Michel Fingesten (1884–1943) - Arady Dr. Könyve

Michel Fingesten (1884–1943)

"Arady Dr. Könyve," c. 1925.

Etching, handsigned.

Size: 21 x 16 cm.
Mounted without adhesives. Frame with glass: 30.5 x 20.5 cm. In perfect condition.

A surreal and macabre composition depicting a skeleton in a top hat, smoking, positioned behind a figure wearing glasses; the scene also includes a heart-shaped head, with the inscription "MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO" at the top.

This famous quote by the Latin poet Juvenal takes on a deeply ironic and satirical tone in this work. Fingesten gently mocks the ideal of perfect health and balance, contrasting it with the inherent fragility of the human condition.

During the 1920s, Michel Fingesten lived in Berlin—at the time, the epicenter of the European artistic avant-garde and German Expressionism. A Czech-Austrian painter and graphic artist of Jewish descent, he is considered one of the most original, bold, and prolific designers of *ex libris* (bookplates) in the 20th century. With the rise of Nazism in Germany, his work was classified and persecuted as "degenerate art" (*Entartete Kunst*).
His impact on this small-scale format was so revolutionary that the Italian critic Giampiero Mughini once remarked, "Fingesten is to the history of the *ex libris* what Pablo Picasso is to the history of painting".


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