MUNICH.- Max Pechstein is represented with a dozen works in
Ketterer Kunst’s Christmas Auction on the 6th and 7th December. Among them stand such fine masterworks as “Schrei am Meer”, with an estimate of € 800.000-1.200.000. The oil painting is just one of many highlights in a comprehensive auction: Modern Art & Sidelines of the German Avant-garde, Post War, and Contemporary Art.
Modern Art
Max Pechstein’s “Schrei am Meer” is an ode to the summer and the joy of freedom. The work, which originated in 1919 in Nidden, provides a glimpse into Pechstein's boundless celebration of creation, which in August that year he expressed in a letter to author and publisher Professor Dr. Georg Biermann: I “submerse myself fully in my work, like a bog, which under the rain swells and like a marvel transforms the woods. I live in this inebriation, (...) and would like the brush to break up in the bliss of the making.” Powerful, beautiful and self-assured, Pechstein presents his wife Lotte as the central figure, whilst his son, Frank, follows with a pert expression.
Considerably more reserved but no less attractive is the oil painting “Lotte mit Kopftuch”, with an estimate of € 600.000-800.000. In a prim white blouse and colorful headdress, Pechstein's wife holds the viewer in her spell with her sensual red lips and intense gaze. Pechstein’s “Selbstbildnis”, from about 10 years later, could perhaps be purchased for a little less. The self portrait has been estimated at € 200.000-250.000.
From Oskar Schlemmer comes one of his most internationally sought-after compositions from the Bauhaus period. The estimate for “Figur auf grauem Grund”, which appears to be moving, is between € 240.000-280.000.
Gabriele Münter is represented with several works, first and foremost “Blauer Kegelberg” (estimate € 140.000-180.000). Her self-contained style, with its reduction to the essentials, creates an astonishing atmosphere, an effect also to be found in “Wege ins Moos“ (estimate: € 120.000-150.000). “Lerchensporn und Primeln (Blumenbild 1935/22a)” from 1935, could perhaps be bought for € 60.000-80.000.
No other artist but Wassily Kandinsky can express the connection between art and music so well. With its harmonious hue and vigorous forms, his untitled composition (estimate: € 180.000-240.000) from 1915 encourages one to feel the inner rhythm.
A further highlight is the “First Portfolio” with graphic works by masters of the Bauhaus in Weimar (estimate: € 100.000-150.000). Made in 1921, the work, which is hard to find in its completeness and quality, contains captivating prints by, e.g. Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee and Gerhard Marcks.
Emil Nolde is represented with over half a dozen works, including three appealing watercolors from around 1931/35: “Das Paar, Phantasien” (estimate: € 80.000-120.000), “Mädchenkopf” (€ 70.000-90.000) and “Gartenblumen” (€ 60.000-80.000).
Next to Francis Picabia's painting “Mains et fantômes” (estimate: € 70.000-90.000) and Karl Hofer's oil “Schwarzmond” (estimate: € 100.000-150.000) and “Mann mit grüner Fahne” (estimate: € 60.000-80.000), the range of offerings is completed by works from such renowned artists as Marc Chagall, Edward Cucuel, Conrad Felixmüller, Otto Freundlich, Leonor Fini, George Grosz, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Pablo Picasso, Hans Purrmann, Georg Tappert and Kurt Weinhold.
With regards to sculpture, there are the bronze works “Athlet“ by Max Klinger (estimate: € 90.000-120.000), “Junges Weib” by Georg Kolbe (estimate: € 60.000-80.000) and a seated woman entitled “Still allein” by Gerhard Marcks (estimate: € 40.000-60.000).
A notable event will be celebrated within the context of the auction of Modern Art: the special auction Sidelines of the German Avant-garde has its 10th anniversary on 6 December. With this special auction Ketterer Kunst honors the achievements of artists who fell into oblivion because their works were depleted during the Second World War. This auction accords them the recognition they deserve (for more details see press release dated 24 September, 2013).
Post War Art
This section is led by Georg Baselitz's oil painting “Der Abgarkopf“ from 1984. Legend has it that Abgar V of Edessa was cured by a cloth upon which a miraculous image of the face of Jesus was imprinted, but not man-made. In the examination of occidental pictorial tradition, the artist underwent an important development towards the image as type. In doing so he uses the entire surface, and accordingly the “Abgarkopf” is defined merely by eyes, nose and mouth, which set marker points in a relief of green, blue and ochre colors. The estimate is at € 250.000-350.000.
At the top of the list of desired objects stands Karl Otto Götz's “Brien-Elven”. The work, estimated at € 70.000-90.000, counts among the most particularly sought after large informal paintings from the late 1950s.
Works by ZERO artists constitute near-classics of post-1945 art. Led by Günther Uecker's “Feld” (estimate: € 50.000-70.000) from 1994 stand works by Otto Piene (e.g. “Flower flies”, estimate: € 35.000-45.000) and Heinz Mack (e.g. “Lichtrelief“, estimate: € 25.000-35.000).
Further impressive lots come - next to Maurice Estève's “La chapelaude” (Estimate: € 80.000-100.000) and an oil paintng by Jean Paul Riopelle (Estimate: € 90.000-120.000) - from artists such as Fernando Botero, Konrad Klapheck, Georges Mathieu, Giacomo Manzù, Marino Marini, Serge Poliakoff, Gerhard Richter, Emil Schumacher and Andy Warhol, including his color-print “Marilyn” (estimate: € 70.000-95.000).
Contemporary Art
At the forefront of this section, which for the first time has its own catalog, stand Tony Cragg's awe-inspiring brass-head “Sharing” (estimate: € 70.000-90.000) and Anselm Reyle's large-format work from 2005 (estimate: € 60.000-80.000). The color-intensive stripes reach a dimension of 378 x 303 cm (148.8 x 119.2 in).
Additionally there are such impressive artists as Daniel Richter (“Irren, menschlich?”, estimate: € 50.000-70.000), Jason Martin (“Chord”, estimate: € 40.000-60.000), Abraham David Christian, Damien Hirst, Imi Knoebel, Cornelius Völker and Gert and Uwe Tobias.
