Who’s Who in Graphic Design: Joseph Kaspar Sattler Part 1
Joseph Kaspar Satter was Born July 26, 1867 in Schrobenhausen, Germany. He died at the age of 64 on May 12, 1931, in Munich, Germany. Joseph Kaspar Satter was a German painter, bookplate artist, and Art Nouveau illustrator. He is hailed as one of the leading figures of Art Nouveau. For some time in Landshut, he participated in an apprenticeship under his father in order to become a painter. During his apprenticeship, he was introduced to gilding. He was educated at the Fine Arts Academy in Munich and worked as a freelance artist for some time in Munich as well. Much of his artwork was strongly influenced by the medieval art that he discovered from his travels through a variety of museums. His art was also influenced by the professors that taught him at the Fine Arts Academy in Munich. The main four professors that taught and inspired him were “Hakl, Raupp, Gysis, and Seitz”. In 1891 Satter moved to Strasbourg and was hired at the School of Decorative Arts as a drawing teacher.
After teaching for less than six months at the school Sattler published a personal collection of drawings that were titled Die Quelle in 1892. A year later in 1893 Sattler partnered up with Charles Spindler on Les Images Alsaciennes. Then La Plume organized an exhibition that highlighted many of Sattler’s works at the Museum of Industrial Art in Berlin in 1894. Sattler had many other exhibitions throughout his career. Some of these exhibitions included the 1895 Salon des Amis des Arts in Strasbourg, and the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris. He also had an exhibition in Mulhouse at the Museum of Fine arts in 1907. Strattler actually won an award for one of the illustrations he did for “Die Niebelungen in 1897,” in the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris. A few other notable illustration pieces Sattler collaborated on with other artists were the Revue Alsacienne Illustrée and Le Secours des Morts.
Joseph Sattler was drafted into WW1 and was stationed on the western front from 1914-to 1950. During his time surviving in the war he was able to capture the realism of the people suffering in the war within his illustrations. Joseph Sattler did not learn lithography until after WW1. It is very important to look at Joseph Sattler’s name as a book pallet artist who has been well known by many modern German book-plate artists. However, Joseph Sattler’s name and artwork remained unfamiliar to many American and English book-pallet artists, engravers, and designers. He was well known for creating a very unique process for working with lithography which was very different from the copper and or steel plated book plated work that was found in Europe and America.
Out of his whole career, Satter is best known and remembered for his work in Pan magazine. The Pan magazine was a “highly influential but short-lived magazine that was devoted to art, literature, social commentary, and politics.” Along with work from the Pan magazine he is also well known for being the one who designed the type font called “Nibelungen Schrift” in 1897.
Sources:
http://www.cerclesaintleonard.com/page.php?url=fiche_12
http://www.klingspor-museum.de/KlingsporKuenstler/Schriftdesigner/sattler/JKSattler.pdf (*note*this is in german so I put it through a translation app to understand the information)