1915
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Gris Klimt Schiele Germany II Alps Tabletop
See also : Gris Klimt Schiele Germany II Alps Tabletop
1915 MALEVICH
Intro
Suprematism comes in the wake of Futurism, with the same target of glorifying the work of man. The Futurists express speed, linked to the improvement of techniques. Malevich's work on non-figuration is not inspired by Kandinsky's emotional and semiotic abstraction.
The seminal work of non-figuration is the stage set made in 1913 by Malevich in St. Petersburg for the Russian Futurist opera Victory over the Sun.
The new language is a construction of colored quadrangles on a white background which expresses purity and infinity and anticipates Mondrian. They overlap or coincide without a perspective effect and without transparency, often in a globally rising or falling movement that offers the confidence into the progress.
Some of the early constructions retain titles such as Automobile and Lady or Aircraft in flight that do not score an incentive to a figurative reading but rather a recognition by the artist of his Futurist inspiration.
Boccioni had wanted a global art with a figuration blurred within many facets. Kandinsky, Léger and a little later Mondrian were still exploring the boundaries between figurative and emotional. Malevich is unquestionably the first to purify art by freeing it from any interpretation of subject or object.
A few years later, Rodchenko's constructivism was a follow-up to Malevich's suprematism, adding a desire to create useful structures for architecture and furnishings. Malevich did not need to follow Rodchenko : independently from Mondrian he had been one of the very first artists to offer a vision of the universe free from any thematic reference.
The seminal work of non-figuration is the stage set made in 1913 by Malevich in St. Petersburg for the Russian Futurist opera Victory over the Sun.
The new language is a construction of colored quadrangles on a white background which expresses purity and infinity and anticipates Mondrian. They overlap or coincide without a perspective effect and without transparency, often in a globally rising or falling movement that offers the confidence into the progress.
Some of the early constructions retain titles such as Automobile and Lady or Aircraft in flight that do not score an incentive to a figurative reading but rather a recognition by the artist of his Futurist inspiration.
Boccioni had wanted a global art with a figuration blurred within many facets. Kandinsky, Léger and a little later Mondrian were still exploring the boundaries between figurative and emotional. Malevich is unquestionably the first to purify art by freeing it from any interpretation of subject or object.
A few years later, Rodchenko's constructivism was a follow-up to Malevich's suprematism, adding a desire to create useful structures for architecture and furnishings. Malevich did not need to follow Rodchenko : independently from Mondrian he had been one of the very first artists to offer a vision of the universe free from any thematic reference.
1
Suprematism - 18th Construction
2015 SOLD for £ 21.5M by Sotheby's
Painted in 1915, the 18th Composition is a stack of almost rectangular non-transparent shapes. The emotion must not be brought only by the freedom of the elements but also by the colors.
This oil on canvas 53 x 53 cm already invites to rotate the canvas for an observation in the four possible orientations. It was sold for £ 21.5M by Sotheby's on June 24, 2015, lot 18. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This oil on canvas 53 x 53 cm already invites to rotate the canvas for an observation in the four possible orientations. It was sold for £ 21.5M by Sotheby's on June 24, 2015, lot 18. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
2
masterpiece
Black Square on White Background
Tretyakov Gallery
An exhibition of avant-garde Russian paintings is held in Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) in March 1915 at the initiative of the very young Ivan Puni. Its aim is to promote a synthesis between cubism and futurism. The title Tramway V is an allusion to the progress of mechanical locomotion that symbolizes the new century for the Futurists.
Malevich participates in Tramway V but is already somehow a rebel. He introduces his own works with a comment which is indeed a profession of faith for an abstract art : "the author ignores the contents of these paintings".
The scandal of Tramway V meets the expectations of its organizers and another exhibition will be managed before the end of the year.
Malevich understands that his time has come : he will be the prophet of the subject-less art. To be pure, art should excite feelings without the support of a message. It is neither figurative nor religious nor political.
His new grammar is reduced to three basic filled shapes, simple enough to escape a semiotic interpretation : rectangle, oval and cross, invariably on a white background.. The perfect rectangle and oval are the square and the circle.
