The calendar book mentioned in the title, is actually an almanac, a collection of facts and predictions for the next year. A wide range of data covers statistics, astronomical, geographical, historical facts, etc. A typical almanac presents some neatly arranged tables (like the dates of full moons, for instance) and is meant to be useful for a whole year. Today, such almanacs are mostly used in specific areas, such as educational institutions with relatively predictable schedules, where they provide important contacts, dates, events, and other facts, useful for the participants. A wider audience is way less interested in almanacs because most people depend on searches on their mobile devices. We won't go into details for this specific yearbook because data for 1897 is not very interesting. We will spend some time and space on the graphics, though.
Emil Rudolf Weiss (1875-1942) and Felix Edouard Vallotton (1865-1925) were both painters with a wide range of skills. They were masters of black and white graphics which is more than obvious in the presented book.
We won't present the whole book here. Instead, there are only a few parts to make an impression of calendar-related art from times when the printing technique was making huge steps. These steps were not always in the right direction but always made an important impact on society and especially on artists.
As we can see, the cover is pretty shy, considering the word 'colorful' in the title. There are only two additional colors (red and blue) to black on the cream background. Both colors are (very sparsely) present on the inside pages, but never together. Each color was printed separately, drying of each paint took time, and binding was a nightmare. Such books were never cheap and were meant for gifts. Only a decade later, the book market completely changed, and the so-called Golden Era started with luxurious prints, but this is another story.
The most important (and reliable) part of the calendar book was the calendar page for each month. Each date is assigned a day in the week, connected with a saint, and there are moon phases, as well. Here they are:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
The zodiac obviously plays an important role in this edition, so it's not surprising to find all symbols of zodiac signs drawn, as well. These symbols are not signed, but according to style, they are probably made by Felix Vallotton. There's a huge problem, though. The designer put them in the wrong places. They are not placed in the right order, either. So we will present the zodiac symbols in the right order, which is the most normal for every Horoscope (the year starts with Spring) reader, and assign the dates for each one of them too:
Aries (March 21 - April 19)
Taurus (April 20 - May 20)
Gemini (May 21 - June 20)
Cancer (June 21 - July 22)
Leo (July 23 - August 22)
Virgo (August 23 - September 22)
Libra (September 23 - October 22)
Scorpio (October 23 - November 21)
Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21)
Capricorn (December 22 - January 19)
Aquarius (January 20 February 18)
Pisces (February 19 - March 20)
For everybody who prefers visual representation, we created simple graphics (this is not part of the book but would come in very handy to the designer in 1896) below:
There are also songs, proverbs, and short stories related to the months and seasons of the year. All these were written by Otto Julius Bierbaum (1865-1910).
Now a few words about both artists.
Felix Vallotton is best known for his woodcuts. He was very likely the best in this technique of his generation and the time of creating this book was at the top of his creativity. Here is a chance to enjoy his most known work, a series titled Intimacies. Yet, he was a successful painter as well, with a pretty unique relationship with colors, which is clearly seen in this selection of Vallotton's paintings.
Just like Vallotton, Emil Rudolf Weiss wasn't a stranger to writing. He published his first poetry book in 1895, one year before this calendar book was made. During his early years, he often collaborated with other artists, like Hans Thoma (1839-1924), Leopold Graf von Kalckreuth (1855-1928), or Karl Hofer (1878-1955). He worked as a painter, illustrator, and designer of trading cards (like Stollwerck's Collectible Cards), coins, fonts, medals, etc. He achieved financial stability only by becoming a professor. He was shortly teaching in Hagen and later in Berlin but lost his credentials with the rise of the Nazi regime.
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