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To
come straight to the point, Ferdinand Preiss was
my grandfather. That alone would be reason enough
to create a Web site about him but, on top of
that, he is also a famous grandfather. When he
was still unknown and I was a child, I already
figured among his greatest admirers. At that
time, during the 1950s, one would have been able
to purchase his sculptures for a song. When Art
Déco came back into fashion in the 1970s that
changed. The Preiss sculptures developed into a
small sensation on the art market and obtained
sensational prices at auctions. The unknown
artist, who signed himself F. Preiss, was given
the first name Fritz or Frederic and people
presumed that he was an Austrian or a Czech by
birth. However, Ferdinand Preiss was born in the
place where most German ivory carvers come from,
in Erbach in the Odenwald. During my lifetime I have
come across many of his sculptures: in antique
shops for more or less prohibitively expensive
prices, sometimes as originals but also sometimes
as fakes, and in many art books about the Art
Déco period. My grandfather, therefore, is not
unknown today as an artist.
Write to me if
you like the Preiss sculptures or if you are an
art collector or if you have questions. I look
forward to receiving your mail.
Jutta Stern (born
Preiss)
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