This is our second dip into the portfolio of Austrian artist Alfred Kubin. These works served as illustrations for Oscar A. H. Schmitz’s 1902 book Haschisch which, apart from the titular vice, found room for Satanism, sadism and other outré subject matter. The style here is far more vigorous than the burnished, smoky evocations of everlasting doom that constitute Kubin’s better-known work (examples of which, by the way, are on show in Nottingham until the end of the month). Schmitz is a fascinating figure in his own right – a randy, dandified cosmopolite who was one of the key figures of bohemian Munich at the beginning of the 20th century. His extensive diaries provide an important insight into the arts and letters of Wilhelmine Germany.
Further reading
Alfred Kubin | drawings
At home with Alfred Kubin
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