Egon Krannich:Franz Karl Mohr -das Gesamtwerke. Edition Krannich 2017. 172 pages, illustrated. Text in German.
As stated before, I am glad that I waited for this new book. Of course it doesn't really superseed the two earlier books on the subject, but fresh information is allways welcome.
The book runs in chronological order, makes it easy to read. Superb illustrations, quite often whole page or even spread. Old black and white photos of probably now lost dioramas are quite interesting. Some sets and figures are shown in variations by different painters. The recent achievements by Gianfranco Speranza surely enriches the book.
The author deals shortly with the engraver's background, what he did besides and private life. But my opinion is that Krannich talks too much about the novels Mohr illustrated in the 1930s. Important of course as a proof of the engraver's early interest in the peasant wars of 16th century.
Interesting to learn about the backgroud of the different series. As a citizen of Finland I was pleased with the coverage on Gustavus II Adolph's funeral, I had longed to learn about the original painting that the figures loosely are based on, searched in vain on the net. But then Professor Schmidt's painting isn't well known even home in Germany.
I did know that gypsy camp was one of his first. But did you know that he made figures out of tinplate by hand before the war? Remindes me of the Russian guy who napoleonic figures the same way a little bit latter.
