Three Landscape Woodblocks by Margarethe Geibel

Lot description

Margarethe Geibel (Germany/Weimar, 1876-1955). A fine pair of impressionist woodblocks in colors, each depicting a winter subject. The first is a river or creek, the second a starker snowy landscape. The landscape monogrammed in plate l.r., and titled indistinctly on mat, as well as verso margin. The river scene signed and numbered in margin. And finally a small landscape of trees. Largest 10.5" x 12.5" (sight). Provenance: Discovered in a Virginia Home, having been transported on a steamer to New York in the early 20th century. Margarethe Geibel (Germany/Weimar, 1876-1955) was born in Weimar, Germany to a distinguished family of artists, including her father Casimir Geibel (1839-1896). She grew up in a home directly across the street from the Goethehaus, the home of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), often regarded as Germany's most notable author, who penned "Faust" in the early 19th century. Geibel studied in Weimar under Otto Rasch (1862-1952), who notably was interested in the Goethehaus, as several of his interior subjects in oil depict the famed home and gardens, now an institute for study and museum collection. It was there that Geibel worked extensively, depicting a number of interior and surrounding views of the Goethehaus during the early 20th century, most of which are numbered with the artist's personal inventory. These views are exquisite examples of early 20th century color woodblock printmaking. While most European or Western artists ignored the woodblock medium by this time, due to the meticulous and painstaking work involved in the reduction process, it did experience a revival of interest beginning in the late 19th century. When Japan opened to the West during the Meiji era, "Japanamania" in Europe- the influence of Japanese culture, craft and fine art- did have an extensive influence on the budding Impressionist movement. Geibel clearly was influenced as well, and worked on laid paper, painstakingly combining multiple blocks of color for her impressions, which produce particularly striking results with her interiors of the Goethehaus and the Duchess Anna Amalia Library. Her work rarely surfaces on the market, and it is likely that a close acquaintance or collector traveled with these views to New York. They were discovered in the attic of a home in Virginia.