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In 1937, 1,052 of his works were removed from German museums by the Nazis, more than by any other artist. 29 choice canvases were selected for the infamous exhibition of Degenerate Art; and no doubt many others were destroyed. In 1941 he was expelled from the Reichskunstkammer, the German Artists� Association, and forbidden not just to exhibit or sell his work, but even to paint. However he continued creating art in secret, stockpiling hundreds of little watercolours, his �Unpainted Pictures�, which sing with vibrant colour.          So he must be a hero, right?          If only it weren�t for the inconvenient fact that this persecuted artist was also a keen, fully paid-up member of the Nazi party. He only joined the party in 1934, after Hitler had been elected Chancellor, and it may have been that this was a pragmatic, opportunistic move. Or perhaps he was seduced by Nazi dreams of a renewal of pure German folk culture. Or maybe he was an out-and-out fascist, who had supported the N

One of the great stories about the redemptive power of art can be found in Vasari�s life of Filippo Lippi. Vasari tells how Lippi was captured by Barbary pirates while out sailing off Ancona, and held as a slave in Algeria for 18 months. At his lowest ebb, Filippo Lippi plucked a charred stick from the ashes of a fire, and drew a portrait of his master on the wall�thus earning his freedom through his art.          There doesn�t seem to be any historical basis for this tale, but of course the truth of a story does not lie in factual accuracy. This episode was bound to appeal to artists themselves, and in 1819 Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret exhibited a painting based on it in the Salon de Paris. The story haunted Bergeret�s imagination, and nearly 20 years later he made an etching of the same subject, titled in the plate Philippo Lippi Esclave � Alger fait le portrait de son Ma�tre qui en r�compense lui donna sa libert�. There is also a pen-and-ink drawing of the scene in the Peabody Collectio

This wonderful scene of a self-absorbed tennis player trailed by three adoring acolytes is one of 19 etchings made between 1894 and 1896 by Eugen Kirchner,  a remarkable artist who has had the misfortune of being overshadowed by a younger man with a similar name, the Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Die Tennisspieler is usually dated to 1896, but it was probably made the previous year, as the 1895 etching Dame mit Spazierstock (also known as Dame im Zimmer), incorporates the tennis player composition, showing it as a painted panel above a door. Eugen Kirchner, Die Tennisspieler (The Tennis Player) Etching with aquatint, 1894-1896 Eugen Kirchner was born in Halle in 1865. A founder member of the Vienna Secession, Eugen Kirchner also exhibited with the Berlin Secession, and contributed to both Pan and Die Graphischen Kunste. He had a major exhibition of drawings, watercolours and etchings in Dresden in 1904. As an etcher, he is particularly noted for his mastery of aquatint, as in Di

The Art Nouveau painter and printmaker Adolf Zdrazila (sometimes spelled Zdrasila) was born in 1868 in Poruba, in what is now the Moravian-Silesian district of the Czech Republic, but was then part of Austria-Hungary. Zdrazila was ethnically Hungarian but culturally Austrian. Zdrazila's father was a tailor who used to go to Italy for work, and it was seeing the art treasures of Italy that awoke a love of art in the young Adolf. Adolf Zdrazila studied at the fine art academies of Vienna (under Lichtenfels) and Karlsruhe (under Leopold von Kalckreuth, Kallmorgen, and Sch�nleber). After that he spent some time in Paris, Brussels and Holland, before returning to Silesia. Here he benefited from the patronage of his friend Edmund Wilhelm Braun, director of the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Troppau, who commissioned various decorative schemes. Zdrazila exhibited at the Troppauer Museum in 1897 and in 1902, in which year he also showed at the Salon Pisko in Vienna. Zdrazila's first pri

A big thank you to Will at art and weird literature blog A Journey Round My Skull for his kind post about Adventures in the Print Trade, which has resulted in a huge increase in readers. Yesterday 753 people visited this blog, as opposed to 320 a week ago. So welcome to all my readers, new and old. I appreciate your comments, additions, and corrections. Albert Haueisen (German, 1872-1954) Kirchgang  Woodcut, 1904 I began blogging in October 2007, as a means�as it says on the masthead�of sharing my excitement and discoveries in the world of prints. Unless otherwise stated, all the images I post are from original prints that are physically in my possession�the fruits of an obsessive collecting instinct that has led me to become a part-time print dealer, over at my website Idbury Prints . Joan Galle (Flemish, 1600-1676) after Marten de Vos (Flemish, 1532-1603) Has ducunt choreas... Engraving, re-strike 1869 Despite its title (a nod to Dylan Thomas�s Adventures in the Skin Trade ), this b

