LITERATURE: Gerd Woll: Edvard Munch 1895 first year as a graphic artist, exhibition catalogue Munch Museum 1995.
Lasse Jacobsen: “”Casual use of colour and disdain for drawing” – fragments from the story of Munch’s early reception”, Edvard Munch Works on Paper, exhibition catalogue Munch Museum 2.11.2013-02.03.2014, Oslo 2013, p. 162-175.
Julius Meier-Graefe, Wikipedia.

The Meier-Graefe Portfolio:
The portfolio was published in Berlin in June 1895.

Julius Meier-Graefe (1867-1935) was an artcritic, arthistorian and a writer. He was cofounder and editor for the magazine Pan, but had to leave his position after a year, after having had printed a picture by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. The board meant that he by doing this, did not pay ample attention to German artists. Later, in 1897, he founded the Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) magazine “Dekorative Kunst” and soon thereafter opened La Maison Moderne, a gallery that showcased Art Nouveau works. The gallery closed in 1903. His writings on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, with his most important contributions translated into French, Russian and English, are considered to have been instrumental for the understanding and the lasting success of these artistic movements. His writings on Caspar David Friedrich made him known for a wider audience, and he “rediscovered” El Greco.

In 1895, Meier-Graefe had the portfolio published at his own expense in collaboration with the artist. It comprised 8 etchings by Edvard Munch accompanied by a small introductory booklet written by Meier-Graefe. Jacobsen, p. 170.

The prints were pulled at Angerer’s in Berlin – the first ten impressions on handmade Japanese paper which were all numbered and signed by the artist. The copper plates were then steelcoated, and 55 impressions were pulled on ordinary wove paper. None of these impressions were signed. Woll, p. 26.

This time we have for sale 5 of the 8 etchings that was comprised in the Meier-Graefe portfolio, see cat. nos. 2 “The Girl by the Window”, 3 “Kristiania Bohemians I”, 4 “Moonshine. Night in Saint-Cloud”, 5 “The Sick Child” and 6 “Dr. Max Asch”. (The other 3 were “Tête-à-tête”, “The Day After” and “Two Human Beings. The Lonely Ones”).