Emil Bizer (Pforzheim 1881-1957 Badenweiler)
"Liegehalle" ["Lounge"]
1921
etching and drypoint on copperplate paper
plate 21,8 x 29,2 cm; sheet 30,4 x 34,9 cm
proof impression
monogrammed in the plate
signed in pencil lower right: "Emil Bizer"
inscribed in pencil lower left: "Probedruck" [proof impression]
titled in pencil along lower margin edge: "Liegehalle"
The Daulton Collection
Condition: Some small brown spots in the margins. Some slightly larger spots on the lower edge of the sheet. Faint crease in the upper right corner.
Provenance:
ex coll. Heinrich Stinnes
with his violet collection stamp, Lugt 1376a, in lower left margin and his typical annotations in ink along lower right margin edge: "[...] E. B. XII/19."
Discussion:
A strong impression with plate tone and facet. Reminiscent of Edvard Munch's "Scream."
After completing a commercial apprenticeship, Emil Bizer spent a considerable time in London and Paris, where he began to paint. In 1904, he settled in Baden-Baden and attended courses at the art academy in Karlsruhe. From 1911, Bizer regularly exhibited his works in public; and in 1912 he moved to Badenweiler in the Markgräflerland, where he resided for the rest of his life. At first, he created etchings, lithographs and woodcuts, including works that expressed social criticism. However, from the end of the 1920s, he turned increasingly to painting, especially landscape painting. In 1928, he became a member of the Baden Secession and the German Artists' Association [Deutschen Künstlerbund]. His formal language brought him into conflict with the National Socialist views on art. And, in 1937, as part of the Nazi campaign against so-called "Degenerate Art" [Entartete Kunst], 102 of his works from the Freiburg/Breisgau Municipal Collection and the Karlsruhe State Art Gallery were confiscated and destroyed.
See, Hans H. Hofstaetter, Emil Bizer (Basel: Creavis, 1997), at pages 34-39, for more information about Bizer's social-themed etchings from about 1917-1921.
