Jugend – Page 6 – { feuilleton }

Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration #8

Continuing the delve into back numbers of Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, the German periodical of art and decoration. Volume 8 covers the period from April–September 1901 and continues to use the ornamental capitals by Karl Lürtzing featured in the previous volume. In this edition the emphasis is predominately upon the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony, a remarkable venture in which many of the artists involved designed and decorated their own houses, the intention being to create living examples of the Jugendstil, or German Art Nouveau, style. This is explored in greater detail in the next volume but for now I’ve chosen a selection of work by Darmstadt artist Paul Bürck. As usual, anyone wishing to see these samples in greater detail, or the rest of the edition, is advised to download the entire volume at the Internet Archive. There’ll be more DK&D next week.

These peacock border designs are uncredited but they show how flexible the ubiquitous fin de siècle bird could be. The last page gives us something unique: an ape in peacock finery.

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Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration #7

Continuing the delve into back numbers of Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, the German periodical of art and decoration. Volume 7 covers the period from October 1900 to March 1901 and features a set of ornamental capitals throughout this edition designed by Karl Lürtzing, part of a presentation of typefaces in the Art Nouveau style. The figures in Lürtzing’s alphabet all seem to be Biblical or mythological (as with David and Eve above) although some are easier to decipher than others. Volume 6 paid a visit to the Exposition Universelle in Paris and there’s a few more examples from that event here, along with further examinations of the best in German art and design. As usual, anyone wishing to see these samples in greater detail is advised to download the entire volume (which comprises over 300 pages) at the Internet Archive. There’ll be more DK&D next week.

Remarkable interiors by Richard Riemerschmid.

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Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration #6

Continuing the delve into back numbers of Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, the German periodical of art and decoration. Volume 6 covers the period from April to September 1900, and the content is still Art Nouveau all the way, with a dash of Symbolism. Among the contributors in this edition there’s Otto Eckmann and more work from Hans Christiansen, both frequent contributors to Jugend magazine There are further examples of stylish Art Nouveau interiors, and of considerable interest to this Exposition Universelle obsessive, a look at the Paris exposition of 1900 from the German side of things. As before, anyone wishing to see these samples in greater detail is advised to download the entire volume at the Internet Archive. There’ll be more DK&D next week.

The ubiquitous peacocks were never far away in 1900.

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Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration #5

Continuing the delve into back numbers of Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, the German periodical of art and decoration. Volume 5 covers the period from October 1899 to March 1900, and the Art Nouveau style is in full flower at this point, as it was across most of Europe. This is also the place at which the journal becomes so laden with impressive design work that it’s impossible to easily do justice to over 300 pages of contents. Anyone wanting to see more is encouraged to download the whole thing as either page scans or a PDF. As before I’ve tended to concentrate on the graphic material but this issue also features more lavish interior designs, a range of jewellery, and ponderous monumental architecture including proposals for some of Germany’s many Bismarck Towers. Examples follow below. There’ll be more DK&D next week when we take a trip to the Exposition Universelle in Paris.

Sascha Schneider was Karl May’s favourite illustrator and one of the few openly gay artists in Germany at the time. He’s represented here with a small feature on his paintings among which there’s this depiction of a team of strapping oarsmen.

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Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration #4

Continuing the delve into back numbers of Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, the German periodical of art and decoration. There isn’t a volume 3 in the Internet Archive collection, hence the jump in the series to volume 4 which covers the period from April–September 1899. This edition features a few more familiar names beginning with artist and illustrator Heinrich Vogeler whose illustrated edition of Oscar Wilde stories was featured here last year. Vogeler’s work isn’t always to my taste although I liked his Wilde drawings; the Tod und Alte piece above is an exception to his usual work of this period rather than the rule. Elsewhere there’s a feature on the graphic designs of Paul Bürck, a profile of Dutch Symbolist Jan Toorop and a report on the Dresden art exhibition of 1899 which includes an array of beautiful Art Nouveau interiors. As with all such idealised exhibition displays, they point the way to a future that was never to be.

More DK&D next week.

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