Fidus

Designs for Hygiene Poster,

two mixed-media works, 1912
 

Fidus (Lübeck 1868-1948 Woltersdorf bei Berlin), also known as Hugo Hoeppener


Two Designs for the poster "Erster Kongress für Biologische Hygiene zu Hamburg" ["First Congress for Biological Hygiene in Hamburg"], 

 

1912 

gouache, watercolor, and gold over brown pen on vellum paper

31 x 25 cm each

signed "fidus" bottom right and top left, respectively

The Daulton Collection



Provenance: From the estate of the illustrator, author, and art educator Hans-Friedrich Geist (1901-1978), who was the artistic director of the Lübeck Overbeck Society.



Discussion:


"The first draft with an awakening Psyche [on the right, above] was not implemented; instead of the figure from Greek mythology, a blonde 'Nordic' man [on the left] was chosen who is about to release his bonds and rise to the stars."  N



For a photograph showing Fidus with these two studies in the atelier of his home in Woltersdorf see: Janos Frecot, Johann Friedrich Geist, and Diethart Kerbs, Fidus 1868-1949. Zur ästhetischen Praxis bürgerlicher Fluchtbewegungen (München: Rogner & Bernhard, 1972), pg. 192.
The realized design of the "blond giant." 

On verso, handwritten inscription "Plakatskizze" ["poster sketch"].

Condition: minor losses in the corners and on the edges as well as several, partly backed, edge tears.
The rejected "Psyche" design.

condition:  several, partly backed cracks; a large loss at the lower edge as well as other losses, tears, and damages at the corners and edges.

 

Contact:

The Daulton Collection
Los Altos Hills, California
thedaultoncollection@outlook.com