Lot 98: POSTER: JOSEF RUDOLF WITZEL (1867-1924). DEUT

JOSEF RUDOLF WITZEL (1867-1924) DEUTSCHE-KUNST UND DEKORATION. 1898.
25 1/2x34 1/2 inches, 65x88 cm. Meisenbach, Riffarth & Cie., Munich.
Condition B+: repaired tears in margins and image; restoration along vertical fold. Trimmed.
Kunst und Decoration was a German illustrated monthly magazine dedicated to the arts, first published in 1898. Witzel was a Munich-based caricaturist, illustrator, painter and occasional poster artist. This allegorical image is very Germanic in its inspiration, foregoing the beautiful muse that would have figured in a French poster. Instead a naked young man's hand is guided by a rather demurely clad muse. She is helping him delineate curvy, Jugendstil lines, which stand out against the dark background. It is a powerful and effective image, and one of the few German posters selected for publication in les Maitres de l'Affiche. DFP-III 3453, Rademacher p. 38, Gallo p. 142-43, Wember 793.