Hardback, black and white images, 78 pages, W205 x H250mm
This hardback publication was produced to accompany the 2005 Ikon exhibition of Max Klinger’s work. It features a foreword by Ikon Director Jonathan Watkins and Hans-Werner Schmidt, Director of the Museum der bildenden Kunste, Leipzig as well as an essay by Barbara John, translated from German by Fiona Elliott. Exploring Klinger’s background and biography, this text gives an overview of the artist’s training in Berlin, his rise to fame, the technical side of his etchings, his sculpture and painting, and the growth of his reputation as the original genius of modern printmaking in Germany.
Born in 1857, Klinger finally achieved public acclaim through an exhibition at the Leipzig Museum in 1892 and since then has continued to be an influential figure, especially for subsequent modernist and postmodern expressionist and surrealist movements. For Klinger, printmaking, and specifically etching, was a major part of his artistic output. He insisted that this kind of work, drawn and monochrome, had the greatest potential for poetic invention. A selection of his woodcuts are reproduced here, including works from the Ein Handschuch (A Glove; Opus VI), Vier landschaften (Four Landscapes; Opus VII), Ein Leben (A Life; Opus VII) and Dramen (Dramas; Opus IX) series.