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Max Klinger
Max Klinger etching, Nature, Female, Artemis of Ephesus, German Romantic

Name: Max Klinger etching, Nature, Female, Artemis of Ephesus, German Romantic
Brand: Max Klinger
Rating: 5 (115 reviews)

$395

£298.33

€349.27

CA$561.18

A$570.93

CHF 327.20

MX$6,874.36

NOK 3,824.37

SEK 3,841.15

DKK 2,611.13

About the Item

Nature with the Griffin (Edition Device “Épr. d’Art M. Klinger”) Etching, printed in reddish-orange ink, 1879-1880 Signed in the plate in the tablet inscription at bottom (see photo) This is an abbreviated French designation meaning approximately “artist’s proof, M. Klinger.” The lettering can easily be mistaken for “Ex libris.” Klinger designed the plate as an edition device or publisher’s vignette for the special artist’s editions of his early print portfolios, including Radierte Skizzen, Opus I and Rettungen Ovidischer Opfer, Opus II. Hans Wolfgang Singer catalogued it as number 292 in his standard catalogue raisonné, Max Klingers Radierungen, Stiche und Steindrucke (1909). Singer notes that impressions were printed in red as well as black. Singer catalogue raisonné Scene depicted At the center stands a frontal female personification of Nature. She possesses six breasts—a deliberate reference to ancient images of the many-breasted Artemis of Ephesus, whose body symbolized nature’s inexhaustible fertility and power to nourish life. Her calm, nearly expressionless face and rigidly symmetrical pose give her the authority of an archaic cult statue. In her extended right hand she holds a mirror. In the other she carries a staff entwined by a serpent. Behind her crouches a fantastic animal that initially resembles a bear or wolf. Singer identifies it as a griffin, although he specifically describes it as having the body of a she-wolf. The creature bows and licks Nature’s foot, acknowledging her dominion. A broad coastal landscape and distant mountain or island appear behind the figures, locating the allegory within an idealized Mediterranean world. The shells flanking the inscription reinforce this aquatic and generative symbolism. Their spiraling interiors evoke organic growth, fertility, Venus, and the recurrent forms of nature. Condition: Excellent Image /plaate size: 3 5/8 x 2 1/2 inches Sheet size: 14 1/8 x 20 5/16 inches full sheet as issued Reference: Singer 292 Context Klinger made this vignette during the exceptionally productive beginning of his career. In the late 1870s he was transforming etching from a reproductive or illustrative process into what he called Griffelkunst—an autonomous “art of the stylus” capable of expressing dreams, philosophical ideas, erotic anxiety, and mythological fantasy. The Metropolitan Museum describes Klinger as one of the artists who revived creative printmaking in Germany and restored its status as an independent art form. The Metropolitan Museum of Art The small plate belongs to the same formative moment as Klinger's first graphic cycles. Radierte Skizzen, Opus I, and Rettungen Ovidischer Opfer, Opus II, were issued in 1879; their subjects move between everyday observation, classical mythology, satire, and dream imagery. The present vignette functioned as a visual trademark on the title pages of special artist’s editions. It therefore announced both the privileged status of those impressions and Klinger’s larger artistic program. The plate’s iconography is closely related to another Klinger edition device catalogued by Singer as number 288, in which a many-breasted Nature likewise carries a mirror and serpent-scepter beside a griffin. The present composition expands that idea into a more ceremonial image. Analysis The work presents Nature as a union of seemingly opposing forces: maternal nourishment and dangerous instinct, rational self-knowledge and unconscious desire, serenity and animal violence. The six breasts identify her as the universal source of life, but Klinger avoids presenting her as gentle or conventionally maternal. Her frontal stance is hieratic, almost confrontational. She does not simply inhabit the landscape; she governs it. The mirror has several possible meanings. It is traditionally associated with self-knowledge, truth, vanity, and artistic imitation. In this context it may stand for art itself: the artist holds a mirror to nature, transforming the visible world into an image. Because the vignette marked Klinger’s own artist’s impressions, the mirror becomes especially appropriate. Printmaking is presented as an act of reflection—both literally reversing the image on the copperplate and intellectually interpreting nature. The serpent introduces a more unstable symbolism. It can signify knowledge, temptation, sexuality, danger, renewal, and immortality through the shedding of its skin. Its circular coils suggest cycles of birth, death, and regeneration. Klinger frequently used serpentine imagery in his early graphic work, most famously in Eve and the Future, Opus III, where the serpent becomes an agent of consciousness and sexual awakening. The staff here resembles a caduceus but should not be identified too narrowly as Mercury’s attribute; Singer calls it a Schlangenszepter, or serpent-scepter. It functions principally as the emblem of Nature’s mysterious authority. The submissive griffin or wolf-bodied creature represents untamed animal energy. Yet rather than threatening the woman, it bows to her and licks her foot. Instinct is therefore not defeated by civilization; it is absorbed within Nature’s larger order. The animal’s lowered head provides a counterweight to the woman’s upright body, while its dense, curling fur contrasts with the restrained linear treatment of her flesh and drapery. Compositionally, Klinger imposes strong symmetry upon fantastical imagery. The woman’s horizontally extended arms create a rigid cross-axis, while the mirror and serpent-scepter balance one another like ceremonial attributes. Her static pose contrasts with the curling snake, spiraling shells, and thick fur of the animal. The result combines the order of a classical emblem with the psychological ambiguity characteristic of Symbolism. Museum-style catalog entry Created around 1879–80 as an edition device for the artist’s special portfolio issues, Nature with the Griffin condenses Max Klinger’s early artistic philosophy into the scale of a small title-page vignette. A six-breasted personification of Nature stands frontally in an expansive coastal landscape, holding a mirror and a serpent-entwined scepter. Behind her, a griffin with the body of a she-wolf lowers its head and licks her foot. The inscription below, “Épr. d’Art. M. Klinger,” identifies the image with the artist’s proof or deluxe issue rather than with the ownership of a particular library. The female figure derives from the many-breasted Artemis of Ephesus, an ancient embodiment of universal fertility. Klinger modernizes this cult image by combining it with the mirror of self-consciousness and artistic representation, the serpent of knowledge and regeneration, and a submissive beast embodying instinctual nature. The shells decorating the lower border continue the imagery of generation and organic growth. Although diminutive, the plate establishes a sophisticated emblem of Klinger’s graphic art. Nature is at once creative, erotic, intellectual, and potentially dangerous. The mirror suggests that art reflects the natural world, while the serpent signals that such reflection also uncovers forbidden or unconscious knowledge. The crouching animal acknowledges Nature as the governing force behind both human consciousness and bodily instinct. The reddish-orange printing of the present impression is consistent with Singer’s observation that examples of this edition device occur in red. Its clear plate tone, delicate linear work, and ornamental integration of image and lettering demonstrate the care Klinger devoted even to the subsidiary components of his portfolios. Far from being merely decorative, the vignette serves as a compact manifesto for his emerging Symbolist conception of printmaking.

Creator:
Max Klinger (1857 - 1920)
Dimensions:
Height: 3.63 in (9.23 cm)Width: 2.5 in (6.35 cm)
Medium:
Etching
Movement & Style:
Romantic
Period:
1870-1879
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Fairlawn, OH
Reference Number:
Seller: FA129261stDibs: LU14018363262

Materials

Etching

Max KlingerMax Klinger etching, Nature, Female, Artemis of Ephesus, German Romantic

About the Item

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Max Klinger
Max Klinger etching, Nature, Female, Artemis of Ephesus, German Romantic