Illustration to Novalis, "Heinrich von Ofterdingen"
1941
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
wood engraving [trial proof]
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1950.17.288
Art Historical Context
Imre Reiner's *Illustration to Novalis, "Heinrich von Ofterding"* (1941) is a wood engraving trial proof that captures the mystical essence of German Romanticism. Created as a visual homage to Novalis's unfinished novel—a cornerstone of early 19th-century literature—the work evokes the story's protagonist on a poetic quest for the iconic Blue Flower, symbolizing longing, nature, and the infinite. Reiner, a-born artist and master printmaker known for his precise, modernist graphic style, bridges centuries by interpreting this Romantic text through mid-20th-century lenses. Wood engraving, the c...
About the Artist
Imre Reiner
**Imre Reiner** (1900–1987) was a Hungarian-born Swiss painter, graphic artist, typographer, and master illustrator whose multifaceted career bridged sculpture, experimental typography, and exquisite wood engravings. Born on August 18, 1900, in Versec (now Vršac, Serbia) to a Jewish family—his father a sculptor and stone carver who apprenticed him young—Reiner began formal studies at age 15 in scu...