Julius Vogel's 1925 " Kunstler Monographien: Otto Greiner" - Book Illustrations

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The 1925 Artist Monograph by Julius Vogel on Otto Greiner arrived from Germany last week. I have scanned many of the illustrations of academic studies for you (below). What amazes me most about Greiner was his ability to inject such movement in basically a static nude pose. Every ripple of muscle and sinew was captured to perfection. He made it look like childsplay and you and I both know that that kind of skill and talent only comes around once in a lifetime. The book is written in that old style German script and for me is a bear to read so I just copied the description of each study along with the illustration. Enjoy.

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Unknown French School: Standing Male Nude - Circa 1865

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A seller on eBay France has posted this nice academic study of a Male Nude which dates from the mid-19th century. Unfortunately it is not signed and the artist (accomplished, obviously) is unknown. I would wager he was a student at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. I have a similar painting with that same curving background in my collection.

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Julius Obst (1878-1939): Nude Male Youth Playing The Flute - Bronze

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I keep running across these beautifully lyrical works in the auction house archives. This time it is a bronze study of a nude male youth playing the flute by the German artist Julius Obst (1878-1939).  It seems the artist has perfectly captured that time between boyhood and manhood, before the passage of time changes his body forever, with that carefree stance, the youthful musculature, the idea of youthful days spent just doing nothing but standing around playing the flute (stupid video games these days).  I hate it when I find a work like this and then dig and dig and dig and come up empty handed on biographical information on the artist. It seems, based upon the other works I found, that Obst latched onto a motif he liked (flute playing) and let his creative genius fly with it. I have included several examples of his other works below.

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Julies Obst (1878 - 1939): Nude Male Youth Playing the Flute - 1908

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Here are a few examples of his other works:

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Hermann Lismann (1878-1943): Badende Knaben (Nude Boys Bathing) circa 1920

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Here is another beautiful gem of a painting I found in a European auction house archive. The title is "Badende Knaben." Hermann Lismann (1878-1943) was a lecturer in the art of painting and Art Philosophy at the University of Frankfurt. Because of his being a Jew, he was banned from teaching by the Nazi's in 1934 and fled to France. He studied in Rome and Paris in 1904 and belonged to a group of artists who met regularly at the Cafe du Dome in Paris. His post-impressionist works at the Staedelsches Museum in Frankfurt and at the Museum Wuppertal were confiscated and ultimately disappeared. In 1943 he was arrested by French authorities and deported to the Concentration Camp Majdanck where he died in 1943. A memorial by the Frankfurt Kunstuerein was held in 1959 and surprisingly, some 132 examples of his works went on exhibition. What a waste of a beautifully talented human being because of some twisted Progressive-National Socialist tyranny.

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Title: Badende Knaben (Nude Boys Bathing)

Artist: Hermann Lismann (1878-1943)

Materials: Oils on Canvas

Dated: circa 1920

Unknown Artist - Berlin Secessionist: Female Nudes - circa 1900

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I found this beautiful work in an auction house archive today. I have quite a few more auction archive finds so I thought I would post this one separately so that it did not get lost in the rush of new posts. The description indicated it was "illegibly signed" but described it as "Berlin Secessionist" in origin from around 1900. Unique and beautiful.

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