Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

HORST JANSSEN (Hamburg 1929 - 1995) SELF-PORTRAIT
Etching, 1965, from 'Europaische Graphik IV', published by Galerie Ketterer, Munich, in an edition of 65 with arabic numerals on Rives paper and XXXV with roman letters on Japanese paper. Signed in pencil 'Janssen 65' and numbered '28/65'. On Rives. With the Ketterer blind stamp. In good condition. To the platemark 369 x 252 mm, the entire sheet measuring 652 x 493 mm.

Horst Janssen is one of the most distinguished German artists in drawing and graphic arts. He studied at the State School of Art of Hamburg from 1946 to 1951 under Alfred Mahlau and experimented with various monotype printmaking techniques and did his first woodcuts. In 1954 he took up lithography. Janssen made large format woodcuts in colours in 1957; these works made his first success as an artist. After this he switched to etching, becoming a pupil of Paul Wunderlich. Etching soon became Jannsen's preferred technique. After 1963 he more and more used the direct medium of drawing. In 1964 Janssen was awarded the Darmstadt Art Prize. In 1965, a retrospective of his drawings and graphic works appeared in the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hanover. His position as a respected artist was bolstered by winning the Edwin-Scharff-Prize of the city of Hamburg in 1966. He won first prize for graphic art at the Venice Biennale in 1968. In 1975 he won another prize, the Schiller Prize of the city of Mannheim.