1196 - Horst Janssen, head in profile with long dark strands, etching by the Hamburg draughtsman, 1994

Horst Janssen, head in profile with long dark strands, etching by the Hamburg draughtsman, 1994 (1929 Hamburg – 1995 ibid.), etching/paper, mounted on a support, numbered 94/100 in pencil lower right, monogrammed and dated 94. Inscribed and dated 8.6.94 in the plate lower left. Head in profile to the left, its features only suggested in thin line, while the darkly etched hair fills the centre of the image and runs out below in long strands; all around, open paper bearing the fine scratch and wiping marks of the plate. Good condition, paper slightly creased outside the image. Image 30 x 21 cm (HxW), mount, behind glass, framed, overall 67 x 54 cm (HxW). Horst Janssen is regarded as one of the most important German draughtsmen and etchers of the post-war period. After his mother's death he grew up with his grandparents in Oldenburg; from 1946 he studied at the Hamburg state art school under Alfred Mahlau, who held him to precise observation and draughtsmanly discipline. In 1968 he received the Grand Prize for Graphic Art at the Venice Biennale, in 1966 the Edwin Scharff Prize of the City of Hamburg. Characteristic of his etchings is the dating to the exact day in the plate, with which he recorded the sheet like a diary entry.