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Hermann Struck

Portrait of Oscar Wilde, ca. 1912

Description

Maker

Hermann Struck, 1876-1944, German

Title

Portrait of Oscar Wilde

Year

ca. 1912

Medium

Soft-ground etching on green paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

soft-ground etching

Supports

Light weight green wove paper

Dimensions

Plate: 14.9 x 10.5 cm (5 7/8 x 4 1/8 inches)

Type

Credit

Gift of Martin Birnbaum

Object Number

24.084

Exhibition History

Facing Artists

February 27 - July 31, 2009

Hermann Struck studied at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and appeared to have a bright future as a teacher there, but was denied the right to teach
because he was Jewish. An early Zionist, he signed his works with the initials of his Jewish name, Chaim Aaron ben David, and a Star of David, as seen here. Struck
mentored several notable artists in the art of etching, including Marc Chagall, Lovis Corinth, and Max Liebermann, and published the seminal instruction
manual Die Kunst des Radierens (The Art of Etching) in 1908. On a visit to England he made portraits of several leading English cultural luminaries, including the writer Oscar Wilde (Irish, 1854–1900), who died before Struck made the print. Struck’s refined grasp of etching is evident in his use of soft-ground, a technique imitating soft, graphite drawing.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Portrait of Oscar Wilde with the accession number of 24.084. To request a higher resolution file, please submit an online request.

Feedback

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