MoMA

German Expressionism

Works from the Collection


Styles Themes Techniques | Artists Print Publishers | Illustrated Books Portfolios Periodicals | Maps Chronology

THE COLLECTION

Gurlitt-Presse, Berlin

Showing 2 of 25

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

From the illustrated book

View All
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (frontispiece) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (frontispiece) from Die...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (frontispiece) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, folio following title page) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (plate, folio following...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, folio following title page) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, page facing colophon) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (plate, page facing...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, page facing colophon) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 7) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (in-text plate, page 7)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 7) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 8) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (in-text plate, page 8)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 8) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (tailpiece, page 11) from  Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (tailpiece, page 11) from...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (tailpiece, page 11) from  Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 12) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (plate, facing page 12)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 12) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 14) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (in-text plate, page 14)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 14) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (tailpiece, page 16) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (tailpiece, page 16) from...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (tailpiece, page 16) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 16) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (plate, facing page 16)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 16) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 19) from  Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (in-text plate, page 19)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 19) from  Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 20) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (plate, facing page 20)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 20) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 23) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (in-text plate, page 23)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 23) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 24) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (plate, facing page 24)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 24) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 26) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (plate, facing page 26)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 26) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 28) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (in-text plate, page 28)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 28) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 30) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (in-text plate, page 30)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 30) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 32) from Die Samländische Ode. 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (in-text plate, page 32)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (in-text plate, page 32) from Die Samländische Ode. 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 32) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (plate, facing page 32)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 32) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 34) from Die Samländische Ode. 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (plate, facing page 34)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 34) from Die Samländische Ode. 1918 (executed 1917)
  • Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 28) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)
    Untitled (plate, facing page 28)...
    1918 (executed 1917)
    Max Pechstein. Untitled (plate, facing page 28) from Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode). 1918 (executed 1917)

About this illustrated book

Heather Hess, German Expressionist Digital Archive Project, German Expressionism: Works from the Collection. 2011.

In 1918, Wolfgang Gurlitt published Die Samländische Ode (The Samland ode), an Expressionist lyric poem by Heinrich Lautensack with illustrations by Max Pechstein. In Lautensack's poem, written in 1915 while he was stationed with the German Army on the Baltic coast, the incursions of modern life—soldiers and telegraph poles—have barely touched the timeless, vast landscape of the Samland peninsula, an area of shifting dunes and desolate beaches at the eastern reach of Prussia. Pechstein, who knew this area well from his repeated stays in nearby Nidden, captured the essence of Lautensack's verse in twenty-one lithographs of bathers, frolicking horses, storm-tossed boats, and rustic Baltic architecture. Pechstein populated his raw northern landscapes with figures influenced by African tribal sculpture and Oceanic art, which were key sources in the Expressionist quest for authenticity and rejuvenation.

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Pechstein executed these prints in 1917 during an enormously productive period following his release from the army, when he completed approximately 160 paintings, including many influenced by his trip in 1914 to the Palau Islands in the South Pacific. Gurlitt had funded the trip, and Pechstein consequently owed him prints and portfolios. Die Samländische Ode partly satisfied this obligation.

Max Pechstein (German, 1881–1955)

The Illustrated Book

Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode)

View the interactive
page-turning animation »
Author:
Heinrich Lautensack
Date:
1918 (prints executed 1917)
Medium:
Illustrated book with twenty-one lithographs
Dimensions:
page (each approx.): 20 1/16 x 14 15/16" (51 x 38 cm); overall: 20 1/2 x 15 3/8 x 3/8" (52 x 39 x 1 cm)
Paper:
Cream, smooth, laid (Salvantik).
Publisher:
Fritz Gurlitt, Berlin
Printer of Plates:
Gurlitt-Presse, Berlin
Printer of Text:
Gustav Ascher GmbH, Berlin
Edition:
130 (including 30 bound in half-leather and 100 bound in half-linen [this ex.])
Credit Line:
Gift of R. Kirk Askew, Jr.
Copyright:
© 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Reference:
K. (L)230-250. Not in F. Rifkind 2233.
MoMA Number:
145.1945.1-21
Themes:
Literary Subjects, Nature, Nude, Primitivism, War
Share by E-mail
Share by Text Message