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Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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Nude Nymph & Sea Demon

Artist:Heinrich Kley
Date:1910-20s
Medium:Mixed Medium on Artist's Paper
Dimensions:Sight Size 8 1/2" x 12 1/2" Framed 21" x 25"
Condition:Excellent
Original Use:Unknown
Price: Sold
Full view of Nymph & Sea Demon
Full view of Nude Nymph & Sea Demon
The artist's signature upper right
The artist’s signature upper right

 

Silk lined and matted under glass in fabulous ornate hand carved basswood frame.
Silk lined and matted under glass in fabulous ornate hand carved basswood frame.

In this whimsically imaginative drawing from the German expressionist and Jugendstil artist Heinrich Kley, a nude water nymph, whose form and pose evoke Venus, frightens away a sea demon as her consort, a dolphin of sorts, looks on laughing. In this mixed medium detailed work, Kley inverts the viewers expectation of women’s sensuality in a unique dark and satirical style. With this as an example, it’s easy to see why Walt Disney collected Kley and relied on similar images for some of the animation sequences in Fantasia. A rare full color rendering on blind-stamped artists paper, most of Kley’s surviving pieces are black and white pen & ink drawings. Framed in a fabulous ornate cornered hand carved basswood museum quality frame silk matted behind glass.

Detail of Demon
Detail of Demon

 

Detail of Nymph
Detail of Nymph

 

Frame corner detail
Frame corner detail

Heinrich Kley is best remembered today for satirical, despairing, and often obscene images which evinced a maniacal distrust of the industrial revolution and its automatized society. In 1907, a series of remarkable pen & ink drawings appeared in the Munich German Expressionist literary art magazine Die Jugend that captured the growing disillusionment of fin-de-siecle German counter-culture. Kley’s scathing and deftly rendered creations resonated with audiences and Kley became a leading interpreter of the follies and vices that beset mankind. Kley’s art appeared in the United States in 1937 and caught the eye of Walt Disney & Sketch Artists at the Disney studio, including Albert Hurter, Joe Grant, and James Bodrero. Hurter introduced Kley’s work to the Disney Studio and Walt Disney accumulated a collection of the artist’s work. The images in Kley’s art inspired a number of animated sequences and characters, including Night on Bald Mountain and the dancing animals of Dance of the Hours in Fantasia.

In 1947 the “Drawings of Heinrich Kley” was published with a forward by George Grosz. Of Kley, Grosz wrote: “Kley used the pen like the lariat of a temperamental cowboy [and] is a great draftsman of animals. Like Walt Disney he humanizes the beasts […] I am sure that the drawings of Heinrich Kley will be remembered and enjoyed as long as human beings retain the ability to laugh at themselves.”

Nude Nymph & Sea Demon

Artist: Heinrich Kley
Price:  Sold

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1910s, 1920s, aquatic, art nouveau, erotic, fantasy, german, german expressionism, grotesque, Heinrich Kley, Jugendstil, nude, nymph, vienna secessionist
Added to Gallery: January 1, 2017

 

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    About Grapefruit Moon Gallery

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery, based in Minneapolis MN, specializes in vintage pin up and original illustration art.  We are the proud home of the Bunny Yeager archives.

    Since 2003, Grapefruit Moon Gallery has been a leading dealer of exclusive original paintings by Gil Elvgren, Alberto Vargas, Earl Moran, Rolf Armstrong and Henry Clive, as well as vintage photographs, prints, and period decorative arts in ceramic and metal.

    All artworks featured are original, accurately represented, and guaranteed to be the work of the named artist.

    Interested buyers may view pieces by appointment and we are happy to answer any questions you may have. [Contact Us]

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