[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]
POTTNER, Emil (1872-1942)
Farmyard Fowl
color woodcut on paper / 4.5 inches by 5.5 inches (image) / #37 of 200
undated
Swimming Ducks
color woodcut on paper / 6.75 inches by 11.5 inches (image) / unspecified edition
undated
Austrian Emil Pottner was born in Salzburg but trained as an artist in Munich and spent most of his shortened life in greater Berlin. From a likeside studio near Potsdam, Pottner created majolica ceramics and wrote self-illustrated books; animals were the predominant subject of his drawings and prints. But the rise of Fascism forced him to sell his property in 1938. Four years later he was deported to Theresienstadt, from there on September 26 to Treblinka, and finally to Maly Trestinez near Minsk for extermination. He was last seen on 28 September 1942. These two poignant works probably date from the ‘teens and twenties.
“Farmyard Fowl” and “Swimming Ducks” are on extended loan to the Community Collection from Temple Emanu-El.
