Manfred Rapp

"Slot Queen" Caricature Signed Print

Manfred Rapp ( b 1956, Germany ) Title: "Let's Go Shopping" Medium: Prints & Multiples Size: 24 x 20 in. Movement: Contemporary --ORIGIN...

Manfred Rapp ( b 1956, Germany ) Title: "Join the Campaign" Medium: Print & Multiple Size: 30 x 40 in. Movement: Contemporary --

The present print, "Victoria," is the most iconic example of the printmaking of Malvin Marr Albright, called Zsissly. The composition for the image comes from Albright's painting from about 1935, done while he was studying at the Art Institute of Chicago. We can see clearly in the image how he possesses the same skill for unsettling, magic realist images as his more famous twin brother Ivan Le Lorraine: The lady Victoria sits at a dining room table, surrounded by luxurious still-life objects. All the textures and surfaces of the image express a horror vacui as seen in his painted works, such as "The Trail of Time is Dust" at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. The door in this print recalls one of the more famous works by his brother, "That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door)" at the Art Institute of Chicago. 1947, after ca. 1935 original painting 8 1/2 x 13 inches, image 12 x 16 inches, sheet 16 1/4 x 20 1/2 frame Signed in pencil, lower right Title in pencil, lower left Published by Associated American Artists Inc. Unnumbered from the edition of 250 A painter and sculptor, Malvin Albright was born in Chicago, one of twin sons of Adam Emory Albright, famous Chicago figure painter of juvenile subjects, who often used Malvin and his brother Ivan Le Lorraine as models. Malvin's middle name, Marr, was after Wisconsin artist Carl von Marr...

Walter Schnackenberg’s style changed several times during his long and successful career. Having studied in Munich, the artist traveled often to Paris where he fell under the spell of the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s colorful and sensuous posters depicting theatrical and decadent subjects. Schnackenberg became a regular contributor of similar compositions to the German magazines Jugend and Simplicissimus before devoting himself to the design of stage scenery and costumes. In the artist’s theatrical work, his mastery of form, ornamentation, and Orientalism became increasingly evident. He excelled at combining fluid Art Nouveau outlines, with spiky Expressionist passages, and the postures and patterns of the mysterious East. In his later years, Schnackenberg explored the unconscious, using surreal subject matter and paler colors that plainly portrayed dreams and visions, some imbued with political connotations. His drawings, illustrations, folio prints, and posters are highly sought today for their exceedingly imaginative qualities, enchanting subject matter, and arresting use of color. SCHNACKENBERG: KOSTUME, PLAKATE UND DEKORATIONEN, a cardboard bound art book consisting of 43 prints of work by Walter Schnackenberg, 30 of which are color lithographs that are signed and some are titled and dated in the plate, as well as black and white prints and photographs with accompanying text by Oskar Bie; lithographs printed at Kunstanstalt Oskar Consee in Munich, other images printed by Gesellschaft Pick & Co. in Munich, the text and cover with color images by Schnackenberg front and verso printed by R. Oldenbourg in Munich; published by Musarion Verlag, Munich, 1920. The majority of Walter Schnackenberg’s artistic output was destroyed by bomb attacks in Munich in 1944. The highly publicized 2013 auction in New York of the recovered pre-war poster collection once belonging to German poster aficionado, Hans Sachs has reintroduced the world to Walter Schnackenberg’s graphic genius and priceless ephemeral art from a lost era. Besides the museum world, designer Karl Lagerfeld is one of the most prodigious collectors of Schnackenberg. Flipping through the pages of Kostume, Plakate und Dekorationen, it becomes quite clear that Schnackenberg’s collection is ground zero at the crossroads of early modern fashion where the cult of celebrity meets up with dance, music, theater and cabaret, film and the graphic medium. Berlin and Munich under Germany’s Weimar Republic in the first quarter of the 20th century produced just the atmosphere to feed this burgeoning industry. Rising inflation sparked a recklessness to live large for the moment and heightened a desire for escapism. An influx of Indian and East Asian dancers and musicians added to the artsy bohemian cultural mix. A new decadence and tolerance resulted. Film boldly featured provocative subject matter. Cabarets became popular venues giving rise to the demi-monde in which people from all social stations mixed more freely in a thriving underground economy and culture where there was a blurring of boundaries and of social codes. Noted art historian and cultural doyen, Oskar Bie astutely observes in his introduction to Schnackenberg’s publication that what unites the images is fantasy and advertisement. Schnackenberg uses the eye as an instrument to brilliantly construct and convey this double message. His personages never directly confront the viewer. Their eyes gaze off in the distance like those of the screenplayer and film star Hedamaria Scholz in Schnackenberg’s “Die Rodelhexe” movie poster. Their eyes follow the path of a dance composition or become a transfixed and ogling male gaze such as the iconic 1911 Odeon Casino...