Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration #1

dkd01-01.jpg

Last year saw an exploration here of the fecund pages of Jugend magazine so in the same spirit I’m embarking on a serial delve into Jugend‘s more serious contemporary Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration. I’ve made a couple of posts in this direction already but these were done before I’d had a chance to look properly through the editions at the Internet Archive, the first thirty of which form a collection which comprises some 7500 pages. Since few people would want to download and sort through that mountain these posts can serve as a select guide to the contents.

dkd01-02.jpg

Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration was published by Alexander Koch in Darmstadt and the first volume is dated October 1897–March 1898. Jugend was a humour magazine so the contents tend to be frivolous and lighthearted, Koch’s title by contrast was a guide to the best of German contemporary art and design and has the advantage of featuring furniture and architectural designs as well as graphic material. The content of this first edition is relatively sedate compared to some of the later numbers when the Art Nouveau style builds up a head of steam. There’s some astonishing design work in subsequent issues, as well as further illustration discoveries like Marcus Behmer. Watch this space.

dkd01-03.jpg

dkd01-04.jpg

dkd01-05.jpg

dkd01-06.jpg

Illustrations by JR Witzel also appeared regularly in Jugend.

dkd01-07.jpg

dkd01-08.jpg

dkd01-09.jpg

Designs by Melchior Lechter from a lengthy article about the artist. As well as examples of his stained glass work the piece shows some of his paintings which deal in a kind of mystical Christianity that’s distinctly Symbolist in tone.

dkd01-10.jpg

dkd01-11.jpg

dkd4.jpg

dkd5.jpg

dkd7.jpg

dkd8.jpg

Previously on { feuilleton }
The art of Marcus Behmer, 1879–1958
The art of Melchior Lechter, 1865–1937
Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration
Jugend Magazine revisited

3 thoughts on “Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration #1”

  1. I love it. Thank you very much! But now my thirst for beautiful and hidden art jewels won’t be quenched until I painfully see each and every book, lol. But that’s my kind of archeologist-like pleasure.

  2. estupendo el arte aleman,favorito mio es el Art nouveau
    felicitaciones por el bello blog

Comments are closed.

Discover more from { feuilleton }

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading