Willy

Hugo Graetz’s Guestbook with Original Artworks by Members of the Novembergruppe

1965 · réf. 918 — Germany - Israel 1965. Original half-cloth binding with marbled paper panels and ornamented printed endpapers. Pages are handmade Zanders paper. Binding slightly rubbed corners bumped some pages loose. Rear endpaper restored at the joint. Inside clean. Overall in very good condition. The guestbook contains 17 full-page artworks paintings and drawings in ink crayon and pencil many signed and dated 1920–1921 in Berlin some with short dedications. Additionally there are 12 pages of handwritten greetings dated 1955&n. The guestbook contains 17 full-page artworks paintings and drawings in ink crayon and pencil many signed and dated 1920–1921 in Berlin some with short dedications. Additionally there are 12 pages of handwritten greetings dated 1955&n. Original half-cloth binding with marbled paper panels and ornamented printed endpapers. Pages are handmade Zanders paper. . 38 leaves including 17 with full-page artworks graphics and paintings and 12 pages of handwritten greetings. Page size: 22 × 28 cm. Illustrated guestbook of Hugo Graetz art dealer and managing director of the Novembergruppe a collective of German Expressionist artists. This guestbook belonged to Hugo Graetz an art dealer and the managing director of the Novembergruppe a prominent collective of German Expressionist artists. The volume includes: Two drawings by Friedrich Feigl 1884–1965 Czech Expressionist painter. An ink drawing by Jakob Steinhardt 1887–1968 a German-born Israeli painter member of the Berlin Secession founder of the Pathetiker Group and later associated with the Bezalel school group. Three images by Willy Robert Huth 1890–1977 a founding member of the “Jung-Erfurt” artist group and two collaborative works with Martel Schwichtenberg 1896–1945 who also contributed an individual pencil drawing. Schwichtenberg was a member of the Deutschen Werkbund and the Novembergruppe. A portrait of Hugo Graetz playing the cello by Wilhelm Schmid 1892–1971 a founding member of the Novembergruppe. A gouache by Otto Beyer 1885–1962 member of the Berlin Secession. A signed crayon drawing and an unsigned painting by Franz Winninger 1893–1960. Four works by unidentified artists. The greetings written during the Graetz family’s later years in Israel provide a personal and historical complement to the artworks. The Novembergruppe was founded in 1918 by Max Pechstein and César Klein to promote Expressionist art and its connection to social and cultural transformation. Hugo Graetz became its managing director in 1919 a position he held until Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. After emigrating to Palestine with his wife Trude Graetz left the art business settling in Safed and working as a meteorologist and weatherman on Mount Canaan where he lived for the rest of his life. . unknown