Current eBay Auction Listings for 19th Century Academic Nudes

__________ Daniel, a friend of this blog, has listed a variety of 19th century Academic Nude works at auction on eBay from his personal collection.The works include: Oil studies by the Danish Artists Constantin Hansen (1804-1880), Christofer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783-1853), charcoal drawings by French Artist Auguste Bouche (1831-1889), and a very nice drawing of a female nude by Pierre Emile Auguste Veyssier (1794-1880), plus several more notable works on paper. Daniel lists under the seller name kdr-lipshizt on eBay. Daniel is very knowledgeable about the works and the artists and I am sure he will be happy to entertain any questions you may have. Please visit his listings and take a look at the works he has on offer, which includes biographical information on the artists. ___Addendum: August 2024. The small oils study of the sitting nude boy is now in my collection after Daniel made me an offer I could not turn down. Thanks to you Daniel! Here are his listings on the eBay site: ________________________________________

_____________________________________

____________________________________

Max Pietschmann (1865-1952) The Bather - Female Nude - Mezzotint - 1898

The Artiist in his studio. __________________________________________________________________________ I was floundering around on eBay Germany last week when I found a very nicely executed mezzotint of a female nude by the German artist Max Pietschmann *1865-1952), a German symbolist painter, and I thought I would share the print with you. Below is some biographical information on the artist:_________________________________________________________________________ Max Pietschmann studied at the Dresden Art Academy from 1883 to 1889. His teachers included Leon Pohle and Ferdinand Pauwels. Pietschmann belonged to the painters' colony in Goppeln near Dresden, which specialized in outdoor painting. He spent two years with Hans Unger in Italy, after which he continued his studies at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he mainly focused on life drawing. He received an award at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. He then settled back in Dresden, where he joined the first Dresden secession movement around the turn of the century, the Association of Dresden Visual Artists. Pietschmann, who stood in the tradition of artists such as Max Klinger and Arnold Böcklin and had a similar repertoire, apparently did not follow the artistic currents that emerged around the time of the First World War. With Oskar Zwintscher, Richard Müller, Hans Unger, and Sascha Schneider, Pietschmann formed a "phalanx of the strong, which at the turn of the century meant Dresden's art." Under the pseudonym "Fr. (Francois) Laubnitz” he painted pictures that were very popular as mural prints in the first half of the 20th century. Pietschmann died in 1952 in the Niederpoyritz district of Dresden and was buried in the Hosterwitz cemetery. Large parts of Pietschmann's artistic and written estate are in the archive of the Dresden State Art Collections. (Source: Wikipedia)

_______________________________________________________________________________ And here are more examples of his works:

Unknown French Artist, Late 19th Century French School - Ganymede - Standing Nude Ephebe - Mixed Media Drawing On Paper

And we are off to the races once more thanks to a heating pad, an ice pack, and five days of a muscle relaxer which made me somewhat goofier and sleepier than usual. Lower back pain at my age is more fun than vomiting! I was doing my usual rounds on eBay France several weeks ago when I spotted this mixed media “Orientalist style” drawing of a standing nude ephebe being listed by an antiques dealer in Bretagne, France. The asking price was affordable but the dealer was a snooty French snob who thought sticking it to an American on shipping charges was more fun than baking French bread in a wood fired oven from wood stolen from the American neighbor next door! UGH! The drawing had such eye appeal to me that I swallowed my pride and executed the buy, hopefully to never, never, ever have to deal with that prick anytime in the future. Unfortunately, there is no signature and no indication as to who created the work. It appears to my eye to be a watercolor with color pastel or chalk highlights on a page from an artist’s sketchbook. If you look closely at the detail photos you will see a beautiful underdrawing in pencil. My guess for the subject matter, considering the 19th century origin, is “Ganymede- Cup bearer of the gods!” Knowing the true story of that kid it should be retitled: Gannymede, bed warmer of the gods." The context of a nude male youth holding a gold cup fits the narrative, so we’ll just go with that. I pulled up some depictions from Ancient Greek vases and they seem to fit the narrative well. Later famous, or infamous, depictions of the youth in the clutches of Zeus are also included. Enjoy

And here are a few images from Art History (Perhaps they should rename the lad.... The Bedwarmer of Zeus... dirty old man):

If It Wasn’t For Bad Luck Lately I wouldn’t Have Any Luck At All As The Song Goes!