Malevich reaches in May the ultimate expression of this new artistic grammar, the black square.
The second exhibition of his group, from mid-December 1915 to mid-January 1916, is hermetically titled Zero-Ten. Malevich enters 39 paintings offering various degrees of reconstruction, physically dominated in their hanging by the Black Square on White Background. The loss of meaning allows the artist to change the position of the paintings. He is a precursor of the modern installation.
That Black Square, altogether dense, symmetrical and balanced, is the first great shock from this new art. Malevich's aim is aesthetic. Centered on a canvas where it fills most of the available surface, the square becomes a flying artifact independently from its supporting fabric and generates a mesmerizing feeling. He coins for this new approach the designation of Suprematism.
Malevich participates in Tramway V but is already somehow a rebel. He introduces his own works with a comment which is indeed a profession of faith for an abstract art : "the author ignores the contents of these paintings".
The scandal of Tramway V meets the expectations of its organizers and another exhibition will be managed before the end of the year.
Malevich understands that his time has come : he will be the prophet of the subject-less art. To be pure, art should excite feelings without the support of a message. It is neither figurative nor religious nor political.
His new grammar is reduced to three basic filled shapes, simple enough to escape a semiotic interpretation : rectangle, oval and cross, invariably on a white background.. The perfect rectangle and oval are the square and the circle.
Malevich reaches in May the ultimate expression of this new artistic grammar, the black square.
The second exhibition of his group, from mid-December 1915 to mid-January 1916, is hermetically titled Zero-Ten. Malevich enters 39 paintings offering various degrees of reconstruction, physically dominated in their hanging by the Black Square on White Background. The loss of meaning allows the artist to change the position of the paintings. He is a precursor of the modern installation.
That Black Square, altogether dense, symmetrical and balanced, is the first great shock from this new art. Malevich's aim is aesthetic. Centered on a canvas where it fills most of the available surface, the square becomes a flying artifact independently from its supporting fabric and generates a mesmerizing feeling. He coins for this new approach the designation of Suprematism.
3
Suprematist Composition with Plane in Projection
2017 SOLD for $ 21M by Sotheby's
Aware of the promising importance of this invention, Malevich returns to build complex compositions expressing the forces of the universe by the opposition of colors circumscribed in strictly geometrical forms.
A Composition of three forms was sold for $ 21M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2017, lot 32. This oil on canvas 53 x 53 cm is a convincing demonstration of the first level of the suprematist reconstruction at such a point that it was undoubtedly made for the preparation of Zero-Ten.
It is dominated by a very saturated dark yellow truncated triangle which is the projection of a sloping rectangle onto the surface of the canvas. A group of two small rectangles partially masking the yellow form can be viewed in space as co-planar with its upper edge.
A Composition of three forms was sold for $ 21M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2017, lot 32. This oil on canvas 53 x 53 cm is a convincing demonstration of the first level of the suprematist reconstruction at such a point that it was undoubtedly made for the preparation of Zero-Ten.
It is dominated by a very saturated dark yellow truncated triangle which is the projection of a sloping rectangle onto the surface of the canvas. A group of two small rectangles partially masking the yellow form can be viewed in space as co-planar with its upper edge.
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GRIS
1
March 1915 Nature Morte à la Nappe à Carreaux
2014 SOLD for £ 35M by Christie's
The Cubism of Juan Gris experienced a rapid and powerful development. At first, the analysis of forms is deconstructing the figurative subject. The loss of the third dimension leads to collages.
In 1915, the art of Gris suddenly separates from Picasso and Braque. Gris gathers the objects of his everyday life. Arranged on the table, they make up his universe. Outside, in Paris, it is war. His objects are playing to constitute a new theater, like Cézanne's apples or Arcimboldo's vegetables.
In this sense, Gris is a precursor of surrealism. Painted in March 1915, Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux is a complex and colored composition, where the arrangement in a triangle forms a mask over the comforting support of the tabletop.
Times are hard for Juan Gris in the wartime Paris of 1915. His German dealer Kahnweiler had to flee to Bern and cannot support him directly. Being in civilian attire while the young men are serving on the front, he is booed by the Parisians when walking by the streets. His output is prolific, for earning his life.
