Gustav Klimt First Edition - Gustav Klimt - Bauman Rare Books

Gustav Klimt

Gustav KLIMT | Fritz NOVOTNY

Item#: 82605 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Gustav Klimt

“AT ONCE SENSUOUS AND REFINED”: LAVISH CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ OF GUSTAV KLIMT

(KLIMT, Gustav) NOVOTNY, Fritz and DOBAI, Johannes. Gustav Klimt. Salzburg: Friedrich Welz, (1967). Large, thick quarto, original gilt-decorated blue cloth, original dust jacket, original acetate wrapper, original slipcase.

First edition of this comprehensive catalogue of Klimt’s drawings and paintings, with 115 full-page plates (30 in color), 60 drawings in color and black-and-white, and 222 additional black-and-white reproductions.

“Klimt had transformed traditional allegory and symbolism into a new language which was more overtly sexual, and hence more disturbing” (Sabarsky, 9). In 1899, his “Nuda Verita” further shook up the art establishment. “The starkly naked red-headed woman holds the mirror of truth, while above it is a quotation by Schiller in stylized lettering, ‘If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please a few. To please many is bad” (Whitford, 52). Often distinguished by the use of gold leaf, Klimt concealed the more erotic positions with spirals, swirls, and patterned spaces. He also painted landscapes, produced on summer holidays with the Flöge family on the shores of Attersee. “Formally, the landscapes are characterized by the same refinement of design and emphatic patterning as the figural pieces. Deep space in the Attersee works is so efficiently flattened to a single plane, it is believed that he painted them while looking through a telescope” (Wagner, 161-71). “Klimt’s immensely erotic portraits and sexually-charged sketches, his richly patterned landscapes and mysterious allegorical compositions, are at once sensuous and refined and remain among the most recognized works of art in the world” (Julian Damy). Text in German. Freitag 6147.

A fine copy, with only a vertical crease to front free endpaper.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
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Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
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Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
Chromolithograph Lithograph printed in colors, typically three or more.
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Colophon Printed note at the end of a text containing information about the printing of the book.
Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
Wormhole Tiny pinhole-sized trails left by bookworms as they eat through a text block. Much more common in older books printed on handmade papers with a high rag content than in books printed on manufactured papers made from wood pulp with a higher acidic content.
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