The Dutch graphic artist Wijnand Otto Jan van Nieuwenkamp was born in Amsterdam in 1874. He is celebrated particularly for his scenes in Java, Bali, and Lombok, which show a subtle sensitivity to Indonesian culture.  Wijnand van Nieuwenkamp, Arabische Viertel in Semarang auf Java Etching, pre-1915 Having first travelled to Indonesia in 1898, W.O.J. van Nieuwenkamp made repeated visits to the area, including long trips to Bali in 1904, 1906-7, 1917-19, 1935 and 1937. Travelling on foot, on horseback, and by bike, Wijnand van Nieuwenkamp made an important record of Balinese art in drawings and prints, and books such as Bali en Lombok (1906-1910); he also gathered together a huge collection of Indonesian art and artefacts.  Wijnand van Nieuwenkamp, Rhenen Woodcut, 1911 Van Nieuwenkamp also depicted European landscapes, as in these three woodcuts of Rhenen in the Netherlands, Le Puy-en-Velay in southern France, and Mechelen in Belgium (Mecheln is the German spelling). In these Europea

The author of the two colour woodcuts in this post was Carl Theodor Thiemann (1881-1966). Thiemann produced paintings, etchings, and lithographs as well as woodcuts, but it is almost entirely as a woodcut artist that he is remembered. My two are typical in the way they luxuriate in the idea of light and form reflected off water. Carl Thiemann, Schwan Woodcut, 1908 Carl Thiemann, Bach im Winter Woodcut, 1915 Carl Thiemann (sometimes known as Karl Thiemann) was born in Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad), in Western Bohemia. He studied at the Prague Academy, and also under Franz Thiele. He died in Deutenhofen in Bavaria.

These high wire performers walking a tightrope across a Bavarian town square are perhaps emblematic of the risky lot of all artists. The public is enjoying the show in complete indifference to the man plunging from the rope on the right, or the two corpses being carried away by undertakers in top hat and tails at the bottom left... and yet still the artists doggedly climb the ladder to try their luck.  Adolf Schinnerer, Die K�nstler Etching, 1927 The etching, printed on Japan paper by Heinrich Wetteroth, Munich, and hand-signed by the artist, comes from the edition of 250 published in Jahresmappe der Freunde Graphischer K�nst, Nuremberg 1927. Adolf Ferdinand Schinnerer was born in 1876 in Schwarzenbach. Schinnerer studied at the Karlsruhe Academy under Ludwig Schmid-Reutte, Walter Conz, and Wilhelm Tr�bner; he won the Prix de Rome in 1909. In 1929 Adolf Schinnerer was one of those selected for inclusion in a prestigious exhibition of German painter-etchers at the Biblioth�que Nationale

The bookplate or ex libris has put bread and butter on many an artist�s table, and over the course of time has developed into a flourishing art form all of its own. I don�t pretend to know very much about the history and development of ex libris, but seem to have acquired some anyway. I think this little group of Austrian, Czech and German bookplates of the Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) period are particularly charming. They come from the Vienna art revue Die Graphischen K�nste , from the years 1911, 1912, and 1914. Maximilian Liebenwein (Austrian, 1869-1926) Ex libris Josef Kundrat Lithograph, 1910 Maximilian Liebenwein Ex libris Karl Stark Lithograph, 1910 Maximilian Liebenwein Ex libris der Verbindung von Wiener Kunstakademikern �Athenaia� Lithograph, 1910 Alfred Cossmann (Austrian, 1870-1951) Ex libris Arthur Graf Etching, c.1912 Alfred Cossman Ex libris Franz J. Kaiser Etching. c.1912 Alois Kolb (Austrian, 1875-1942) Ex libris Gertrud Kolb Etching, c.1914 Rudolf Junk (Austrian, 188

As demonstrated in my last two posts, most Czech artists before WWI went on to further studies in Germany or Austria. Therefore the influence of teachers such as Doris Raab (Munich), William Unger (Vienna), Peter Halm (Munich) and Alois Kolb (Leipzig), is strongly felt in their work. Czech interest in the graphic arts was reaching a peak in the years before WWI. If none of the selection of Czech artists who follow achieved the international renown of their compatriots Alfons Mucha (1860-1939) and Franti�ek Kupka (1871-1957), their work is nonetheless full of interest. Hermine Laukota, Der Mikroskopiker Etching, 1892 Hermine Laukota, Interior of a Synagogue Etching, 1906 Hermine Laukota, Kinderk�pfchen Etching, 1907 The only woman among them, Hermine Laukota (1853-1931), was born in Prague. Hermine Laukota studied etching under Doris Raab and William Unger. Her early career went well, and she exhibited in Vienna in 1889 and in Berlin in 1891. After her return to Prague, her story beco