The Galerie L'Effort Moderne of Léonce Rosenberg took over Kahnweiler for Gris in early 1915. Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux was acquired by Rosenberg.
This oil on canvas 116 x 90 cm, was sold for £ 35M from a lower estimate of £ 12M by Christie's on February 4, 2014, lot 9. Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
In 1915, the art of Gris suddenly separates from Picasso and Braque. Gris gathers the objects of his everyday life. Arranged on the table, they make up his universe. Outside, in Paris, it is war. His objects are playing to constitute a new theater, like Cézanne's apples or Arcimboldo's vegetables.
In this sense, Gris is a precursor of surrealism. Painted in March 1915, Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux is a complex and colored composition, where the arrangement in a triangle forms a mask over the comforting support of the tabletop.
Times are hard for Juan Gris in the wartime Paris of 1915. His German dealer Kahnweiler had to flee to Bern and cannot support him directly. Being in civilian attire while the young men are serving on the front, he is booed by the Parisians when walking by the streets. His output is prolific, for earning his life.
The Galerie L'Effort Moderne of Léonce Rosenberg took over Kahnweiler for Gris in early 1915. Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux was acquired by Rosenberg.
This oil on canvas 116 x 90 cm, was sold for £ 35M from a lower estimate of £ 12M by Christie's on February 4, 2014, lot 9. Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
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2
March 1915 Livre, Pipe et Verres
2008 SOLD for $ 21M by Christie's
An oil on canvas 73 x 95 cm painted by Juan Gris in March 1915 is titled in French "Livre, pipe et verres" (book, pipe and glasses).
In a Cubism inspired from Picasso and Braque, it is figurative. On an entablature where plans are entangled by the subtlety of color, an open book in the foreground contrasts by its sharpness and clarity. Seen from far away, it seems to be possible to read it, but when we come nearer we see that all lines of the book are scratched.
The artist seeks to represent a spatial effect that collages did not enable him to obtain. His perspective is made of tilted and angled semi-transparent planes, stacked one atop another in trompe l'oeil. The raised cover of the open book provides an additional graphic strength.
It was sold for $ 21M from a lower estimate of $ 12.5M by Christie's on November 6, 2008, lot 7.
In a Cubism inspired from Picasso and Braque, it is figurative. On an entablature where plans are entangled by the subtlety of color, an open book in the foreground contrasts by its sharpness and clarity. Seen from far away, it seems to be possible to read it, but when we come nearer we see that all lines of the book are scratched.
The artist seeks to represent a spatial effect that collages did not enable him to obtain. His perspective is made of tilted and angled semi-transparent planes, stacked one atop another in trompe l'oeil. The raised cover of the open book provides an additional graphic strength.
It was sold for $ 21M from a lower estimate of $ 12.5M by Christie's on November 6, 2008, lot 7.
3
July 1915 Le Pot de Géranium
2007 SOLD for $ 18.5M by Christie's
Le Pot de Géranium, oil on canvas 81 x 60 cm was painted in July 1915 by Juan Gris in the same style and complex perspective as the Livre, pipe et verres executed three months earlier.
A folded edition of Le Figaro is in the foreground. This newspaper symbolizes the art of collage that Picasso and Gris practiced in the previous year.
Le Pot de Géranium was sold for $ 18.5M from a lower estimate of $ 14M by Christie's on May 9, 2007, lot 59.
A folded edition of Le Figaro is in the foreground. This newspaper symbolizes the art of collage that Picasso and Gris practiced in the previous year.
Le Pot de Géranium was sold for $ 18.5M from a lower estimate of $ 14M by Christie's on May 9, 2007, lot 59.
1915 Attersee by Klimt
2011 SOLD for $ 40.4M by Sotheby's
Whether viewed from near or far, alone or in a forest, the tree offers to the artists the texture of its foliage.
It was a powerful source of inspiration for Klimt, who expressed it as a continuation of colored spots. This effect, precursor of abstraction, is of the same kind as the sumptuous backgrounds of his portraits of women. At the same time, another poet of color, Monet, studies the water lilies.
