Untitled (deer in woods)

Hugo Bantau

German artist Hugo Bantau has the distinction of being an artist of prolific output but about whose life little information is available. He was known primarily for his portrait and landscape paintings, as well as highly detailed bookplates, and in this untitled etching we can see the sensibilities of those mediums combine within the boundaries of the small matrix.

Careful attention is paid to the finest details: the arrangement of the geologic features that dwarf the two deer grazing beneath; the lush, draping, unfurling plantlife that frame the animals in a nest of soft solitude. It appears that the artist was hesitant to intrude upon the bucolic scene, choosing instead to hide behind a screen of ferns and ivy and allow nature to continue undisturbed.