We recently received a consignment to sell a collection of Diefenbach postcards, framed silhouettes, and a wonderful book called "Per Aspera Ad Astra".
According to history, Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach was one of the founder's of the hippie movement.
In the 1860s an ex-Protestant minister named Eduard Baltzer published his four-volume book about naturliche lebensweise or "natural life style". He organized some vegetarians and founded a Free Religious Community, then later published a book on Pythagoras as the ancestor of his movement.
Baltzers writings had a strong influence upon a young painter named Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach (1851-1913) who also went on to form several communities and workshops for religion, art and science. Diefenbach spent the last portion of his life on the Mediterranean isle of Capri, which was a retreat for other life-reformers. He died and is buried there on the island, and there is a museum with 300 of his works.
His silhouettes are whimsical, lyrical, beautifully formed and fantastical - all at the same time. Who'd ever dream of the wonderful, imaginative art except someone who was a little out there?
Well, you don't have to be out there to enjoy them. We are selling them at a rapid clip. Enjoy the pictures!
