The Art Nouveau graphic arts and literary journal PAN was published from 1895–1900 in Berlin, Germany. With over sixty original prints from the journal included in the exhibition, PAN: Prints of Avant-Garde Europe, 1895–1900 documents a new era of printmaking for the turn of the century, as well as the desire of the magazine’s founders to elevate graphic arts to the same level as the academic fine art of its day.
The prints created for PAN chronicle the transition from the more conservative art and ideas of the nineteenth century towards the progressive expressionism of the twentieth. Over its five years of publication, PAN was not only an advocate for young emerging artists, but also attracted an international selection of some of the most important painters and graphic artists of the time to fill its pages, such as Aubrey Beardsley, Käthe Kollwitz, Auguste Rodin, Georges Seurat, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Max Liebermann.
The result is a stunning visual arts magazine that today, over 120 years later, continues to have a voracious following that includes Art Nouveau lovers, graphic design enthusiasts, and art aficionados across the globe.
The editors of PAN were not looking for material gain through the printing of the magazine, but rather desired to show an “unclouded and complete picture of the creative forces of the time, as well as an overview of related efforts of earlier eras, without regard to commercial, moral, personal, or polemical questions, considering only the purely aesthetic point of view.”
The magazine’s five volumes are replete with plates, illustrations, color initials, and vignettes representing a multitude of processes of modern reproduction, including original lithographs, etchings, aquatints, woodcuts, and more. Its pages were not only full of graphic art visuals, but also literature and the creative printed word, such as poetry, drama, and musical compositions. Authors published include Otto Julius Bierbaum, Max Dauthendey, Richard Dehmel, and Arno Holz.
During its time of publication, PAN was the most expensive German art magazine. Each issue was printed in an edition of 1200-1600 copies. The general version, printed on copperplate paper, was priced at 75 marks, while the luxury edition, printed on imperial laid paper, was at 160 marks. The artist edition, which has additional loose original graphics on various precious papers and was offered only to those belonging to PAN’s cooperative, was priced at 300 marks. In 1895, an average worker’s salary was only 665 marks, so a single issue of PAN cost more than an average monthly wage. PAN was a true luxury item marketed towards an elite clientele.
The cost and complexities of the magazine’s production, as well as the wide-ranging styles and subject matter, proved to be an unsustainable endeavor, and thus PAN came to end in 1900. A revival under the direction of the Berlin art dealer and publisher Paul Cassirer in 1910 last only three years.
The prints in this exhibition were originally bound into a magazine format. In order to facilitate this exhibition, these works were carefully removed from the publication with the aid of a professional paper conservator in such a way that the journal will be able to be reconstituted to its original state at the end of the exhibition.
The works in this collection were on view at the Driehaus Museum from September 2020 through March 13, 2022, as part of the traveling exhibition PAN: Prints of Avant Garde Europe, 1895-1900 organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA in association with Denenberg Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA. As the exhibition closed in 2022, the Driehaus Museum acquired the collection from Denenberg Fine Arts to enhance its permanent collection holdings.
At the Driehaus Museum, this exhibition is supported in part by the Richard H. Driehaus Annual Exhibition Fund.
Curated by Robert Flynn Johnson, Curator Emeritus, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Art, San Francisco Museums of Fine Arts.