Boy has it been an exciting last few months, both financially and in my physical health. In the last few weeks I have met the floor without any grace at all on two separate occasions and screwed up my back royally! Bruised and battered, I am back up and ready to go! Getting old is so much fun, you should all try it some time! Old age is a blast! Since Christmas I have had to replace my well (Yes, they charge by the foot ...... $4.00 a foot for the pipe that goes down several hundred feet) and then add on the cost of the submersible pump, labor, and just for fun drive you insane charges), buy a new 15 KW whole house generator (You don’t live in Florida with those big you-know-what storms you should never speak their names because if you do they will get you), when they take out the power for weeks. On a regular day, a squirrel can fart too close to the power lines around here and the power goes out), and replace a faulty air conditioning system (North Florida can get down right uncomfortable in the summer but I love every miserable day, with cool air indoors of course). If you don’t think that would break anyone’s financial piggy bank, then please try it and see what labor and new systems cost these days. The A/C installer commended me on getting the unit early because in a few weeks they would be busier than two one armed wall paper hangers, you would have to wait weeks, and the price of the unit would probable double! Anyway, I have managed to add a few additions to my collection of Academic works. I am hopeful that large amounts of Tylenol and a heat pad will keep me upright long enough to catch you up on the latest! Prices in Europe, especially the shipping charges, have continued to be sky high and real bargains in accomplished 19th century academic artworks have been few and far between, although I have managed to pull off a few fortuitous buys before completely running out of fun money. Like a blind pig (me), one will occasionally run across a nice fat acorn! I would like to mention a few things before we get started. If you have questions, require research or clarification on a listing, disagree with some of my pontifications, please feel free to message me. I have a giving spirit and would be happy to help out (Just don’t get me started on religion or politics). I have found a neat business on line called “Posterburner.com” which will make any size of poster of your favorite image at decent rates. Their service is affordable and shipping is fast and safe. Their product is amazing. Try them out. I think you will be pleased (No they are not a sponsor). They produced a small poster of my favorite very astronomically priced Sally Mann photographic image: “The last time Emmett Modeled Nude, 1987” for me. Having hand raised two sons and nearly losing the youngest to bone cancer (He just got his promotion to Major in the US Army and graduated from the US Army Command and General Staff College) that poignant image just brings tears to my eyes knowing that Emmett later took his own life in early adulthood. No parent should have to live through that kind of loss. It's no wonder Sally Mann's later work becomes dark and forboding. That image reminds me just how fortunate I am to have been blessed with two wonderful sons and that we have made it safely through some very grave times! The line up of finds will include a very rare image of a pre-adolescent nude female academic drawing which has been like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack for literally years and years! Academic drawings of pre-teen and teen males are scarce but readily available if you look hard enough. Female nudes are few and very far between. I bought that drawing from an Art Gallery in Berlin, Germany along with a pre-teen male Nude. The seller had mistakenly thought they were both male nudes but that one drawing was definitely a diamond in the rough, female nude. Before bad luck descended, I managed to buy several additional German intaglio prints of nudes, a small oils on board study of a female nude by German-American Artist Karl von Marr (1858-1936). Probably a study for one of his famous “nude women on the rocks!” A theme which he was noted for. I found a nude “photo-realism” study of a nude boy by the contemporary German Artist Josta Stapper (1941- ?), it has some minor condition problems and is scheduled to go to Baumgartner Restoration Specialists for restoration work, several bronzes, a nice “swimming hole” watercolor, and just yesterday, a very fine 19th century Orientalist standing nude boy drawing in pastels. So stay tuned and as I am able, I will publish the entire line up of works in the coming weeks. Stay safe and my very best wishes to all of you who share my love of the Academic Nude!

The Florence Classical Arts Academy - Florence, Italy

I am always on the look out for Art Schools that teach Classical methods of training artists. I was browsing around the net when I came upon The Florence Classical Arts Academy in Italy. They offer a variety of classical training, summer courses, and I think even an online course. You can find them at https://www.artac.org/ . Dissatisfied with your current University training, then take a look at what they have to offer the aspiring artist! Here are a few screen caps of their website and a few examples of student works.

Book Review: “Naked - The Nude in America" by Bram Dijkstra -Rizzoli Press, New York (2010)

It’s been quite a while since I have done a book review so I thought I would do a review of one of my most recent acquisitions. Several months ago I bought a copy of the quintessential tome on the nude in art by Sir Kenneth Clark titled: “The Nude: A Study In The Ideal Form” for ten dollars on eBay. His series of lectures on the subject covered just about all the European sources of the nude in art but was somewhat short on the nude in art in North America. I began to wonder about what volumes are out there which cover the missing parts of Clark’s lectures on the nude in art. Now, in this age of internet accessibility of tons of information on line about art and artists, I began to think about what might be out there in print on the subject of my interest in the 19th century European and American Academy of Arts and the Academic nude. It appears that interest in the printed word in real, hold in you hands, love the feel in your hand of ten pounds of paper, books has been somewhat eclipsed by weightless images on a computer screen. You would be surprised by the number of out of print books on the subject of 19th century art listed on eBay these days which can be had for just a few bucks. In my search for reference materials I happened upon this volume for a measly thirty-eight dollars which sold at publication for seventy five dollars. When the book arrived I was in awe! As I thumbed through the 476 pages of color illustrations I was captivated by the detail of what America has contributed to the subject of the nude in art from the 18th century to the date of the publication of this volume. Here is a scan of the critique of the volume from the jacket cover:

The volume is lavishly illustrated with large color images and is well worth the paultry few dollars you have to pay for it on eBay. I highly recommend you add it to your library of art books. Here is a sampling of just a few of the illutrations: (Below) (1) Benjamin West - Male Nude Sitting on a Rock - Watercolor - 1783

(2) BENJAMIN WEST: THE DEATH OF HYACINTHUS 1771 (Below)

(3). EDWARD VYSEKAL - NUDE 1930 - Watercolor (Below)

(4)HENRY OLIVER WALKER - NARCISSUS 1890’S (Below)

(5).ROBERT LEWIS REID - The Bathers 1894 (Below)

(6).ROBERT LEWIS REID - THE BATHER 1894 (Below)

(7) .ROBERT LEWIS REID - FEMALE NUDE

(8) WILLARD LEROY METCALF - THE BATHING POOL 1886 (Below - Partial scan)

Complete Image: (Below)