Alfred COSSMANN (Graz 1870-1951 Vienna) Book Plate - Standing Male Nude

My favorite Art Gallery in Berlin, Germany listed this beauty of a print recently and I snapped it up! The amount of detail and conservation of line locked into that small intaglio print of a male nude just boggles the mind. The artist should be nominated for Sainthood! If you are into how "lines" and their variation define an image then this is your nirvana! Just let your creative eye surf over those defined forms and then make a wish on how you can improve your cretive work. Look at how the artist has defined the musculature of the upper shoulder and scapulur. Lines start from an area of empty lightness, suddenly define a shadow then dip into an hillside of lightness and then elevate over that hill into an area of darker shadow of perpendicular crosshatching underlying the area of shading. Take a look at the opposite shoulder and notice how the artist has delicatly varied the depth and width of the line! The artist had complete command of his media. The image itself measure a meager 2 and 1/4 inches by 4 and 1/8th inches (6cm by 10.3cm). Alfred Cossmann was born in Graz, but spent most of his life in Vienna, where he studied ceramics, painting and graphics at the Vienna School of Applied Arts from 1886 to 1895. Since his studies he has been a member of the Vienna Academic Gymnastics Club. He turned to pure copper engraving, which had become unfashionable at the time, and continued his education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna until 1899. He belonged to the “Vienna School of Engraving”. Cossmann's works received attention and recognition among graphic artists and art lovers around the world.