686. Two Copies of The Parables from the Gospels

Contacts between Ricketts and German artist Marcus Behmer have been the subject of blogs before (see in particular blog 624 'Charles Ricketts about Marcus Behmer'), and because the house with Behmer's library was lost during World War II, traces of them are scarce. Some copies of books by Ricketts with handwritten dedications to Marcus Behmer have been preserved, probably because Behmer often stayed with acquaintances outside Berlin or in Italy. Examples are Lord de Tabley, Poems Dramatic and Lyrical (1893) - Ricketts designed the cover - and Ricketts's book of imaginary conversations Beyond the Threshold (1929).

To this short list, we can now add a new title thanks to the digitisation project of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar.

The Parables from the Gospels (Vale Press 1902)
[Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Weimar]

The library owns a copy of the Vale Press edition of The Parables from the Gospels (1902). It is a dedication copy but the dedication is not from Ricketts but from Behmer himself who gifted the book to a close friend:

Für Alexander Olbricht durch Charles Ricketts’ Güte von Marcus Behmer. 8. Oktober 1926

Translation: For Alexander Olbricht, through the kindness of Charles Ricketts, from Marcus Behmer. 8 October 1926

Olbricht (1876-1942), an artist, who specialised in engravings, was a teacher at the Bauhaus between 1921 and 1935. He left 88 books to the Duchess Anna Amalia Library. [See the webpage about the cataloguing project].

The copy of The Parables from the Gospels bears his monogram and the date of 16 June 1933, five years after he received this copy from Behmer. At the back, on one of the blank pages is a long pencil note by Behmer explaining how this gift came about.

Im Sommer 1926 bat ich Charles Ricketts mir mitzuteilen wo ich wohl ein Exemplar dieses Büches bekommen könnte um an A.O. zu geben, der es so sehr liebe.

Mit einem Brief von 17. Aug. schickte mir dann R. ein Exemplar und schrieb dazu ..... By the same post I am sending you a signed copy of the Parables, this will enable you to present your Friend with your old copy, the book is difficult to find. ......." 

                                                                                                8.X.26         M.B. 

[Translation of the German: In the summer of 1926, I asked Charles Ricketts to let me know where I could get a copy of this book to give to A.O., who loved it so much.

With a letter dated 17 August, R. then sent me a copy and wrote: ...] 

Handwritten note by Marcus Behmer in
The Parables from the Gospels (Vale Press 1902)
[Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Weimar]

The copy signed by Ricketts was probably lost, but Behmer's own first copy is now available for all to see on the Digitale Sammlungen website [follow this link].

685. A Shannon & Ricketts Exhibition in Munich (3)

Charles Shannon sold lithographs, woodcuts and drawings during and after the large show in Munich at the Heinemann galleries in October 1907. 

For Ricketts, however, the results were unsatisfactory as none of his paintings, bronzes and drawings sold.

However, some of his artworks were also temporarily displayed in Berlin (we don't know where): all of his paintings were dispatched to Berlin during the year, as were two of his drawings and the lithographic poster for The Persians. All of these returned to Munich as Ricketts's work had not found a buyer in Berlin. His 25 works were subsequently returned to London in June 1908. That must have been disappointing.

Charles Ricketts, 'The Holy Women' (1907)

Some of these works are now in public collections, such as:

'The Crucifixion' (The Wilson, Cheltenham);

'Descent from the Cross' (William Morris Gallery, London).

Others were later sold to collectors:

'The Holy Women' (Kōjirō Matsukata);

'The Samaritan at the Inn' (Mona Wilson).

And some works have vanished.

684. A Shannon & Ricketts Exhibition in Munich (2)

Galerie Heinemann in Munich did not send the unsold artworks back to London after the October exhibition in 1907. The works had been taken on consignment at the end of September 1907 and were to remain in the gallery's custody until 13 June 1908.  The paintings thus remained unavailable to other buyers in England or elsewhere for almost a full year; for the lithographs, this did not matter much, as Shannon could dispose of several copies, and so, for that matter, could the gallery. After, for example, 'At the Waters Edge' was sold (as ‘Auf Meeresgrund’),  Shannon sent a second copy, which, however, remained unsold. 

