Can You Say "Appropriation" Without Smiling?

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Unknown Artist (circle of Ferdinand Liebermann)... Satyr riding a Ram... carved wood...ca. 1900-1910

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I was doing some creative browsing of German Auction Houses yesterday when I happened upon the above unsigned carved wooden figure which was listed as "circle of Hofmann." I think the Auction House may have mis-attributed the source. It doesn't take a genius to figure out where the idea of that satyr riding on a horned ram hails from. Some talented artist thought "Capricorn" by Ferdinand Liebermann was beautiful enough to do his own rendition in bronze with a little more well endowed, sexually provocative, and older male figure front and center. What a great example of artistic "appropriation."

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Rosenthal ceramic figure titled "Capricorn" by Ferdinand Liebermann (1883-1941)