Gabriel von Max (1840-1915)
cryptographic or pictographic manuscript
(autograph letter with cryptographs or pictographs)
dated upper left "23.10.88." (October 23, 1888)
ink on paper
22,4 x 14,3 cm (8 13/16 x 5 5/8 in.)
(detail only shown above, two "pages" of four)
Probably a coded love letter to his second wife Ernestine Max nee Harlander.
Exhibition History:
2011 "Gabriel von Max: Be-tailed Cousins and Phantasms of the Soul," Frye Art Museum, Seattle, July 9-Oct. 30, 2011
Publication History:
Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker, ed., Gabriel von Max (Seattle: Frye Art Museum, 2011), pg. 110 (catalogued without illustration).
References:
Susanne Böller, "Geheimcodes und Liebesbriefe [Secret Codes and Love Letters]," in Karin Althaus and Helmut Friedel, Gabriel von Max, Malerstar, Darwinist, Spiritist (München: Hirmer Verlag, 2010), at pp. 237-240. A partial key to von Max's code appears on page 238.
