Portrait of Theodor Herzl – Etching by Hermann Struck – Signed by Herzl

Portrait of Theodor Herzl – Etching by Hermann Struck – Signed by Herzl
Profile portrait of Theodor (Binyamin Ze'ev) Herzl: soft-ground etching (vernis mou) by Hermann Struck, 1903. S igned and dated in the plate, and signed in pencil by both Struck and Herzl.
This portrait ("Bildnis Theodor Herzl" – "Portrait of Theodor Herzl"), was created following a meeting between Hermann Struck and Theodor Herzl in May 1903. Struck – an ardent Zionist from a young age – returned to Europe after travelling Palestine, whereupon he met with Herzl at his home in Vienna. In the course of the meeting, Struck sketched a series of drawings of Herzl, and later used these drawings to create the portrait. Struck met Herzl again a few months later at the Sixth Zionist Congress (August 1903), at which time Herzl asked Struck to lend him a number of the early copies of the etching so that he could sign them.
The noted art historian Karl Schwarz, the first director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, related as follows to the image of Herzl as it appears in the present etching: "Evidently, the artist aspired to create an idealized image of one of the prophets of Israel, and in this endeavor he succeeded fully. Theodor Herzl lives in the hearts of us all in that portrait rendered by Struck the artist; this was the picture of Herzl par excellence – the visionary utterly absorbed in his life's mission, with his eyes gazing toward the future" ("Hermann Struck, The Man and the Artist, " pp. 30-31, Hebrew).
Following Herzl's passing, Struck made use of the drawings he had made to create two additional etchings depicting Herzl, but the present portrait is widely regarded as the finest and most noteworthy: " Within a brief period, this etching had become so well known that it came to be viewed as something akin to a symbol of Zionism, especially after the charismatic leader's death in 1904. At that time, it won the hearts of all the Zionist circles. Up until the establishment of the State of Israel, this portrait of Theodor Herzl would serve as a virtual embodiment of all of Zionism. It became a permanent fixture, adorning every Zionist event at every venue" ("Hermann Struck, Master Printmaker, " p. 38, Hebrew).
Etching: 35X45 cm (sheet: approx. 45X56 cm). Good condition. Browning to paper. Few stains. Minor blemishes. Numbered in pencil in bottom right corner. Mounted on cardboard, matted and framed.
References:
• "Hermann Struck, Master Printmaker, " exhibition catalogue, The Open Museum, Tefen Industrial Park, 2007. Hebrew. pp. 38 and 83.
• Yitzhak Mann, ed., "Hermann Struck, The Man and the Artist." Dvir, Tel Aviv, 1954. Hebrew. pp. 30-31.