The hand-made monograph on
the life and work of Louis Christian
Hess. The dossier helped create interest
and enthusiasm in the project to
rediscover Hess' work which led in the
1970's to the travelling exhibition to
Italy, Austria and Germany.
(dma)
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The first monograph on the life and work of Louis Christian Hess was
produced by me in 1970 as a dossier-collage using photographs by
Venero Dominici and the documents collected over five years together
with Emma Hess, who carried out the translations into Italian. It
took such a long time to complete because it was necessary to
collate all the biographical data, classify all the archive
material, draw up a chronology of Hess' artistic output, establish
the various types of works and their precise measurements and the
original titles chosen by Hess. Collectors had to be contacted,
photographs taken of all available works, details noted of all the
paintings to be restored - some of the canvasses had been painted on
both sides, others revealed even three subjects painted one above
the other. After selecting photos, facts and documents I laid out
the individual pages - as collage - on white card, handwriting the
notes and captions in Italian and German. I added a text by Nuccio
Cinquegrani, reproductions from historic catalogues, reviews of
exhibitions as well as photocopies of sketches, notes and letters by
the Maestro. Finally I compiled a fully cross-referenced
index of names and
places. Altogether it came to just over 350 pages. When the
monograph was bound the finished product was a red album measuring
some 33x25x7 cms almost exactly like the one ably reproduced here.
This primitive monograph finally provided organised documentary
evidence of the validity of Hess' artistic importance and would
prove vital in gathering support for the Rediscovery of his art. So
that a promotional campaign could be carried out both in Italy and
abroad I made an almost identical copy of the illustrated monograph
- this time in a blue album, which can be seen at the bottom of the
page. Unfortunately the first monograph is no longer in my
possession.
I can only hope that one day the red album will be donated to the
Christian Hess Archive, together with the other copy of the handbook
for the travelling exhibition, various correspondence addressed to
me, and a collection of slides by Venero Dominici who ceded the
reproduction rights to me and to the Christian Hess Cultural
Association.
I would like to believe that as you look
through the monograph below, you too will
experience the same emotions as I did during research at the
extraordinary human and artistic qualities of this Maestro of German
Art between the two wars.
