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SELECTION OF AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
EUROPEAN ARTISTS
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OSKAR SCHLEMMER (1888-1943)
Rote Leiber, 1929
Rote Leiber (Red Figures) is part of an important group of works by Oskar Schlemmer, which he created between 1928 and 1932. Painted in the spring of 1929 in the town of Dessau, Germany, Rote Leiber is one of the few paintings he created while working in his Bauhaus studio. Schlemmer taught at the famous Bauhaus School from its inception, after having been invited by the founder and first director, Walter Gropius, in Weimar, Germany. In the fall of 1929, Oskar Schlemmer left the Bauhaus for Breslau, which is today Wroclaw, Poland, to teach his extended course, Man and Space, as well as the theatre workshop, at the State Academy of the Arts and Crafts.
The origins of Rote Leiber can be seen in other works that predate it. The central figure, a male youth in profile with his arm adjacent to his body, appears in a pencil drawing from 1927 as well as in a lithograph he printed in a small edition. The nude figure at the far right side of the composition is a variation of a similar theme in several paintings also dated 1929. This figure is a dominant motif in Schlemmer’s works since the Bauhaus years in Weimar (1921-1925). Among these paintings are Fünf Akte (Five Youths), painted in the same month; a large painting titled Fünfzehnergruppe (Group of Fifteen), today in the collection of the Wilhelm-Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, Germany; and the painting Bekleidete und Unbekleidete in Architektur (Clothed and Unclothed Figures in Architecture), which was lost in World War II, from a private collection in Stuttgart, Germany. This nude figure appears again in large pastel drawings Schlemmer completes in 1930.
One of Schlemmer's most important and well-known paintings, Bauhaustreppe (Bauhaus Stairway), incorporates this figure again, as the central figures in the composition clad in tight clothes. Again, he paints the figure as a nude in Geländerszene (Banister Scene), now in the collection of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. Both of these works were painted in Breslau in 1932. Additionally, a portrait of a head similar to those seen in Rote Leiber reappears in a painting of 1930 in Vierzehnergruppe in Imaginärer Architektur, (Group of Fourteen in Imaginary Architecture), now in the collection of Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany.
These paintings are manifestations of his central theme, man in space, a given space, and a synthesis of human and architectural forms. In Rote Leiber, Schlemmer contrasts light and dark shades of various reds and blues, and space and movement with transparency, thus creating the metaphysical and simultaneous visionary aspect of the painting.
Between 1928 and 1933, Schlemmer creates three variations (in a number of drawings and paintings) for a commission at the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany. The dominant theme in this cycle of preparatory drawings and paintings is groups of youths on grey, blue and red surfaces. These human figures are without personal expression and attributes, column-like, and reminiscent of the archaic Greek Kouroi, which he so admired. Their movements are inspired by his own dance creations and from his experience as a dancer. Given the dominant architecture in the space at the Museum Folkwang, in works for this cycle and related studies and paintings, architectural elements are absent and the figures stand, move and float in an imaginary, timeless space, also reflecting his work on stage and in dance. Schlemmer writes in his diary "...Thus the figures are also held taut, transfixed against the surface..." He paints Rote Leiber during a pivotal period of his oeuvre – that of the Folkwang Cycle – to whose context and theme it is related.
Red is a dominant color in several works by Oskar Schlemmer, which he titles as Red, such as Rote Leiber, Rote Mitte (Red Middle), and Roter Junge (Red Youth). The date on the back of Rote Leiber and a D for Dessau in his personal register indicates that he paints this work while still in Dessau, where he had taught at the Bauhaus School and lived with his wife and children in one of the studio houses designed by Walter Gropius that were built for the Bauhaus masters.
Shortly after Schlemmer completed Rote Leiber, he sends it, along with another painting, to the exhibition Der Schöne Mensch in der Neuen Kunst, Darmstädter Sezession, at Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt. And in 1931, he sends the painting to the avant-garde art gallery of Alfred Flechtheim in Berlin for an exhibition of his recent works.
Any recent and new information on the painting will be included in the updated Catalogue Raisonné of the oeuvre of Oskar Schlemmer.
It is rare that such an important work by Oskar Schlemmer comes up for sale. This painting had been thought to be lost for many decades, and it is wonderful for us to know that it exists and survived Fascism in Germany, and World War II.
As my grandfather writes in his diary: “Wohlan!”1
© C. Raman Schlemmer
1 Literally, “Now then!”; in this context, “Let’s move forward!”
(Oskar Schlemmer, “Letters and Diaries,” The Oskar Schlemmer Theatre Estate)
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Oskar Schlemmer
German, 1888-1943
ROTE LEIBER, 1929
Signed Osk Schlemmer, inscribed as titled and stamped O.S. on the reverse; stamped O.S. on the stretcher
Oil on canvas
35 3/8 x 23 5/8 inches (89.9 x 59.4 cm)
Provenance:
With Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin
With J.B. Neumann, New York
Private Collections, Long Island, New York
Exhibited:
Darmstadt, Germany, The Beautiful Body in Modern Art, 1929, p.63, no.131
Weisbaden, Germany, Thirty German Artists, 1930, p.12, no.112
Berlin, Galerie Alfred Flechtheim, Oskar Schlemmer und Marg Moll, 1931, no.2
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, German Painting and Sculpture, 1931, p.34, no.81 (dated 1928 and as lent by Galerie Flechtheim, Berlin)
Literature:
Hans Hildebrandt, Oskar Schlemmer Werkverzeichnis, Prestel-Verlag, Munich, 1952, no.162
Karin von Maur, Oskar Schlemmer Oeuvrekatalog der Gemalde, Aquarelle, Pastelle und Plastiken, Munich, 1979, p.85, no.G195, illustrated
Estimate on request.
