Der schöne Mensch in der Neuen Kunst. Internationale Ausstellung (The Beautiful Human in the New Art. International Exhibition)

Darmstadt: Darmstadt Mathildenhöhe, 1929. First edition. Softcover. Very good+. Small Quarto. 81pp., 20 plates, (12)pp. Original cream stiff wraps with modern design and typography in two color and light brown, white and black lettering on cover. The cover of this catalog is illustrated with a depiction of a female human body by Archipenko, courtesy of Gallery Flechtheim, Berlin. Catalog of the international exhibition organized by the constituency of progressive artists in Hesse: Darmstadt Secession and Darmstadt Group, from June 16th to October 6th, 1929. Sales of exhibited artwork were permissible only when mediated by the business office in the exhibition building. Photographs in this catalog were taken by F. V. d. Smissen, etchings y Fritz Haußmann and Kurt Frahnert, typography by Georg Breitwieser. Photos of artwork in the "Historical Section" of the exhibition were provided by various publishers and Museums.

In his foreword Hermann Keil draws up the parameters of artistic work, claiming "the distance art maintains captures more of the mystery of the body than the indiscreet closeness of science... The exhibition "Der schöne Mensch" is just as much (if not more) one of the naked human. Thus the human per se, without cosmetics of drapery... Artists of almost all European countries take part..." One page is dedicated to quotes on beauty by luminaries such as Rodin, Raffael, Kant, Dante, Goethe, A. Dürer, among others. Contains tables of proportions used in ancient Egypt, by Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, among others, and several statements on beauty by poets. Illustrated with 40 b/w photo-reproductions of art, 27 of them full page, and three drawings, two of them full page. Contains lists of art exhibited as well as artists organized by countries and by residence in a separate list.

Only 15 OCLC entries. Contains 12 pages of illustrated advertisements at rear, including one by Rothschild, Frankfurt, with tipped in color pattern of carpet. Inside and back covers contain advertisements. Text in German. Wraps with light creasing at lower foredge corner, and in center of lower half of cover, minor rubbing. Minor stains on side front cover and title page. Light pencil entries in catalog of artwork (pp. 56-68), likely by collector. Wraps in very good, interior in near fine to fine condition. The Matthildenhöhe is a cluster of buildings housing an artist group working there in the late 19th and early 20th century. It was founded in 1899 by the Grand Duke of Hesse Ernest Ludwig. Among the artists brought together by the Grand Duke were Peter Behrens, Paul B¨¨rck, Rudolf Bosselt, Hans Christiansen, among others. The first exhibition in 1901 featured the buildings as much as it did the artists and their work. The exhibition opened in May in conjunction with a festival proposed by Peter Behrens.