Dreher Carvings. Gemstone Animals from Idar-Oberstein

Book / Arnoldsche Collecting Collecting Technics

Published: 27.11.2017

Dreher Carvings. Gemstone Animals from Idar-Oberstein.

Galina Gabriel
Mikhal Ovchinnikov
Wilhelm Lindemann

Edited by:: Arnoldsche Art Publishers

Edited at:: Stuttgart

Edited on:: 2017

Technical data:: 240 pp., 22 x 29 cm, 200 colour ills. Hardcover with dust jacket

ISBN / ISSN:: 978-3-89790-507-8

Price:: from 48 €

Order:: Arnoldsche Art Publishers
Order:: 20% Discount for Klimt02 members

Inner page of the book.

Overwhelmingly produced from a single stone, the sculptures are captivating in their formal idiom, which is carved in the minutest detail. The colouration of the stone harmonises perfectly with the carved animals’ anatomy, giving the impression that they have forever been in waiting for release from their raw material. The publication brings the fascinating animal sculptures from Idar-Oberstein to a wider audience. A special book for animal lovers and for collectors of exclusive stone carvings alike.

Engravers Gerd and Patrick Dreher are famous the world over for their masterly animal figures cut from a single gemstone. In the early twentieth century, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather all cut gemstones for Fabergé – mostly agate but also ruby, obsidian, aquamarine, citrine and rock crystal. Today they are still being meticulously made by hand using traditional techniques. The realistic miniature forms of mice, snails, toads, monkeys and hippos are designed by the two artists in multilayered and coloured gemstones so that, for example, the faces, palms of the hand or soles of the feet shine in an iridescent red-brown agate while the bodies are worked in the glossy deep black part of the stone. These unique engravings are today some of the rarest examples of the highest quality in craftsmanship and represent fascination of the highest cultural degree in a world of increasing globalisation.

With additional short essays by: Anton Ananiev, Gerd Dreher, Galina Gabriel, Oleg Gerdt, Alan Hart, Mikhail Ovchinnikov, Raquel Alonso-Perez and Robert Weldon.

Text in English

Contents:
6 - Dieter Hahn, Jörg Lindemann: Foreword.
8 - Oleg Gerdt: Idar Oberstein, A Gemstone of Europe.
14 - Wilhelm Lindemann: Gerd and Patrick Dreher. The Art of Stonecutting Today.
24 - Will Larson, Gerd Dreher: Five generations of Gemstone Carving: The Dreher Family.
34 - Mikhail Ovchinnikov: The Dreher Family Cultural Code.
42 - Ekkehard Schneider: The Process of Carving a Gemstone.
46 - Robert Weldon: Photographer's Delight: Capturing a Living Dreher Carving.
50 - Step by Step: A Gemstone Animal Comes to Life.
52 - Catalog Homages.
123 - Robert Myers.
174 - Raquel Alonso-Perez.
198 - Alan Hart.
218 - Carl Larson.
219 - Bill Larson.
221 - Will Larson.
222 - Rüdiger Pohl: The Gallery Experience.
226 - Johannes Keilmann: Agate Dreams.
230 - Galina Gabriel.
232 - Anton Ananiev: Five Generations of Arts and Crafts.
234 - Maxim Artsinovich.