Ein schönes Mädchen

A photographer paints with light.
Shadows and luminescence

are used like brushes
to record the subject
through the camera lens.

An artist on the other hand
deals with line,
sketching only what is needed
to afix a portrait
onto a blank sheet of paper.

And whereas a photographer
must sense just the right moment
to click the camera shutter,

an artist must rely on memory
to patiently draw with pen or pencil

the image they remember
of what their eye sees.

* * *

These four portraits
are the work of Austrian artist
of  Hermann Torggler, (1878-1939).
This is my third post this year
featuring his charming postcards.
 

Previously his art was in

Up, Up, and Away!
and
The Girls of Austrian Postcards.

The first postcard is entitled  In Harmonie!  and shows a young woman playing a violin with her back turned so that she is in profile. It is the perspective I usually see of a violin soloist from my position in an orchestra. She is dressed in a light Grecian-style gown with bare shoulders that gives her a timeless classical appeal.

The postcard was sent on 18 December 1899 from Austria to Monsieur Gerome Walder of Mühlhausen, Elsass which is now Mulhouse, Alsace in eastern France. But in 1899 it was part of Germany as the result of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The message on the front is in French and conveys, "Thanks for the two pretty cards, but I have unfortunately no cards of the other series."

* * *

The second card is a charming portrait entitled Studienkopf  or head study. A young woman has her head turned in a 3/4 profile as she locks eyes with the artist. Like the others this Künstlerpostkarte, or Artist Postcard, was printed by F. A. Ackermann, Kunstverlag, München.  The artist's signature is printed next to the message in German which is unclear. The card was posted from Bavaria on 22 June 1900

* * *

The third card is captioned Erinnerung, or Memory. This wistful looking young woman is also drawn in profile as she wears a jaunty hat and a fur stole. My impression is that if Torggler was using a model, this is the same person as in the first two and possibly the last postcard.

This postcard was mailed on 30 March 1901 from Fleurier, Switzerland, a small town noted for watchmaking that is now merged to form the administrative district of Val-de-Travers in western Switzerland near the border of France. It was sent by G.B.O. to their cousin, Fräulein Leny Bossert, of Othmarsingen, Switzerland.

* * *

The last postcard is another fine profile portrait of a beautiful woman drawn in ink or charcoal pencil. Hermann Torggler entitles this portrait, Glück auf allen Wegen!, or Good luck on all roads! This sendoff, the equivalent of "drive safe", was likely not a empty wish considering that the postcard message is dated 15 Jan 1899. It was sent to Wohlgeboren Fräulein Adda Schrödter of Wien, Austria. The word Wohlgeboren, or well-born, is a form of address for the lowest ranks of German and Austrian nobility.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everyone is in profile.