You may be aware that I am a fan of Catharina Klein; collecting her postcards, book illustrations and more recently one or two of her painting books. I would dearly love to own an original painting but have never seen one, signed by her, available. I have one that looks very much like her work but it is unsigned, so is believed to be by one of her followers. She must have painted thousands of pictures during her long painting career and always signed her work, so it is believed.
Catharina had a studio in Berlin from which she held art classes but this was not her only method of helping others to paint. In the early 1900s Raphael Tuck and Sons published a number of her painting books. These had either two or four of her postcards on the left hand page with outlines of the cards on the right hand side which could be coloured. Similar to the adult painting books that have become popular today. The paintings could be removed from the book and sent as postcards.
I am not quite sure how many books were published but I have found three and I expect there are more out there.
Hello!
I found your website today and I love it :o) Please forgive my poor English, I am not a native speaker.
Recently I wrote an article about Catharina Klein in German Wikipedia. Included are new bio facts that popped up lately (full name, place of birth, exact date of death etc.) Although it’s in German you may find it interesting. I noted on your writings about the commercial appeal of the roses of Mrs. Klein that she published two books in 1911 that are explicitly concerned with her painting techniques. Are these text books or just coloring books like the postcard painting books? Do you have more information about these two particular books? Perhaps you own them?
Best Regards,
Schnurri Kowski
Hello Schnurri
I have been delving into my notes to see if I can find out where I found this information but with little success. The books I have definitely say they are painting books but I see that on Pinterest there are others that do not say this. Perhaps they may be them. I will email you the link. She did paint illustrations for a number of books which I have seen but not purchased. If I find further information I will email you.
Got the link and photos. Now, that is something to start with. Many thanks! I will let know any progress.