Da wohnten Menschen auf Kristall'nen Bäumen (There people lived in crystal trees), Wenzel Hablik

Artwork Overview

Wenzel Hablik, Da wohnten Menschen auf Kristall'nen Bäumen (There people lived in crystal trees)
Wenzel Hablik, Da wohnten Menschen auf Kristall'nen Bäumen (There people lived in crystal trees)
Wenzel Hablik
Da wohnten Menschen auf Kristall'nen Bäumen (There people lived in crystal trees)
1925
Wenzel Hablik
1881–1934
Da wohnten Menschen auf Kristall'nen Bäumen (There people lived in crystal trees), 1925
Portfolio/Series title: Cyklus Architektur--Utopie (Cycle Architecture-Utopia)
Where object was made: Europe
Material/technique: etching
Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 290 x 280 mm max.
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 11 7/16 x 11 1/2 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 401 x 304 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 15 13/16 x 12 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 x 16 in
Credit line: Anonymous gift
Accession number: 2010.0006
Not on display
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Exhibition Label: "Machine in a Void: World War I & the Graphic Arts," Mar-2010, Steve Goddard Before the War, Wenzel Hablik studied applied art in Vienna and Prague, becoming a master cabinetmaker. During the War he was a war artist, serving in the Carpathian Mountains until 1916 when he was wounded in the right arm. In 1927 he and his wife, Lisbeth Lindemann, set up a weaving workshop in Itzehoe. Amidst the political turmoil of postwar Germany, a group of progressive artists, architects, and critics formed the Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Work Council for Art). In 1919 members of this group formed a "pseudo-Masonic secret society," the Gläserne Kette (Crystal Chain), in which Hablik, who had been fascinated by crystals since childhood, was to play an important role. In this etching Hablik imagines a time when people live in crystal trees, as described in the text on the print: There people lived in crystal trees and trees that grew from God - and flowers of gold and precious stones, and blooming shrubs of glass sparkled between moss and strawberries and peaches, and happy children floated to race with the swallows See also the early utopian etching by Hablik at the beginning of this exhibition from his 1909 portfolio, Creative Forces, and the current exhibition in the Spencer Museum, Utopia/Dystopia.