Charles Shannon, 'Alphonse Legros'
lithograph (1896)

After the exhibition ended, another buyer showed up, art historian Dr Otto Weigmann (1873-1940), who in April 1907 had become curator of the Graphic Collection of Munich. On 6 and 13 November 1907 he acquired five lithographs and two drawings (and later he would buy more works).

'Alphonse Legros' (Catalogue No. 40). This was 'Alphonse Legros' (1896).
'Die Badende' (Cat. No. 26). This probably was 'The Bathers' (1904).

'Max Beerbohm' (Cat. No. 24). This was 'Max Beerbohm' (1896).

'Meerwasser' (Cat. No. 29). This probably was another copy of 'Salt Water' (1895).

'Saën und Ernten' (Cat. No. 43). This was 'The Sower and the Reaper' (1904).

'Skizze für ein Portrait-Aquarell' (Cat. No. 66). Sketch for a portrait watercolour.

'Studien in Rötel' (Cat. No. 76). A study in red.

Another copy of 'Badende' was sold to the editors of the magazine Jugend in Munich ('Jugend-Redaktion) on the same day, 6 November 1907, while they also acquired copies of three more lithographs: 'Am Wasser' (original title not established with certainty), 'Die Wanderer' (probably 'The Wayfarers', 1904) and 'Morgen' ('Morning', 1905). 

Not clear is when these works were paid by Weigmann and Jugend. Perhaps, Weigmann acquired the works for the museum, and not for his private collection. Indeed there are works by Shannon in the collection of (now) Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München.

However, Shannon got paid for these acquisitions on 6 November when he received the amount of £ 40.2.6, including £10 for the exclusive right to sell some of his paintings (in return for the long time they were unavailable to him).

On the same date, 6 November 1907, another lithograph was sold: ‘Romantische Landschaft’ ('The Romantic Landscape', 1892), the buyer being lieutenant Jaenisch from Munich.

 

Galerie Heinemann, 'Lagerbuch Kommission',
LB-06-32, page 30

Records show that a number of works were sent to Berlin to be sold - where is not clear - Heinemann had no branch there. This probably happened in November 1907. Later, they were largely returned. Apparently Heinemann really made an effort to sell Shannon and Ricketts's works twice, firstly during the Munich exhibition and about a year later, just before the works were to be sent back to London. What was done with them in the meantime cannot be determined.

Indeed, Galerie Heinemann managed to sell sixteen more works by Shannon in June 1908, albeit neither paintings nor drawings. 

On 11 June 1908 four lithographs were sold to Kunsthandel Eduard Schulte which since 1901 had been run by Hermann Gottlob Schulte and Hermann Schulte junior:

'Die Taucherin' Catalogue No. 19). This was 'The Diver' (1895).

'Biondina' (Cat. No. 23). This was 'Biondina' (1894);

'Die Raucher' (Cat. No. 35). This was 'Le fumeur', a portrait of Reginald Savage (1895).

'Venus & Amor' (Cat. No 48). This must have been 'The Little Venus' (1895).

The Schulte firm got a 15% discount and paid DM 182.75. Shannon received £ 7.2.6.

Galerie Heinemann, 'Kassbuch', 11 June 1908
KB-04-23, page 30

Twelve more works were sold the same month: the series of colour woodcuts Shannon had made between 1898 and 1903. Sets of these are now very rare. Purchaser on 25 June 1908, again, was Otto Weigmann.

Each time a lithograph was sold, Shannon sent a replacement copy that often went unsold. In this way, Heinemann handled 109 works by Shannon, of which 32 were sold: one pastel, one watercolour, two drawings, twelve woodcuts and sixteen lithographs.

683. A Shannon & Ricketts Exhibition in Munich 1907 (1)

Surprisingly, until recently, I had not come across this major exhibition of Ricketts and Shannon's work in 1907; the show has not been mentioned in Paul Delaney's biography, nor in any other book or article about Ricketts and Shannon. Yet it was not an exhibition to be overlooked: 110 art works were on display and the event took place in the show room of one of the most important art dealers in Germany, the Heinemann firm in Munich. Perhaps the fact that it was a non-English venue allowed this exhibition to be forgotten and the fact that Shannon got his first major one-man show at Leicester Galleries in London that same year.

