Description

Original etching and aquatint Noah’s Ark by Oskar Laske (1874–1951) Circa 1912. Signed in pencil with a quote to the margin from Genesis:

“Then all of them went into the crate to Noah, male and female in pairs, from the clean cattle to the unclean”

Dimensions: 59cm wide, 51cm high.

Laske was an important Austrian painter, illustrator, and printmaker known for his richly detailed and imaginative compositions.

This work reflects Laske’s distinctive style, combining precise architectural structure with lively, narrative scenes filled with movement and character. Noah’s Ark depicts the biblical story with his signature complexity and humour, bringing together a wide range of animals and figures in a dynamic, finely detailed composition.

Laske’s prints are highly regarded for their technical mastery and storytelling quality, placing him among the notable figures of early 20th-century Austrian art. His work bridges the tradition of fine printmaking with the expressive energy of modernist illustration.

Oskar Laske was an Austrian painter and printmaker whose early training as an architect under Otto Wagner shaped the precise, carefully structured compositions that define his work. After several years practising architecture, he turned fully to art around 1904, becoming known for his lively, narrative scenes filled with movement and detail. A member of the Vienna Secession, the Hagenbund and later the Künstlerhaus, he travelled widely and developed a distinctive, often whimsical visual language across watercolour, painting and etching.