Two etchings by Jürgen Partenheimer, from the portfolio De consolatione philosophiae (1986), are the latest acquisitions by Olla Art. It concerns etchings with aquatint on Hahnemühle Bütten paper. The chine collé technique was used. This is an etching technique in which you do not print on a sheet of ‘normal’ etching paper, but on a sheet of wafer-thin (for example Japanese or Chinese) paper, which is glued on a pre-printed or unprinted support sheet during the printing process. In this way you can achieve finer printing, superimpose layers of semi-transparent paper, and combine different printing techniques and colours.
Providence and fortune
The title of the portfolio, De consolatione philosophiae (‘On the consolation of philosophy’), refers to the work of the same name by the politician and philosopher Anicius Boethius. Boethius wrote the work around 524, when he was in prison awaiting trial and later execution. Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, suspected him of colluding with the Byzantine Empire and had him imprisoned.
Boethius’ bitter experience is echoed in his work, which reflects on the question of how evil can exist in a world ruled by God, and how happiness can be subject to the fickleness of fortune. Boethius’ De consolatione philosophiae, in which prose and poetry alternate and concepts such as fortune (in the sense of fate) and providence are central, would exert a great influence on thinking for over a thousand years.
Jürgen Partenheimer, De consolatione philosophiae, 1986
Etching with aquatint, 64.7 x 47.7 cm (sheet)
Over the centuries, Boethius’s work has been translated and re-edited many times, including by Geoffrey Chaucer. In English, there is a ‘modern English’ version of King Alfred’s version of the Consolations of Boethius, done by Walter John Sedgefield (Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1900). This text can be consulted here.
Jürgen Partenheimer, De consolatione philosophiae, 1986
Etching with aquatint, 65 x 47.7 cm (sheet)
Edition
The etchings are, as is often the case with Partenheimer, not numbered.
In the Werkverzeichnis on www.jurgenpartenheimer.com, De consolatione philosophiae is registered under the title ‘Über den Trost der Philosophie’ as WZ 86/35. Mention is made of a box with eight etchings, published in an edition of 10 copies by Galerie Heike Curtze in Dusseldorf/Vienna. The work catalogue by Linsmann (2004) also mentions this edition. However, an edition with a suite of six etchings is also known, published by the Griffelkunst Vereinigung in Hamburg.
The etchings offered by Olla Art are included in the Griffelkunst-Editionsverzeichnis as 242 A2 and A6 respectively.
Information
The etchings are offered for 245 euros each. The set price is 450 euros. Email us for more information or to order.
Olla Art previously devoted a newsletter to Jürgen Partenheimer.
Reference
Maria Linsmann & Jürgen Partenheimer (2004). Künstlerbücher. Werkverzeichnis 1970-2004. Cologne: Wienand.