Yet Klimt does not push it up to abstraction. The view of the Attersee, 110 x 110 cm, for sale by Sotheby's on November 2, 2011, is a real landscape in a bold composition.
In a narrow stripe at the bottom, the village by the lake and its reflection in the water are schematic and almost naive, like the details of the Krumau views of his former student Schiele at the same time. At the top, a small piece of the sky stresses the grandiose scale of the landscape. And the rest of the image only shows the side of the mountain covered by the forest.
This painting was made in the workshop in 1915, in Vienna. It is leaving the museum of Salzburg following a property dispute related to a Nazi plunder. It was sold for $ 40.4M from a lower estimate of $ 25M. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
It was a powerful source of inspiration for Klimt, who expressed it as a continuation of colored spots. This effect, precursor of abstraction, is of the same kind as the sumptuous backgrounds of his portraits of women. At the same time, another poet of color, Monet, studies the water lilies.
Yet Klimt does not push it up to abstraction. The view of the Attersee, 110 x 110 cm, for sale by Sotheby's on November 2, 2011, is a real landscape in a bold composition.
In a narrow stripe at the bottom, the village by the lake and its reflection in the water are schematic and almost naive, like the details of the Krumau views of his former student Schiele at the same time. At the top, a small piece of the sky stresses the grandiose scale of the landscape. And the rest of the image only shows the side of the mountain covered by the forest.
This painting was made in the workshop in 1915, in Vienna. It is leaving the museum of Salzburg following a property dispute related to a Nazi plunder. It was sold for $ 40.4M from a lower estimate of $ 25M. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1915 Jesuiten by Feininger
2007 SOLD for $ 23.3M by Sotheby's
The three Jesuiten by Lyonel Feininger form an interesting demonstration of the evolution of his style. His great artistic freedom based on his intuition is nourished by close contact with the European avant-gardes.
Feininger began his career as an illustrator in 1894. His line is simple and his colors are violent. The characters have small heads on very elongated bodies. In 1908 Jesuiten I remains a caricature, on the theme of the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie.
The central figure is a prostitute with a triumphant attitude. Two clergymen look at her before deciding how they will intervene. A third Jesuit is completely disinterested in this action. This oil on canvas 60 x 55 cm was sold for £ 720K by Christie's on October 17, 2000, lot 5.
Feininger reworked the same scene in 1913, to experiment with new trends. Jesuiten II, oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm, dissolves the forms in a futuristic style close to Boccioni. The round of the Jesuits around the woman brings a musicality. Throughout his life Feininger, son of a violinist and a singer, wanted to give a musical dimension to his graphic art.
Jesuiten III is an oil on canvas 75 x 60 cm painted in 1915 in a style mixing expressionism and cubism. The clergymen constitute a tight group around the prostitute which echoes the Strassenszenen by Kirchner to Berlin. The folds of the clothes form musical waves. Jesuiten III was sold for $ 23.3M by Sotheby's on May 8, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 7M, lot 22.
Feininger began his career as an illustrator in 1894. His line is simple and his colors are violent. The characters have small heads on very elongated bodies. In 1908 Jesuiten I remains a caricature, on the theme of the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie.
The central figure is a prostitute with a triumphant attitude. Two clergymen look at her before deciding how they will intervene. A third Jesuit is completely disinterested in this action. This oil on canvas 60 x 55 cm was sold for £ 720K by Christie's on October 17, 2000, lot 5.
Feininger reworked the same scene in 1913, to experiment with new trends. Jesuiten II, oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm, dissolves the forms in a futuristic style close to Boccioni. The round of the Jesuits around the woman brings a musicality. Throughout his life Feininger, son of a violinist and a singer, wanted to give a musical dimension to his graphic art.
Jesuiten III is an oil on canvas 75 x 60 cm painted in 1915 in a style mixing expressionism and cubism. The clergymen constitute a tight group around the prostitute which echoes the Strassenszenen by Kirchner to Berlin. The folds of the clothes form musical waves. Jesuiten III was sold for $ 23.3M by Sotheby's on May 8, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 7M, lot 22.
