Willi Geiger (Landshut 1878-1971 Munich)
Der Kuss (The Kiss)
1913
portfolio of four (I-IV) etchings, plate IV depicted above
drypoint in red with aquatint on J. Whatman wove paper
each approx. 56,5 x 44,5 cm (sheet)
signed and dated in pencil lower right: "Willi Geiger 1913"
inscribed and titled in pencil lower left
"Willi Geiger studied at the Munich Academy with Franz von Stuck, whom he deeply admired. Following his teacher, Geiger always dealt with difficult subjects such as death, love, sin, pain, and dark destiny in his work. In this portfolio, Der Kuss, Geiger devotes himself to a passionate kiss, which he describes in four different depictions, like a dramatic dance between a man and a woman. The figures move in a narrowly confined space, and Geiger reproduces the figures in their rotations from all sides. At the end of the series, the man surprisingly turns out to be death that the woman is afraid of. ... Max Klinger proposed Geiger for the Villa Romana Prize in 1910 due to his virtuosity as a graphic artist [as demonstrated in his print cycles Seele (Soul) of 1903 and Liebe (Love) of 1904], a virtuosity which is borne out by this subsequent series Der Kuss." B
In small pencil studies for Der Kuss, Geiger worked out the relationship between the figures and the space very precisely. The Daulton Collection owns three of these pencil studies, each signed, including the one shown below, as well as a sheet with nine additional sketches for Der Kuss. In addition, The Daulton Collection owns three drypoints in black and white for sheets I, II, and III, respectively, of Der Kuss, each monogrammed.
Provenance: Dr. Robert Johannes Meyer (1882-1967), Hamburg, the noted German jurist who President of the Hamburg Regional Court (Landgerichtspräsident) from 1931 to 1933.
