SERIES OVERVIEW:
This series attempts to showcase material by artists whose work might be described as 'decadent' in its style or subject matter.
It does not intend to give anything other than the briefest of biographical overviews (though references for such are given within each entry). It instead aims to present a short selection of illustrations which are either typical of the artists work or perhaps illustrate a text or theme that falls within the remit of the series.
We welcome suggestions or contributions to this ongoing series.
Born in 1879 in Weimar, Behmer came from a middle class background with artistic leanings, and began making his name around 1900 when he began to contribute illustrations to magazines such as the Berlin based Insel' and the controversial satirical journal 'Simplicissimus'. He was associated with the circle around Stefan George (he designed a typeface for him) as well as homosexual underworld of Adolf Brand and Magnus Hirschfeld. Under the pseudonym 'Maurice Besnaux' he contributed to the decadent journal 'The Amethyst'. Subtitled "Sheets of strange literature and art" and only available via subscription, it specialized in translating authors like Casanova, Poe, Verlaine, and de Gourmont and had supplements of artworks by the likes of Kubin, Rops, Rowlandson and Beardsley. It is the latters influence that predominates in Behmers known work, a German edition of Wilde's 'Salome' (Insel Verlag 1903) the illustrations to which are posted below.
The success of this led to work on an editions of the 'Rubaiyat' and '1001 Nights' as well as books by Poe and Blazac, generally in small/fine press editions.
After serving in Flanders in WWI, he returned to illustration and book design but it was his work on a version of the 'Book Of Jonah' (Insel Verlag 1930 in a tiny edition of 300) and a bibliophiles edition of the 'Torah' (1928, 850 copies, and regarded as one of the most beautiful versions) that finally bought him into trouble with the emerging Nazi authorities who assumed (wrongly) that he was Jewish. They first banned him from working and then imprisoning him. He narrowly escaped extermination.
He returned to Berlin after he was released from jail, and continued to draw and paint until his death in 1956.
Below is a selection of works, including a complete 'Salome'.
TWO ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
TWO ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
It does not intend to give anything other than the briefest of biographical overviews (though references for such are given within each entry). It instead aims to present a short selection of illustrations which are either typical of the artists work or perhaps illustrate a text or theme that falls within the remit of the series.
We welcome suggestions or contributions to this ongoing series.
MARCUS BEHMER
INTRODUCTION
Born in 1879 in Weimar, Behmer came from a middle class background with artistic leanings, and began making his name around 1900 when he began to contribute illustrations to magazines such as the Berlin based Insel' and the controversial satirical journal 'Simplicissimus'. He was associated with the circle around Stefan George (he designed a typeface for him) as well as homosexual underworld of Adolf Brand and Magnus Hirschfeld. Under the pseudonym 'Maurice Besnaux' he contributed to the decadent journal 'The Amethyst'. Subtitled "Sheets of strange literature and art" and only available via subscription, it specialized in translating authors like Casanova, Poe, Verlaine, and de Gourmont and had supplements of artworks by the likes of Kubin, Rops, Rowlandson and Beardsley. It is the latters influence that predominates in Behmers known work, a German edition of Wilde's 'Salome' (Insel Verlag 1903) the illustrations to which are posted below.
The success of this led to work on an editions of the 'Rubaiyat' and '1001 Nights' as well as books by Poe and Blazac, generally in small/fine press editions.
After serving in Flanders in WWI, he returned to illustration and book design but it was his work on a version of the 'Book Of Jonah' (Insel Verlag 1930 in a tiny edition of 300) and a bibliophiles edition of the 'Torah' (1928, 850 copies, and regarded as one of the most beautiful versions) that finally bought him into trouble with the emerging Nazi authorities who assumed (wrongly) that he was Jewish. They first banned him from working and then imprisoning him. He narrowly escaped extermination.
He returned to Berlin after he was released from jail, and continued to draw and paint until his death in 1956.
Below is a selection of works, including a complete 'Salome'.
MARCUS BEHMER
ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
'SALOME'
(INSEL VERLAG 1903)
(INSEL VERLAG 1903)
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| Cover |
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| Title Pages |
TWO ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
'THE AMETHYST'
(VERLAG CW STAR 1906)
(VERLAG CW STAR 1906)
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| Cover |
TWO ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
'ZADIG'
(PAN-PRESS 1912)
(PAN-PRESS 1912)
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| Cover |
