Retungen Ovidischer Opfer – Opus II - Portfolio of 15 Etchings By Max Klinger 1857-1920

Description
Signed in the plate (lower left)

Technique
Etching

Date Created
1922

Dimensions
62 x 43 cm

Provenance
The estate of Dan and Lotte Yerushalmi

Details
Published by Druck von O. Felsing/Berlin, 1922/ Amsler & Ruthardt

Condition
Some of the etchings have foxing

Biography
Max Klinger (1857-1920) German symbolist painter and sculptor. In 1874 he began his studies at the Grand Ducal Baden Art School in Karlsruhe, continuing from 1875 at the Royal Academy of Art in Berlin under Karl Gussow, completing his studies with the evaluation 'exceptional' and a silver medal. At that time Klinger's role model as an artist was Adolph Menzel. In 1878 Klinger exhibited at the 52nd Academy Exhibition in Berlin. The following year Klinger became a pupil of Emile Charles Wauters' in Brussels. In 1880 he painted the 'Eva und die Zukunft (Opus III) cycle. A year later Klinger opened a studio in Berlin, and became a member of the Berlin Artists' Association. In 1883 Klinger received his first large commission: to decorate the vestibule of Julius Albers' villa. That same year Klinger acquired a Paris studio and devoted himself to studying the work of Goya and Daumier in the Louvre. On his return to Berlin, Klinger met Arnold Böcklin in 1887. Numerous trips to Italy, Brussels, Paris, Greece, London and Munich shaped the years that followed. In 1893 Klinger returned to his native Leipzig. Klinger became a member of the Munich Academy. The Dresden Paintings Gallery was one of the first museums to buy one of his pictures ('Pietà') and he was appointed professor at the Royal Academy of the Graphic Arts in Leipyig and made a member of the newly founded Vienna Secession. The idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) informed Klinger's aesthetic preoccupation with literature, sculpture, painting, drawing and the graphic arts, as well as his interest in music. Max Klinger promoted the artistic dialogue of his day by founding the Villa Romana and the Association of Annual Leipzig Exhibitions. He was awarded numerous distinctions as being made a Knight of the Pour le mérite order, an honorary member of the Stockholm Academy, etc. His work, stylistically a blend of Jugendstil and Symbolism, for which Klinger is chiefly remembered today includes dreamlike cycles of prints and sculpture, was highly controversial during his lifetime.