Arthur Riedel - Drypoint - German Symbolist School - Beginning XX Eme - 3/5

DRY POINT SIGNED IN THE PLATE "A. RIEDEL" FOR ARTHUR RIEDEL REPRESENTING A SYMBOLIC STUDY - EARLY XXTH CENTURY PERIOD - A DRY STAMP "VEREIN ORIGINALRAD KARLSRUHE" FOR ASSOCIATION DES ARTISTES DE KARLSRUHE - GOOD GENERAL CONDITION - SIZE OF THE BOARD 355 X 335 MM Arthur Riedel (born February 1, 1888 in Pforzheim; † August 29, 1953 in Basel, Switzerland) [1] was a German graphic designer, painter, engraver and ex-libris, who worked mainly in Basel and Karlsruhe but also for five years as a decorative and flat painter in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Riedel was born in early 1888 as the son of a master locksmith from Pforzheim, and his family moved to Basel in 1889. He should have become a craftsman like his father, but due to his talent for drawing he allowed to take an apprenticeship with a painter. At the same time, he took a course in painting and graphics with Fritz Schider at the drawing and modeling school of the Basel vocational school. He graduated from the drawing school of Moritz Heymann in Munich and enrolled on 4 November 1908 at the academy to study drawing with Peter Halm. [2] He taught himself to engrave using models and first returned to Basel.[3] He accepted an invitation to Karlsruhe and became an intern at the local art school, where he became a master student of Walter Conz. Riedel belonged to the circle of friends around Hans Thoma, in whose tradition he created prints, especially portraits, landscapes and animal images. However, he was also inspired by the art of Fritz Boehle. [4] In 1913, Riedel undertook a study trip to Italy. While he was successful first as an engraver – mainly with scenes from Basel folklore and impressions from the Jura – and printed for colleagues, after World War I, under the influence of Ernst Würtenberger, Riedel devoted himself more in addition to oil painting. In 1914 he published seven lithographs and from 1915 he tried his hand at nudes, figures and landscapes in bright colors. Riedel was a member of the board of the association of engravers and the association of artists in Karlsruhe. Some of his etchings ended up in the print room, in the print collection of the ETH Zurich and in the Basel art collection. By the end of 1915, around 120 etchings (ex-libris, compositions, heads and landscapes) had been completed. He also published a cycle of etchings entitled Jura-Fantaisies, which he dedicated to Hans Thoma. Another cycle was created for Gerhart Hauptmann's drama Die versunkene Glocke and a series of etchings for Carl Spitteler's epic Olympischer Frühling.. He was represented with his works in exhibitions in Basel, Rome, Hanover, Hamburg and Munich, among others, and participated in several group exhibitions at the Kunsthaus in Zurich in 1916 and in the 1920s. From April 14 to May 12, 1951, his works were exhibited at the Basler Kunstverein along with those of Maria La Roche, Theodor Barth and Emil Schill.