MUNICH.- Whether Modern or Contemporary Art – the beauty of provocation prevailed in every epoch. Accordingly, both expressiveness and poignancy characterize the range of offers in the Online Only Auction that Ketterer Kunst began presenting on December 11th, 2022 and will continue to January 15, 2023 under the motto “UNCOVERED – The Beauty Of Provocation“.

This exceptional theme sale shows a wide range of angles international artists have on the human body. Erotic, passion and sensuality come to the fore in the most different ways in select works from the 20th and 21st century by renowned artists like Horst Antes, Alexander Archipenko, Stephan Balkenhol, Max Beckmann, Salvador Dalí, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Allen Jones, Max Kaus, Georg Kolbe, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Gerhard Marcks, Helmut Middendorf, Emil Nolde, Hermann Max Pechstein, Pablo Picasso, Georges Rouault, Werner Scholz and Georg Tappert.

The auction’s top lot with an estimate of € 20,000-30,000 comes from Mel Ramos. The excellent “Hav-a-Havana #4: The Lost Painting of 1965 #17“ dated 1997, in the artist’s typical technique and brilliant colors, is the first watercolor from this series offered on the international auction market. The work is a signature piece from the oeuvre of the acclaimed representative of American Pop Art, whose trademark is the spoof of the advertising industry. He moved the triviality of the combination of sex and advertising center stage by decorating consumer goods with lascivious pin-up girls.

Another Anglo-Saxon representative is Julien Opie, whose multiple “Suzanne walking (close up)“ from 2005, estimated at € 8,000-10,000, is kept in the British documenta participant’s characteristic reduced and extremely precise style. It is particularly captivating for the lenticular technique, which gives the observer an impression as if the depicted person moved between different perspectives.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s “Sitzender Akt, Dodo (Halbakt)“ a classic, intimate studio scene from the sought-after “Brücke“ days, makes for a perfect counterexample. The small pencil drawing was made in the artist’s Dresden studio around 1910. At that point his place of work and living was a hub for him and his fellow artists, as well as for their female amateur models. The work is a prime example of German Expressionism and will enter the race with an estimate of € 10,000-15,000.

With numerous highlights in various media and techniques, the offered works and positions range over subtle aesthetics of female nudes, like it is the case with the small bronze “Beschaulichkeit“ (estimate: € 8,000-12,000) by Fritz Klimsch, more explicit depictions like Otto Dix’s “Dompteuse“ (estimate: € 5,000-7,000) all the way to several works by George Grosz (estimates between € 7,000- 12,000) rated “For Adults Only“.




Find all works in the Online Only Auction “UNCOVERED – The Beauty of Provocation“ around the clock on onlineonly.kettererkunst.com

Current Dates

Auction: 11.12.2022 - 15.01.2023: „UNCOVERED – The Beauty of Provocation“

Exhibition: 24.02.2023 - 06.05.2023: „Lenz Schönborn Collection“ Ketterer Kunst Berlin, Fasanenstr. 70, 10719 Berlin

Post Auction Sale: Here you can find this years Post-Auction-Sale of the December-Auction.

Ketterer Kunst (www.kettererkunst.com and www.onlineonly.kettererkunst.com) with headquarters in Munich and branches in Hamburg and Berlin as well as with a global network of representatives in, among others, the USA and Brazil, was founded in 1954. The owner-operated auction house has a focus on Fine Art from the 19th to the 21st Century and on Rare Books. In its market segment, Ketterer Kunst is the Number 1 in the German language region. Ketterer Kunst is the specialist for German art, as well as for many international artists sought-after in Europe, the USA and Asia, who regularly realize record prices at Ketterer Kunst. According to the annual 2021 artprice database, Ketterer Kunst is on place 3 of the strongest-selling art auction houses in Continental Europe.