Please identify this "Beethoven and Goethe" art piece

January 11, 2009 10:31 AM

Please help identify an unusual art piece entitled "Beethoven and Goethe".

My wife and I went to a local (southeast Michigan) art fair / flea market and bought this. It is about 12 by 10 inches and about 1/8" thick; made of what looks like pressed oiled paper or leather. The back of the item is the same general shape but without the detail. The embossing is approximately 3/4" deep.

The seller said that they had sold the "companion" piece moments before we got to the booth and they could not remember the subject of the other piece.

Is it worth anything? What is the best way to sell the piece? eBay? Craigslist?

posted by Drasher to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Let's go the way of excluding certain things. The likenesses (both Beethoven and Goethe) are small. Also the bit of the piano that can be seen doesn't resemble anything Beethoven (or Goethe, for that matter) had at his disposal. The arrangement of the two (who only met each other in 1812 during a vacation) is not based on any historical event. The text is not in German.

The subject matter is hence at very best late 19th-century Beethoven kitsch. But the appearance points probably to the mid 20th century, perhaps even 1960s retro-style music room art à la Charlie Brown's Schroeder. This still doesn't say anything about the price. Some 1960s toys, for instance, sell very well.

One might find more info along the way of identifying the materials and the manufacture technique used for this piece. Perhaps one could try to get an idea about in how many copies such a thing likely was made, or find similar objects. Isn't this some high-density paper maché used here in order to imitate carved wood? In that case there could be thousands of these things around. If it is leather (unlikely, really), one could imagine a much smaller quantity...

It is a little disconcerting that Google turns up nothing, nothing at all.
posted by Namlit at 11:52 AM on January 11, 2009

Cuir Bouilli?
posted by R. Mutt at 1:19 PM on January 11, 2009

Response by poster: Now that you mention it, Namlit, the backside does look more like paper mache than it does leather. I would expect leather to be more smooth than the bumpy surface of the piece.
posted by Drasher at 5:00 PM on January 11, 2009

Should be possible to find out with, say, 10x magnification. Leather has regular pores of sorts, paper hasn't.
posted by Namlit at 3:39 AM on January 12, 2009