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Max Thalmann’s “America in Woodcuts” (1925) and “The Cathedral” (1922)

April 2, 2016 by Mariabruna Fabrizi 2 Comments

German Max Thalmann (1890-1944) was a figurative artist who produced black and white woodblock prints for a short period of time between the two World Wars. For the rest of his life, he mostly worked as a graphic designer and a bookbinder, having been trained as such under Henry Van De Velde at Weimar. His artistic production consists mainly of three bodies of work: The Passion, The Cathedral (Der Dom), and America in Woodcuts (Amerika im Holzschnitt) each with a distinctive character.

The third one is inspired by his experience in the United States in 1922/23, just after teaching briefly at the Bauhaus. Thalmann’s works are extremely sharp and originally composed, featuring a stylized representation which often reduces his subjects to geometrical sequences. Windows and building volumes in “America in Woodcuts” participate in the same rhythmic composition as the buzzing street on the bottom of the woodcuts.

An expressionist sensibility lies behind most of the works.

 

Left: Beside the Elevated Railway Right: By the Canal

Left: Beside the Elevated Railway
Right: By the Canal

 

 

Left: City on a Lake. Right: Factories

Left: City on a Lake.
Right: Factories

 

 

Left: Houses in Light. Right: Skyscraper under construction

Left: Houses in Light.
Right: Skyscraper under construction

 

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max-thalmann-dom-06

 

max-thalmann-dom-07

 

max-thalmann-dom-08

 

max-thalmann-dom-09

 

max-thalmann-dom-10

 

max-thalmann-dom-11

 

max-thalmann-dom-12

 

max-thalmann-dom-13

 

max-thalmann-dom-14

 

max-thalmann-dom-15

 

max-thalmann-dom-16

 

Further reading:

Max Thalmann at Steven Fine Arts

Thalmann’s Wood Block Prints

 

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Comments

  1. Scott Ponemone says

    August 7, 2016 at 8:08 pm

    Thanks for your post, especially the images of Thalmann’s Dom with his signatures. Therefore, I was able to confidently buy a Dom portfolio that he signed with initials below each image. I’ll soon be doing a blog post on the recent spate of portfolio purchases. The blog ART I SEE is part of my website.

Trackbacks

  1. Diary of Portfolio Madness | says:
    August 17, 2016 at 7:24 pm

    […] Images to some of his Amerika woodcuts and all of his Dom woodcuts can be found at: http://socks-studio.com/2016/04/02/max-thalmanns-america-in-woodcuts-1925-and-the-cathedral-1922/ […]

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