1915 Einzelne Häuser by Schiele
2006 SOLD for $ 22.5M by Christie's
Everything goes wrong for the idealist Egon Schiele. The outbreak of war is perceived as a break with the past without an opening to the future. He goes to marry Edith but Wally violently refuses the household of three on which he was daydreaming. He is frustrated in his erotic desires and in the recognition of his self-proclaimed genius.
Egon is not apt for an active military service but is mobilized in an office position in June 1915 three days after marrying Edith. Einzelne Häuser, oil on canvas 110 x 140 cm painted in the darkest moments of this summer 1915, was sold for $ 22.5M by Christie's on November 8, 2006, lot 60. It passed at Christie's on June 27, 2017, lot 60.
In front of an insignificant landscape structured in horizontal lines, the big house is the main character. Its gloomy texture announces an upcoming decay. It rises like a towering and outdated inquisitor in the middle of the scenery. It has already lost any trace of life.
Egon is not apt for an active military service but is mobilized in an office position in June 1915 three days after marrying Edith. Einzelne Häuser, oil on canvas 110 x 140 cm painted in the darkest moments of this summer 1915, was sold for $ 22.5M by Christie's on November 8, 2006, lot 60. It passed at Christie's on June 27, 2017, lot 60.
In front of an insignificant landscape structured in horizontal lines, the big house is the main character. Its gloomy texture announces an upcoming decay. It rises like a towering and outdated inquisitor in the middle of the scenery. It has already lost any trace of life.
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1915 Das Soldatenbad by Kirchner
2018 SOLD for $ 22M by Sotheby's
The onset of the World War fully disturbed Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. He was allocated in July 1915 as an artillery driver. After a few weeks, he was exempted for mental breakdown. He came back to work in his studio in Berlin but entered a sanatorium in December after being diagnosed with alcoholism and with addiction to barbital.
Painted in the follow of his discharge, Das Soldatenbad expresses his deep disgust of the de-humanizing of everyday life. A tight group of men standing in full nudity are cleaning their body in a shower room. The only clothed person is the officer in charge of the supervision. This man entrusted with the military authority is quietly exercising the oppression of the regime upon the whole group.
No similar work exists either by Kirchner or anybody else in art history, conforming that the artist's intention was not to document but to scream his reprobation.
Restituted to the heirs of a spoliated Jewish art dealer, this oil on canvas 140 x 150 cm was sold for $ 22M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Sotheby's on November 12, 2018, lot 22. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Kirchner never fully recovered from that trauma. Established at Davos, he went upset by his top position as a degenerate artist by the Nazis. He committed suicide after the Anschluss by fear that the Nazis would also invade Switzerland. His ambition at the time of Die Brücke to create a modern German art had been totally deceived.
Painted in the follow of his discharge, Das Soldatenbad expresses his deep disgust of the de-humanizing of everyday life. A tight group of men standing in full nudity are cleaning their body in a shower room. The only clothed person is the officer in charge of the supervision. This man entrusted with the military authority is quietly exercising the oppression of the regime upon the whole group.
No similar work exists either by Kirchner or anybody else in art history, conforming that the artist's intention was not to document but to scream his reprobation.
Restituted to the heirs of a spoliated Jewish art dealer, this oil on canvas 140 x 150 cm was sold for $ 22M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Sotheby's on November 12, 2018, lot 22. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Kirchner never fully recovered from that trauma. Established at Davos, he went upset by his top position as a degenerate artist by the Nazis. He committed suicide after the Anschluss by fear that the Nazis would also invade Switzerland. His ambition at the time of Die Brücke to create a modern German art had been totally deceived.
1915 Danseuse by Severini
2008 SOLD for £ 15M by Sotheby's
Danseuse is an oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted in 1915 by Gino Severini. The title is in French with reference to Parisian life. In a synthesis of Cubism and Futurism, it is a trial to display the movement. Flat colors here embellished by some gradual effects.
It was sold for £ 15M from a lower estimate of £ 7M by Sotheby's on June 25, 2008, lot 21.
It was sold for £ 15M from a lower estimate of £ 7M by Sotheby's on June 25, 2008, lot 21.
