Poppies – Cornflowers – Wheat ears.

Gerlach & Schenk/ Gerlach & Wiedling Vienna 1896-1909

chromolithograph; image approx 30 x 40 cm. with wide margins. paper nicely toned; occasionally some minor tears or some soft creases but not affecting image; good to excellent condition unless otherwise stated. contemporary ink stamp on verso.

A very atttractive print from Anton Seder’s ‘ Die Pflanze in der Decorativen Kunst’ – The Plant in Decorative Arts; a collection of prints showcasing plants and animals ( Das Thier in der Decorativen Kunst – The Animal in Decorative Arts) in intricate Art Nouveau designs occasionally high-lightened in gold. His work had great influence on the Art Nouveau movement and most plates bear his own initials ‘AS’ though other artists contributed, too like Birkenger, E. Unger, Franz Patek, H. Kaufman & E. Klimt.

Seder (1850-1916) was born in Munich, Germany were he was active as a painter, sculptor and architect before he became the first director of the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, founded in 1890, in Strasbourg, Alsace which, at the time, was German before it was returned to France in 1918.