Oliver Weiss Illustration Blog » The Delicate World of Lotte Gützlaff

Monday, October 25th, 2010

The Delicate World of Lotte Gützlaff

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I already retain two works from German silhouette cutwork artist, Lotte Gützlaff, and have just acquired three more of her “Scherenschnitte” artworks that I am showcasing here. Aren’t they simply wonderful? How she manages to use her scissors in such articulate detail is completely beyond me. True pieces of art.

Unfortunately, there is very little that I have managed to track down about Lotte Gützlaff. Apparently, she worked in Berlin in the 1920’s and 30’s, and counts as one of the most prolific silhouette artists from that era.

>Read more about the art of shair-en-shnit-ay at Antique Trader.

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TOP: Aschenputtel (Cinderella)
BELOW: Wem Gott will rechte Gunst erweisen/
den schickt er in die weite Welt
(When God wishes to show true favor to someone,
he sends him out into the wide world)

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‹‹‹ Vicked Vacuum Cleaner Craze
The World’s a Stage ›››

17 Comments so far
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I also have aquired the same oval nudelady with fairies that was my grandmothers. Do you have any more information on this silhouette

i wish i did!

Above, the 2nd from the bottom, with cream background…it hung in my grandparents house for as long as I can remember. I have it now and love it, I always wondered what the phrase at the bottom meant. My grandparents were from Germany. Thank you for the post!

Very cool, Margie – thanks for writing!

While going through paperwork, I came across a silhouette cut out by Lotte Gutzlaff Bevlin. I started trying to find out more about her and came across your website. If I sent you a picture of it, could you tell me what it says? Are they valuable? Sincerely Mary

Hi Mary,

Thanks for writing! Sure, mail me the image, and I’ll try my best at decipering it.

Not sure if they are valuable or not (my guess is – probably not all that much).

Hello Oliver,
My mother inherited a Lotte Gutzlaff Berlin silhouette piece; it’s an omage of four individuals under some trees, it looks like they are playing in a quartet. Any info that you can give me in relation to this piece will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I have 3 Lottie Gutzloff cutouts, mounted and framed.Quite elegant. Any comment?

Hi, Oliver…My father has 3 works of Lotte’s but I seem to see all of them on one site or another. Do you know if Lotte cut more than one of the same seen or are there copies of the originals? My father’s grandparents had them in there house before his parents got them. They are from the Berlin area and he is sure they are originals. Looking forward to your reply.

I have two pieces from the wondruos Lotte. The first is as above – the girl picking fruit, and boy piper. The second is girl seated with spinning wheel. If I have the same piece as you, it prob means they are cut by machine. I can’t imagine the value, but I was happy to pay £80 (about 91 euros).

I have several pieces that Lotte Gutzlaff did in the 20’s or 30’s. They were in a trunk. One is of two men drinking beer in a tavern, another is a young couple standing under a tree and she’s wearing a cross around her neck, there’s one of Cupid and a bow and arrow and a girl with a beautiful dress…then there are a total of 5 with a girl picking fruit and 3 geese. All are in great condition!

very cool, toni!

I have a cutout of the 2 children under a tree with a musical instrument that was received from my late wifes Grandfather signed on the back by him in 1932. Advise the value?

My feeling is that you shouldn’t expect this to be very highly valued. I may be totally wrong, but I think we are talking about anywhere from 50 to 100 dollars for any given piece. The reason behind this seems to be that most Lotte Gützlaff pieces, while personally signed by her, appear to have been machine-pressed in unnumbered editions, as opposed to cut by hand.

OH NO MACHINE PRESSED. I’M DEPRESSED NOW CAUSE I THOUGHT SHE DID ALL THAT WORK. NO WONDER THEY ARE NOT WORTH THAT MUCH BUT ARE SOOO PRETTY. I LOVE MY 2. ONE IS CINDERELLA. MOTHER PAID SOME MONEY FOR THESE IN THE 1960′S AT AUCTION.

I have 3 works from Lotte Gützloff (among 30+ others) but susupect they may be reproductions. They all date from the 30’s. How does one tell an original from a reproduction? Under magnification even the straight line cuts are jagged with breaks in the paper. The signatures are similar in style but vary in shade from the silhouettes. Other undisputalbe originals have cleaner straightline cuts but also some jagged cuts. Is there a reliable test.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
George, Germany

Hi George,

Frankly, I can’t help you out here. I am assuming by now that pretty much all of Lotte Gützlaff’s pieces are reproductions, cut by machines after what must have been original cutouts at one point. Which in itself isn’t all bad, I find, as, after all, they are all signed by the artist. So Lotte must have reviewed all pieces herself, which I find comforting to know. Think limited editions – without the “limited” ;-)

Anyone else out there out for advice, as I’m sure many of us would like to know more?

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