item details
Overview
Otto Goetze (sometimes Goetz) (1868-1931/45) was a painter and etcher in Berlin at the turn of the 20th century. He studied at the Leipzig and Munich Academies and from 1908 specialised in etching and drypoint. Relatively little known today, he was in San Francisco by 1930 and his date of death is usually given as 1931 or 1945.
This drypoint print reveals Goetze as technically outstanding - to the point of slick - as a practitioner. The appeal is immediate if superficial - but why not? A beautiful young seated woman strikes the standard, pensive pose as she holds her book in a mysterious, glowing, firelit interior. The influence of Goetze's far better known elder contemporary, Anders Zorn, comes over powerfully.
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art November 2018