Jugend, 1897

Continuing the series of posts about Jugend magazine, all these samples are from the issues for 1897. This is where things start getting really interesting graphically so I’m only posting a very small selection from 900 pages of content. As before, anyone interested is advised to examine the complete volumes which can be viewed and downloaded here and here.

Cupid drawings abound in early issues of Jugend, with men and women falling prey to love’s vicissitudes. This is one of the more unusual examples.

The German artist I’d earlier described as obscure—Carl Schmidt-Helmbrechts—is represented several times in these issues. This cover is his most striking work, with a figure that looks like a piece of 1950s beefcake art and a stunning lettering design that would be a challenge for many magazines today.

Another piece by Schmidt-Helmbrechts.

One of many stylish works by Joseph Rudolf Witzel who also created the advertising poster for Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration.

A fairy-tale piece by Gräfin Olga Kraszewska, one of the few women artists to be featured in the magazine.

Fidus with more of his cavorting naturists.

This is probably the most bizarre cover of the magazine’s entire run. I’ve already mentioned that mermaids and sirens were a recurrent theme but this cover for issue 33 is a spectacularly Freudian rendering. I wish I could credit the artist but the signature is obscured and there’s no credit given inside.

A remarkable piece of near-abstraction.

A piece by the great Secessionist artist, Max Klinger, dedicated to Symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin.

I guessed that artist Sascha Schneider might have contributed to Jugend, and sure enough, here’s one of his works. Typically homoerotic and it seems to be his sole contribution, unfortunately.

Jugend for 1898 will follow in due course.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Jugend, 1896
• Jugend Magazine revisited
• The Great God Pan
• Jugend Magazine
• Empusa
• The art of Sascha Schneider, 1870–1927