Beschreibung:

Tremendous archive of original watercolors, drawings, manuscripts, and scholarly materials related to shoes and their historical and their cultural significance, by KARL FRIEDRICH SCHOENSIEGEL, one of the most significant collectors of shoes of the 20th century, comprising: 1. "Das Schuhmuseum in der Mappe" [The Shoe Museum in a Portfolio]. 277 original watercolors on paper (approx. 240 x 360 mm each), executed by Schoensiegel, depicting shoes in the artist's own collection and in the collections of museums around the world, housed in 6 portfolios hand-titled in black and red. The watercolors are grouped into several geographic and historical sections: Asia, Africa, America, Australia, and Europe; Antiquity, Middle Ages, and 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. Accompanied by a manuscript catalog (305 x 221 mm) of the collection. Watercolors bright and clean. 2. A collection of 61 smaller original watercolors on paper, 7 ink drawings, 1 drawing in pencil, and 1 shoe sole and ink collage, of shoes, soles, and related subjects, many of an erotic nature. One watercolor lightly soiled at edges; otherwise all illustrations bright and clean. 3. 145 original tracings on transparencies of shoes (many from the watercolors in the Schuhmuseum) and related subjects, perhaps for use in lectures. 4. Several manuscripts and typescripts, published and unpublished, of Schoensiegel's and his collaborator Valentin Dittmeier's historical and interpretative studies of shoes. Including: Der Bau und die Funktion des Fusses [Ulm-Donau: Fachzeitung der Schuhmachermeister, 1939]; Der Schuhim Wandel durch Sechs Jahrtausende [Ulm-Donau: Fachzeitung der Schuhmachermeister, 1940.]; Von der Bedeutung (Symbolik) des Fusses und des Schuhs; Geschichte der Fussbekleidung; and Uber die Bedeutung des Fusses und des Schuhes. 5. Several folders containing miscellaneous materials befitting educational use or the preparation of manuscripts; including mounted clippings, reproductions of drawings, and other ephemera, with extensive annotations and captions in Schoensiegel's hand, as well as a portfolio of mounted B&W and color photographs and reproductions featuring the legs of women wearing high heels. 6. Two pairs of shoes: Bally International, Ascot 3522, black high-heeled pumps with front bow detail; and Saks Fifth Avenue, Debutante Fashion; round-toed dorset ankle-strapped high-heeled pumps. Inventory numbers affixed to both shoes. At the beginning of the last century, Munich collector and scholar Karl Friedrich Schoensiegel assembled what was at the time one of the most important collections of shoes in the world. His collection was exhibited in Berlin in 1939 but the War prevented further public exhibition or publication. Schoensiegel's vibrant and skillful watercolor renderings document that collection in part, and the other materials gathered herein preserve an important contribution to fashion scholarship that has yet to be fully realized. See illustrations.