Germany - 2nd page
not including Richter
See also : Germany Art on paper Self portrait II Music and dance Cities Cars Cars II Porsche Mercedes-Benz Post war cars Cars 1954-55 Cars 1970s 1980s Movies Animals Bird Horse
Chronology : 1912 1914 1915 1918 1920 1930-1939 1936 1938 1967 1970 1988
See also : Germany Art on paper Self portrait II Music and dance Cities Cars Cars II Porsche Mercedes-Benz Post war cars Cars 1954-55 Cars 1970s 1980s Movies Animals Bird Horse
Chronology : 1912 1914 1915 1918 1920 1930-1939 1936 1938 1967 1970 1988
1912 Der Wasserfall by Franz Marc
2007 SOLD for $ 20.2M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
The quest for a new art, mystical and dematerialized, brings together Kandinsky and Marc. Franz Marc loves the masculine strength of the wild horses. Kandinsky likes the theme of the rider. Blue is their favorite color. With among others Macke and Jawlensky, they create the Der Blaue Reiter movement in Munich in 1911. That name was also the title of a previous painting by Kandinsky.
Like Kandinsky, Marc gradually evolves towards an abstraction characterized by the raw expression of colors. His colors, symbols of the pantheistic forces, completely escape the realism. He explained how to interpret them : Blue is the male principle, austere, spiritual and intellectual. Yellow is the female principle, nice, kind and sensual. Red is an enemy, materialistic, brutal and heavy.
In support to his theories, Marc stages a wide variety of animals, ideal creations of nature. However, he does not forget that his goal is humanistic.
On November 7, 2007, Sotheby's sold for $ 20.2M including premium Der Wasserfall, oil on canvas 165 x 158 cm painted in 1912, lot 41.
Der Wasserfall is a rare example from that period with human characters. In front of the waterfall, four naked women display dramatic gestures. The colors of the skins are different, expressing without a racial connotation the diversity of temperaments. The waterfall is an abundant and swirling flow in a striking blue, symbolizing the divine light. In the background on the left, a feline brings its contribution to the pantheism.
Like Kandinsky, Marc gradually evolves towards an abstraction characterized by the raw expression of colors. His colors, symbols of the pantheistic forces, completely escape the realism. He explained how to interpret them : Blue is the male principle, austere, spiritual and intellectual. Yellow is the female principle, nice, kind and sensual. Red is an enemy, materialistic, brutal and heavy.
In support to his theories, Marc stages a wide variety of animals, ideal creations of nature. However, he does not forget that his goal is humanistic.
On November 7, 2007, Sotheby's sold for $ 20.2M including premium Der Wasserfall, oil on canvas 165 x 158 cm painted in 1912, lot 41.
Der Wasserfall is a rare example from that period with human characters. In front of the waterfall, four naked women display dramatic gestures. The colors of the skins are different, expressing without a racial connotation the diversity of temperaments. The waterfall is an abundant and swirling flow in a striking blue, symbolizing the divine light. In the background on the left, a feline brings its contribution to the pantheism.
1912 Horses by Franz Marc
2018 SOLD for £ 15.4M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
Franz Marc rejects the modern life which is dominated by the machine. He seeks truth in Nature. His work displays a great diversity of animals, whose symbiosis with nature is a support for a harmony of forms. He uses Fauvist colors, with a symbolist code of his invention : blue for the male and yellow for the female when they are peaceful, and red to express an antithesis, for example revolt.
The horse occupies the best place in Marc's art. The natural attitude of this animal is varied but always elegant. A group of horses is the pretext for building a perfect balance. With an image brought by Kandinsky, the horse becomes a powerful symbol of modern art when the two artists create the Der Blaue Reiter movement in 1911.
Grosse Landschaft I (large landscape I) shows a group of mares. This oil on canvas 110 x 212 cm painted in 1909 passed at Sotheby's on February 3, 2016 with a lower estimate of £ 4M, lot 6.
Weidende Pferde III (grazing horses III) stages four fiery males, each one in another attitude. The coats are red but manes and tails are blue. This oil on canvas 61 x 92 cm painted in 1910 was sold for £ 12.3M including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2008 over a lower estimate of £ 6M, lot 13.
Art on paper or cardboard allows a great vividness of colors. Drei Pferde (three horses), gouache on card 34 x 48 cm executed in 1912, was sold for £ 15.4M including premium by Christie's on June 20, 2018 over a lower estimate of £ 2.5M, lot 14 B. Horses have a realistic shape but are surrounded by a cubist landscape. This work is illustrated in the tweet below.
Made the same year, Zwei Blaue Esel (two blue donkeys), gouache on paper 35 x 28 cm, was sold for £ 4.1M including premium by Sotheby's on February 4, 2020 over a lower estimate of £ 1M, lot 7.
The horse occupies the best place in Marc's art. The natural attitude of this animal is varied but always elegant. A group of horses is the pretext for building a perfect balance. With an image brought by Kandinsky, the horse becomes a powerful symbol of modern art when the two artists create the Der Blaue Reiter movement in 1911.
Grosse Landschaft I (large landscape I) shows a group of mares. This oil on canvas 110 x 212 cm painted in 1909 passed at Sotheby's on February 3, 2016 with a lower estimate of £ 4M, lot 6.
