Anton Endstorfer (1880-1961) Bronze Sculpture - Amor - Nude Boy With Bow - Early 20th Century

The Artist (Above)

I have had my collecting eye on this little bronze for over a month now. I did some cursory research on the artist and the asking price was within recent auction sales prices and tonight I decided it was time to buy the little guy. The title of the sculpture is “Amor” and dates from the early 20th century. Here is some biographical information: The Austrian sculptor and medalist Anton Endstorfer learned his art in various master classes in Wien (Vienna), where he worked until 1913. During this time, he exhibited his own works for the first time. From 1915 he was a member of the Künstlerhaus. As a freelance artist he created several monuments and public wells in Vienna, Moslar and Ybbs. During World War II he was subject to a professional ban because of his Jewish wife initiated by his colleague Wilhelm Frass, who was a Nazi sympathizer. Endstorfer was only allowed to work as an unskilled laborer in Edwin Grienquer’s workshop. After World War II, Endstorfer worked as a freelancer again but was appointed a professor in 1949. In the late 1950s, he had to give up his job because of an eye problem. The Female ball thrower is a 43 cm high bronze. The “Female relay runner” was shown in 1929 in the annual exhibition of the Künstlerhaus and was awarded a cash prize.

Here are a few more examples of his works:

Johann Friedrich Bolt - (1769-1836) . Engraving Standing Male Nude - Late 18th Century

I was researching the works of Gaston Goor tonight when I ran across this beautiful engraving of a standing male nude. It is by the German artist Johann Friedrich Bolt (1769-1836). Johann Friedrich Bolt was a German artist and etcher / engraver who studied and worked with the artist Daniel Berger and was close to Johann Gottfried Schadow. He was known for his classical themes, reproductions of the works of the old masters and for portraits often executed as stipple engravings or mezzotints. I thought I would share it with you.

Italian School - Early 20th Century - signed "Raul G..." - Winged Cupid - Eros - Circa 1900

I was getting ready to close the deal on the Italian drawing listed below when I spotted this little cutie on sale by the same Rome Gallery. My one and only grandson just celebrated his first birthday last month (three beautiful sisters to keep him on the straight and narrow... nothing like a pack of older sisters to beat up a bully) and this drawing just made me smile and reminded me of him. I sent a low ball offer for the drawing and now it is on it's way with the other drawing. It is partially signed by an unknown artst "Raul G......" and dates from the early 20th century, circa 1900 according to the Gallery. In Roman mythology, Cupid, the god of desire, is most often depicted with a bow and arrow (He's carrying a beautiful bow), not a ball, so the figure standing with his foot on a ball is somewhat mysterious. While the myth of Cupid and Psyche involves Cupid accidentally scratching himself with his own arrow, there's no mention of him playing with or using a ball in his stories. His primary tools are his arrows, which can inspire love or aversion depending on their tip (gold or lead)(In regards to my ex-wife, cupid definitly hit me with a lead tipped arrow). Enjoy!

Italian School - Late 19th - Early 20th Century - Seated Male Nude

Today I was doing my usual rounds looking for that elusive academic drawing gem when I spotted this unsigned but truly magnificant drawing of a seated male nude. Unfortunately the work is unsigned but comes from an Italian Gallery in Rome! Fingers crossed I can this beauty past Italian customs and into my collection. My luck when buying from Italian sellers has been a real hit or miss proposition. (More miss than hit). What captivated my eye (what's left of them) was the detail in hatching and cross-hatching to bring life to that figure. My attention deficient disorder would have kicked in ten minutes after applying the first application of that detail hatching and I would have been headed for a padded cell somewhere. My "fun money" for the month was exhausted so I had to set out in the torrential rain today and trade in a tenth ounce of gold to buy it. I have enlarged some of the illustrations so that you can see the fantastic skills of this very talented classically trained artist. Enjoy.

Sigmund Lipinsky (1873 - 1940) - Meeresstille - Calm Sea - Symbolismus Frauenakt - Symbolist Female Nudes

Tonight I paid a visit to my favorite Berlin Art Gallery and spotted this posthumas print by Sigmund Lipinsky (1873-1940).The composition and skills of the artist printmaker just captured my artistic eye. (What's left of it, that is). The asking price cleaned out the remainder of my fun money for the month but the print was affordable so I made the purchase.It should be in my collection in a few weeks.

Here is some biographical information gleaned from the internet: As a master student of the history painter Anton von Werner, Sigmund Lipinsky was one of the most promising young talents at the Berlin Academy around 1900. Thanks to a scholarship, he moved to Rome in 1902, where he found ideal conditions for perfecting his talent and studying antiquity. An early highlight of his painterly œuvre is the monumental painting Circe, which remained in the possession of his descendantsuntil recently. The sorceress Circe, who turned men into animals in order to subjugate them, is one of the most famous female figures in Greek mythology. In the 10th canto of the Odyssey, the poet Homer describes her encounter with the Trojan hero Odysseus and his companions. In search of their homeland, they reach the shores of the island of Aiaia, where Circe lives. There, the beautiful daughter of the sun god Helios works at a sacred loom and waits for unsuspecting victims. Odysseus' men, who are supposed to explore the island, also succumb to her cunning and are turned into pigs by a potion. When Odysseus sets out to free his comrades, Hermes, the messenger of the gods, provides him with a magic herb that immunises him against Circe's witchcraft. After the potion he is given has no effect, the sorceress recognises the fulfilment of a prophecy in his arrival. Shortly afterwards, she reverses the transformation of Odysseus' followers and enters into a love affair with the Trojan hero. Odysseus and his men stay on the island as Circe's guests and only leave a year later to continue their journey. Like few other female figures from ancient mythology, Circe inspired the artists of the fin de siècle. In most cases, she served as a projection screen for the idea of the woman as femme fatale, whose erotic effect also promised disaster. Paintings by famous painters such as John William Waterhouse and Franz von Stuck prove that this idea was often more important than the myth itself around 1900. In them, Odysseus appears only as a marginal figure or not at all. Franz von Stuck: Tilla Durieux as Circe, 1912. As is often the case in fin-de-siècle art, eroticism and danger merge into an indissoluble unity in Lipinsky's Circe. In terms of both content and form, it follows in the tradition of monumental paintings by other German painters who worked in Rome towards the end of the 19th century or found inspiration for their work there. These include The Judgement of Paris (1887) by Max Klinger as well as Ulysses and the Sirens (1902) by Otto Greiner, with whom Lipinsky was on friendly terms. Ludwig von Hofmann should also be mentioned, whose endeavour to connect all the essential pictorial elements with one another through a coherent rhythm is echoed in the composition ofCirce. It is easy to imagine that Lipinsky devoted a great deal of time and energy to the composition and realisation of Circe. The choice of the representative format and the elaborate framing give an idea of the demands the scholarship holder placed on himself in order to fulfil the expectations of the Berlin Academy. In this context, a photograph taken in 1904 showing the young artist sitting on a stool in his Roman studio in the Villa Strohl- Fern in front of the already largely completed Circe is illuminating. Although he is turning towards the viewer, it seems as if he only wants to pause for a moment to immediately get back to work. Did Lipinsky already realise at this point that his future path would lie less in the field of painting and more in drawing and printmaking? Be that as it may, parts of the painting that were not completed down to the last detail and the note "unfinished" in the lower right-hand half of the picture bear witness to the artist's tenacious struggle for the greatest possible perfection. Lipinsky was not to abandon this ambition until the end of his life. And here are just a few examples of his other works: