jungnickel are not only easy but are just. Bresslern Roth was a modish, one idea artist who nevertheless did a good job. My own view is that he kept churning them out when a real artist would have been trying other things. As a result there are lots of them floating about and as with Hall Thorpe that allows people to play the silly price game.

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  10. Having spend many hours watching the large baboons group behaviour in our local zoo I'm really happy with Clives' confirmation about my earlier statement concerning this perticular print so unjustly called "the least" by the honourable author. In the contrary: it is breathing proof of the artists keen observations, interest in, and understanding of her subjects. And the skills turning them, with so few means (4 shades of color), into a print with so many characteristics of the species movement, behaviour and character depicted. Only in my dreams I've owned a NBR parrot print. And a LHJ's. Who did btw a great pencil drawing of probably the very same group of baboons grooming. No doubt after many visits and very carefull observations in Graz' Zoo.
    Gerrie

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  11. The baboons were obviously nit-picking when you were watching them.

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  12. Klemm, in his best works (so I'm not talking about the Turkeys), goes into a completely different direction than Jungnickel did!

    Klaus

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  13. And let me add that Jungnickel's parrots look as if someone gave them acid for breakfast.

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  14. It's not so much Klemm's best work that concerns me as his worst. As for Jungnickel, those parrots of his are almost as wayward as my readers.

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  15. Well, life's no bed of roses,is it? Sorry if I sometimes get on your nerves, Charles! But let me assure you that I love your blog and that I have learned an awful lot form a true expert in the field!

    Klaus

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  16. Anyone ever came across her print of a group of reindeer or some sort of deer?

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    Replies
    1. Reindeer Herd or Rentierherde Norbertine von BresslernRoth Signed Linocut http://r.ebay.com/NhbywQ

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