Wednesday 31 December 2014

Frieda Mentz-Kessel: Successful identification in 2014 and Best Wishes for 2015

A happy New Year &
Best Wishes for 2015 !


Thanks to reader Archimandrill this identification problem of a print commemorating a 25th anniversary in what looks like (or could be) a circus tent print is solved. It is by Frieda Mentz-Kessel (Graz, Austria 1878 -1969 Jena) she was working as a linocut printmaker in Jena (near Weimar). There's not much to be revealed in the Internet about her life or work. She was married to history professor Georg Hugo Mentz (1870-1942) and exhibiting in the 1930's wilt fellow women artists in the "Jena Kunstlerinnen Verein" announcements found in newspaper and she was actively involved in the Womens Rights Movement.


Among them I found Dachau painter and printmaker Paula Wimmer (1876-1971). Besides her bathing boys (a theme after Max Liebermann) she is best remembered by her prints that are often also located in a circus tent. I will show more of her work soon. 

Frieda's print was in an auction and, when it was sold, the Internet connections obviously were deleted. I just was lucky to stumble over it in this short window of opportunity. 

All pictures borrowed freely from the Internet fro friendly, educational and non commercial use only.     

2 comments:

  1. Happy New Year to all, and congrats, Gerrie and Archimandrill on your teamwork to identify the print by Frieda Mentz-Kessel. Until internet searches become 'fuzzier," we must depend on both the poster and the searcher to spell with great accuracy. Then again, a couple of my best purchases on eBay came thanks to poor spelling on the part of the lister.

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  2. Thank you Tom. The reward was great indeed. It's the spelling, the recognition, the encrypting. But in this case it was Mea Culpa: the discipline and accuracy of "not postponing labeling and filing when trying to build and maintain a reliable archive" is a thing not to be underestimated. Best Wishes to you too.

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