Author Topic: German Silhouette Art Help  (Read 2006 times)

Dean Perdue

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German Silhouette Art Help
« on: August 30, 2009, 01:09:27 pm »
Hello-
Any help on this art would be appreciated.
Wondering about how to tell if it's reverse painted or just printed? It does have a very deep and dimensional look to it.The glass has imperfections and looks old.
Is the stamp on back the artist signature and above it maybe the title of the work?
What are those numbers below the stamp?
Also I could not find anything on the web about the artist.
Can someone point me in the right direction to find out more on this piece?
Thank you in advance for help and opinions.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2009, 01:23:02 pm by Dean Perdue »

Dean Perdue

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German Silhouette Art Help
« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2009, 01:12:30 pm »
Photo #2

Dean Perdue

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Re: German Silhouette Art Help
« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2009, 01:14:37 pm »
Photo #3

KC

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Re: German Silhouette Art Help
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2009, 03:51:45 pm »
The close up of the tag saying R. Boigtlanders (lived in the 1800's) and is associated writing very old German texts/books for teaching. Berlag means publishing house.  The word Leipzig indicates where an item is published and in this case Leipzig in Germany which is currently the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany.  This may indicate the publisher of this piece.


The last photo has the artist's signature on it.

Most like a piece from the lates 1800's to early 1900's.  (leaning towards the later).

Hard to tell about it from the picture.  In the US shadow prints were extremely popular during the victorian era and many girls were taught the skill of shadow art
« Last Edit: August 30, 2009, 04:06:21 pm by KC »
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Chris_Marshall

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Re: German Silhouette Art Help
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2009, 03:53:13 pm »
Artist was "Gerda Luise Schmidt", your item is named "Frühling" (Springtime). Issued by the R. Voigtländers Verlag in Leipzig. She made dozens of cut-outs (silhouettes) that were mostly reproduced for postcards, children's books, etc., many of them are from the "Kinder im Frühling" (children in spring) series. The G19468 appears to be the Voigtländer item number and the "1613.-" is the price. Before you jump around and get your knickers in a twist: that was around 1920 and thus in the period of hyper inflation in Germany. 2,000 Mark were just about one US$.

D&b antiques

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Re: German Silhouette Art Help
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2009, 04:24:41 pm »
it would sell in the $35.00 Dollar range.

Dean Perdue

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Re: German Silhouette Art Help
« Reply #6 on: August 31, 2009, 10:37:08 am »
Thanks to all who have contributed their knowledge,time, and expertise.
Definitely very helpful and useful. A lot more than I knew before.
I guess I overpaid in a auction as it went for almost 3X the value given, but I'm very happy with it and feel fortunate to call this old piece mine for awhile.
Seems like all the old framed art I come across almost always has the original protective backing torn off or destroyed and I was impressed to see this intact with a artist signed stamp.
I'll be on the look out for 'Kinder im Frühling' so I can check out some of her other work.

Best regards
« Last Edit: August 31, 2009, 10:41:50 am by Dean Perdue »