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Maurice de Vlaminck
French, 1876-1958
PAYSAGE BLEU
Signed Vlaminck (lr)
Oil on canvas
25 3/4 x 31 3/4 inches (63.5 x 80.6 cm)
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity by Gilbert Petrides, Paris, dated 22 October 1990, no. 21.991.
Provenance:
Acquired directly from the artist by the noted Austrian playwright and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929).
After von Hofmannsthal's death, the painting passed to his daughter Christiane von Hoffmannsthal Zimmer (d.1987) who, along with her husband and family, fled Anschluss around 1941, lived in London for a year, and eventually settled in New York City.
Her husband, Andrew Zimmer (d.2003), inherited the painting, which was then inherited by his children, the present owners.
Estimate: $60,000-80,000
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Christo
Bulgarian, b.1935
WRAPPED REICHSTAG (PROJECT FOR BERLIN): IN TWO PARTS
Signed Christo and dated1981 (ul); inscribed WRAPPED REICHSTAG (PROJECT FOR BERLIN) PLATZ DER REPUBLIK, REICHSTAG PLATZ, Scheidemannstr, Brandenfurger tor and with annotations
Pencil, pastel, wax crayon, charcoal, fabric and wire on paper
33 1/2 x 28 1/4 inches overall (85.1 x cm)
Estimate: $40,000-60,000
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Jannis Spyropoulos
L'EPISODE No. 4, 1969
Signed in Greek (lr); signed Jannis Spyropoulos, dated 1969-S, titled, and inscribed with artist's address on the stretcher
Oil and collage on canvas
57 1/2 x 44 7/8 inches (146 x 114 cm.)
Provenance:
Christos G. Bastis, New York, New York
Estimate: $30,000-40,000
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Enrico Donati
Italian/American, b.1909
TWIN
Signed donati (lr); signed Enrico Donati, dated 1966 and inscribed with dimensions on the reverse and titled on the stretcher
Mixed media on canvas
30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 60.9 cm)
Estimate: $6,000-8,000
One of two works by Donati in the auction.
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Salvador Dali
Spanish, 1904-1989
FACE WITH WATER DROPS SPLASHING
Signed Dali (ll)
Pencil on paper
13 3/4 x 16 3/4 inches (34.9 x 42.5 cm)
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Bruce Gimelson dated July 16, 1976 and a certificate of authenticity from Alex J. Rosenberg dated February 3, 2006.
Estimate:$4,000-6,000
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AMERICAN ARTISTS
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Harry Bertoia
American, 1915-1978
SOUND SCULPTURE
Beryllium copper
Height 36 inches (91.4 cm)
Provenance:
Collection of Evelyn Coe, purchased from a Connecticut Estate in the early to mid 1980s, thence by descent to the present owner
Estimate: $20,000-30,000
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Paul Jenkins
American, b.1923
PHENOMENON AUREOLE GUARDIAN, 1971
Signed Paul Jenkins (ll); signed Paul Jenkins, dated 1971; inscribed with title and dimensions on the canvas overlap
Acrylic on canvas
67 x 42 inches (170.2 x 106.7 cm)
Provenance:
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, No.13406
Estimate: $10,000-15,000
One of two works by Jenkins in the auction.
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Allan Houser
American, 1914-1994
RECLINING WOMAN WITH CAT
Signed ALLAN HOUSER, numbered 1/10 and inscribed SF
Bronze with a brown-black patina
Height 13 1/2 inches (34.3 cm), width 25 inches (63.5 cm)
Estimate: $10,000-15,000
One of three works by Houser in the auction.
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Bryan Hunt
American, b. 1947
Cast Bronze on Limestone Base
Estimate: $8,000-12,000
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LATIN AMERICAN ARTISTS
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Diego Rivera
Mexican, 1886-1957
WOMAN WITH FLOWER (MUJER CON FLORA) 1927-1929
Signed Diego Rivera and dated 28 (ll)
Watercolor on paper
16 x 12 inches 40.6 x 30.5 cm)
Exhibited:
Roslyn Harbor, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, "The Latin Century: Beyond the Border," August 18 - November 3, 2002, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, p.16.
Estimate: $15,000-20,000
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Daniel Bottero
Argentinian, b.1950
LA CIUDAD DE LAS CAMELIAS AZULES, 2000
Signed Bottero and dated 2000 (lr); signed Bottero, dated 2000 and inscribed Miami and with dimensions on the reverse
Acrylic on canvas
52 x 52 inches (132.1 x 132.1 cm)
Estimate: $12,000-18,000
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ASIAN ARTISTS
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Natvar Bhavsar
Indian, b.1934
MAAGHDEE II, 1986
Signed NATVAR BHAVSAR, dated 1986 and titled on the reverse
Dry pigment on canvas
84 1/2 x 68 1/2 inches (214.6 x 172.9 cm.)
Estimate: $4,000-6,000
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