Alt Wien, Karlskirche

 

Max Pollak

  1886 - 1970 (biography)

c. 1915  

etching and soft-ground etching with color aquatint 

22 3/4 x 20 1/8" platemark; 21-7/16 x 19-1/4" image size 

pencil, lower right 

not stated; presumed fewer than 25 impressions 

pencil titled, lower left 

 

heavy, sturdy cream wove 

published 

artist 

23196 

Price On Request 

"Karlskirche" --or St. Charles Church -- is the commonly used name for the Rektoratskirche St. Karl Borromäus, an 18th century structure on the River Wien in Vienna, Austria. The Baroque structure was commissioned by Charles VI, King of Bohemia, to honor Charles Borromeo (1538 - 1584), saint of bishops, catechists, and seminaries, who was cannonized in the 17th century for healing and feeding tens of thousands of plague victims in Milan after the ruling class fled in fear. In 1713, when the last great Plague began to sweep through Vienna, as a prayerful pledge King Charles VI vowed to build Karlskirche in the saint's honor if the plague left the city. By 1715 the Plague had ended and construction of the church began on the bank of the River Wien. Max Pollak, painter and printmaker, was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1886. He was raised in Vienna and, in 1902, he entered the Vienna Academy of Art where he studied under William Unger and Ferdinand Schmutzer. In 1912, Pollak traveled to Italy, France, and Holland to study and paint. During the First World War, he was appointed painter for the Austrian Army. The Pollaks immigrated to the United States in 1927, living for a time on the east coast where he produced a series of color aquatints of New York, Cincinnati, and Detroit. His first exhibition was at the 57th Street Art Gallery in New York and he was commissioned by Theodore Dreiser in 1929 to illustrate his book, 'My City.' In 1938, Pollak and his wife, Friedl, moved to San Francisco, California. Pollak was inspired by his new city and its environs and produced beautiful views of San Francisco Bay Area. Later travels included trips to Mexico and Guatemala. Max Pollak was a member of the Chicago Society of Etchers and the California Society of Etchers.