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BOOKPLATES THE WORLD OF EX-LIBRIS |
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A historical retrospective 3 MODERN TIMES |
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3g 1918-1935: THE VISUAL TOWER OF BABEL part I |
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3g/13. Kasimir de Rönay (H)  IPSE, C3 + C5, 140 x 64,
c.1925.
A clever geometric abstraction in Art Déco style characterises this plate by the architect and graphic artist de Rönay. |
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3g/14. Karel Simunek (CZ, 1869-1942) ANTONIN PLECITY,
L/4, 202 x 150, c.1925.
Since Senefelder invented the basic process of lithography in 1798, it developed by the mid-19th century into an important artist’s medium. This work by Simunek well renders the quality which lithography can achieve. |
3g/15. Otokar Stafl (CZ, 1884-1945) A. F. DUSEK, P7,
104 x 71, c.1925.
Many Czech artists of great quality were active in the early part of this century, and the Prague Academy influenced artists in all Eastern Europe and beyond. Stafl was a master of coloured graphics, and this ex-libris was made for Antonin F. Dusek, a well-known Viennese ceramic artist of Czech origin. |
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3g/16. Karel Svolinsky (CZ, 1896-) BOHUMIR LIFKA, C2, 192
x 140, 1929.
Masters such as Svolinsky, who taught at the Prague Academy, were instrumental in forming the present mature generation of graphic artists in Eastern Europe. If there are so many outstanding artists in this part of the world making ex-libris today, it is thanks to the continuity of tradition. |
3g/17. Sigmund Lipinski (A, 1873-1940) MADALENA GRAF,
C3, 152 x 89, c.1930.
Lipinski was a contemporary of Cossmann, but settled in Rome. His mature works, such as this ex-libris, are graphic masterpieces – though the younger generation, at the time, considered them old-fashioned. |
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3g/18. Lynd K. Ward (USA *1905) DAN BURNE JONES, X2,
127 x 48, c.1930.
The Chicago-born artist Ward engraved this ex-libris for the man considered the master of modern American bookplates, Dan Burne Jones (*1908). |
3g/19. Paul Nash (GB, 1889-1946) SAMUEL COURTAULD,
X2 + T, 110 x 83, 1931.
Nash, one of the most famous British artists of his time, engraved a number of rather insignificant ex-libris early in his career, and then more than ten years later this strong image for the founder of the Courtauld Institute. Several books were stolen from the Institute’s library in the 1960s, and there is a strong suspicion that this print came from one of them. It was purchased – quite legitimately! – in London in 1983, which goes to prove that an ex-libris cannot guarantee that a book will be returned to its owner... |
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3g/20. John Piper (GB, 1903-1990) SACHEVERELL SITWELL,
L, 110 x 78, c.1930.
Viz BNL #192.
Piper’s paintings and watercolours have earned him an international reputation. His ex-libris for Sacheverell Sitwell (1897- 1988), intellectual and author, were based on a monogram of Sitwell’s grandfather. |
3g/21. Jean Lébédeff (F, 1884-1972) TRISTAN RéMY, X1/2,
73 x 78, 1932.
Viz. GMN p. 223.
Born in Russia, Lébédeff settled in France in 1909, where he became a distinguished book illustrator and woodcut artist. He made some 75 bookplates. It is interesting to compare his style with another Russian-French of the same generation, Le Campion (see 4f/20). |
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3g/22. Carl Emil Egli (CH/F, 1877-1940) R. J.
WEISSENBACH, P1, 71 x 65, 1932.
Viz. GMN p. 217.
From Aigle, Switzerland, Egli – whose artist’s name was Carlègle, a play on his christian name and the place where he was born-attained fame as an illustrator and designer in Paris, where he made some twenty bookplates in the course of his career. |
3g/23. Marie Laurencin (F, 1885-1956) EDWARD
WASSERMANNN, C3, 106 x 69, 1932.
Viz. GMN p. 244.
Friend of Apollinaire and the Paris cubists, the painter, poet and engraver Marie Laurencin made only one bookplate, and then only by chance. The American bibliophile and art amateur Wassermann was in her studio in 1932 and saw her working on the fourth state of a small engraving. He asked whether she could add his name and make a bookplate for him out of it... and Marie Laurencin accepted. |
End of 3g
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