May 10, 2004 - Sale 2006

Sale 2006 - Lot 16

Price Realized: $ 29,900
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
ZOOLOGISCHER GARTEN. 1912.
483/4x351/2 inches. G. M. B. H., Munich.
Condition A-: repaired tears and minor creases in margins.
Animals of all kinds were a source of inspiration for Hohlwein and he drew them with an ease and deftness born of respect. Animals feature in many of his posters and in 1912 he had three commissions for Zoos almost simultaneously. He designed two for the Munich Zoo, and one for the Nuremberg Zoo depicting a zebra and a parrot. Of them all, however, the Panther and the Leopard is one of his most famous and longest-lasting images. It was reissued in 1914 promoting a Festival at the Zoo (DFP-III 1476), and then reprinted again in 1965. Against a patterned brown background, the solid mass of the black panther, with a subtle and sophisticated green outline, makes the leopard stand out starkly. The image of the leopard is constructed of dots of yellow, black and green and is a virtuoso composition rarely equaled in graphic arts. DFP III 1408, Hohlwein no. 123, p. 142, Schone p. 191.