Charles H. Shannon, Charles Ricketts, London.
(München, Galerie Heinemann, Oktober 1907)

The catalogue of this exhibition in October 1907 is extremely rare, there are no copies of it in the British Library, the Tate Library or the National Art Library (V&A, London), for example. The catalogue is titled: Charles H. Shannon, Charles Ricketts, London. (München: Galerie Heinemann, 1907) and lists oil paintings, lithographs, drawings, watercolours, wood-engravings and bronzes. 

Galerie Heinemann was founded by David Heinemann in 1872 and in 1890 was taken over by his three sons. It had branches in New York and Nice and in 1904 moved the main premises to Lenbachplatz 5/6 in Munich where the Shannon and Ricketts exhibition was held three years later. Theobald and Hermann Heinemann headed the Munich business, while Theodor, the oldest brother, was in charge of the New York office. 

After the two younger brothers had died, Theodor's wife Franziska and their son Fritz managed the Munich department. In January 1938 Fritz left for New York, followed in 1939 by his mother, while the firm was 'aryanised', and forcibly sold. After the war Fritz Heinemann returned to Germany and in the end got hold of the archive that he donated to the German Art Archive (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg) in 1972. The documents have been digitised and are accessible on the website 'Galerie Heinemann Online' [see Galerie Heinemann Online].

Galerie Heinemann, Lenbachplatz 5/6, Munich

Although the magazine The Queen mentioned that the Heinemann Galleries exhibited pictures by the American artist Pinckney Marcius-Simons in September 1907, no English newspaper seems to have reported about the October show.

Shannon exhibited eighty-five works: sixteen oil paintings, thirty-seven lithographs and thirty-two drawings, pastels, watercolours and colour woodcuts. From the digitised catalogue it seems that the order in the rooms was different from that in the catalogue which started with Shannon's paintings and ended with Ricketts's bronzes. New numbers have been written in red ink before the black printed numbers, suggesting a different order altogether. However, the numbers are confusing as there are two series of number 1-25:

1-8 CR's paintings

9-24 CHS's paintings

25 CR painting

1-37 CHS's lithographs

38-63 CHS's woodcuts, pastels and drawings

64-66 CR's drawings

67-72 CHS's woodcuts

73 CR's poster

74-85 CR's bronzes

The show ended with the numbers 86 and 87. These were two bronzes by Kathleen Bruce: her portraits of Ricketts and Shannon.

Some titles in the catalogue have been crossed out, but these are not the works that were actually sold.

Only four works were sold during the course of the exhibition. Not the more expensive paintings, but a pastel painting and a watercolour, both by Shannon, and two lithographs

Frank Eugene, photograph of
Friedrich August von Kaulbach (1907
 [Bavarikon]

The main buyer was a German painter from Munich, Friedrich August von Kaulbach (1850-1920), who was known for his decorative, romantic society portraits in the French style. On 26 October 1907, he acquired a pastel of the wounded amazone (catalogue no. 73: 'Die verwundete Amazone') and a portrait study in watercolour (catalogue no. 75: 'Porträtstudie'). 

The cash book records his purchase.

Cash book 4 (KB-04-2 for 17.08.1907-17.05.1909)
[Galerie Heinemann]

Shannon got paid the same day, as the cast book shows. He received £30 for the works that Kaulbach had acquired, but paid a commission of 25%.

Cash book 4 (KB-04-2 for 17.08.1907-17.05.1909)
[Galerie Heinemann]

He had also sold two lithographies, called 'Meerwasser' (catalogue No. 29) and 'Auf Meeresgrund' (catalogue No. 18) to countess Treuburg in Schloss Holzen near Nordendorf. At the end of the nineteenth-century Holzen was a centre of painting in Munich. The countess was presumably Rosine Antonie Therese von Poschinger (1849-1935). 'Meerwasser' probably is 'Salt Water', a lithograph from 1895, published in The Savoy, and 'Auf Meeresgrund' must be 'At the Waters Edge' which was a recent lithograph finished in the year of the exhibition.

[To be continued.]