Weidende Pferde III (grazing horses III) stages four fiery males, each one in another attitude. The coats are red but manes and tails are blue. This oil on canvas 61 x 92 cm painted in 1910 was sold for £ 12.3M including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2008 over a lower estimate of £ 6M, lot 13.
Art on paper or cardboard allows a great vividness of colors. Drei Pferde (three horses), gouache on card 34 x 48 cm executed in 1912, was sold for £ 15.4M including premium by Christie's on June 20, 2018 over a lower estimate of £ 2.5M, lot 14 B. Horses have a realistic shape but are surrounded by a cubist landscape. This work is illustrated in the tweet below.
Made the same year, Zwei Blaue Esel (two blue donkeys), gouache on paper 35 x 28 cm, was sold for £ 4.1M including premium by Sotheby's on February 4, 2020 over a lower estimate of £ 1M, lot 7.
#AuctionUpdate ‘Drei Pferde’ by #FranzMarc achieves £15,421,250, more than 4 x the high estimate, making a new #WorldAuctionRecord for the artist. pic.twitter.com/Zk9zGc2j8G
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) June 20, 2018
1912 The Prophet of Fire
2018 SOLD for $ 14M including premium
Ludwig Meidner got a good artistic training but his first activity as a fashion illustrator failed to provide him with decent living conditions. Installed in Berlin, he is subjugated in 1911 by an exhibition of the Italian Futurists. He comes now closer to the avant-gardes and gets help from Beckmann.
Assimilating his vocation to that of a hallucinated Jewish prophet, Meidner paints a series of Apocalyptic landscapes that offer a highly original style and appeal to the Expressionists.
On November 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 94 x 109 cm painted by Meidner in 1912, lot 25 estimated $ 12M. It is painted on both sides, a practice quite common in German groups, particularly understandable here considering the large size of the canvas and the poor resources of the artist. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The front side is an Apokalyptische Landschaft, with an expression of horror comparable to Munch's Scream. Two thick rivers of incandescent lava pour into an already shaken city where houses ready to collapse bend in all directions, anticipating the landscapes dislocated by Soutine. In the foreground two characters run madly. Columns of troops roam the square of this city of German architecture, making this artwork a premonition of the First World War.
The reverse seems in total contrast with the front. A serious young man reads a book. With his unusually hollowed cheeks, if he is not a self-portrait, he is at least a projection of the artist on his own misery.
The war breaks the creative impulse of Ludwig Meidner, who will continue his career with self-portraits and imaginary portraits of prophets and will be cataloged as a degenerate artist in 1937. He will never reach fame but Baselitz will remember his Apocalypses for howling against the Berlin wall.
Assimilating his vocation to that of a hallucinated Jewish prophet, Meidner paints a series of Apocalyptic landscapes that offer a highly original style and appeal to the Expressionists.
On November 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 94 x 109 cm painted by Meidner in 1912, lot 25 estimated $ 12M. It is painted on both sides, a practice quite common in German groups, particularly understandable here considering the large size of the canvas and the poor resources of the artist. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The front side is an Apokalyptische Landschaft, with an expression of horror comparable to Munch's Scream. Two thick rivers of incandescent lava pour into an already shaken city where houses ready to collapse bend in all directions, anticipating the landscapes dislocated by Soutine. In the foreground two characters run madly. Columns of troops roam the square of this city of German architecture, making this artwork a premonition of the First World War.
The reverse seems in total contrast with the front. A serious young man reads a book. With his unusually hollowed cheeks, if he is not a self-portrait, he is at least a projection of the artist on his own misery.
The war breaks the creative impulse of Ludwig Meidner, who will continue his career with self-portraits and imaginary portraits of prophets and will be cataloged as a degenerate artist in 1937. He will never reach fame but Baselitz will remember his Apocalypses for howling against the Berlin wall.
1913-1914 Berliner Strassenszene by Kirchner
2006 SOLD 38 M$ including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
The Die Brücke movement was founded in Dresden in 1905 by four students who wanted to define a modern life based on freedom. From 1911 the lights, the pleasures and the opportunities of Berlin attract them like butterflies. The failure is total. The group explodes in January 1913.
Kirchner has to face the facts. Life in Berlin is not communal. Each individual is isolated in the crowd. At that time prostitutes were the queens of the Berlin sidewalk. They are recognizable by customers from odd signs which are not sufficient to make them intercepted by the police of morals : the high feather on the hat, the tight dresses in too bright colors.
The Strassenszene series, begun at the end of 1913 and interrupted by the war, marks Kirchner's attempt to interpret this city life which he did not want. An oil on canvas 122 x 91 cm painted in 1913 or 1914 was sold for $ 38M including premium by Christie's on November 8, 2006 over a lower estimate of $ 18M, lot 37. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Two cocottes walk together in the middle of a dense crowd. The characters around them go in all directions, like in a whirlwind, without any interaction between them. Two men are in the foreground, not without arrogance. They are pimps or customers. In the background, the panel of the tram 15 enables to locate the scene in the heart of the big city.
This anxiety-provoking atmosphere is also perfectly transposed by Kirchner in his wood engravings. A Strassenszene with formidably unfriendly characters passed at Sotheby's on October 23, 2017. Fünf Kokotten, a grotesque interpretation of this weird fashion, was sold for CHF 920K before fees by Kornfeld on June 15, 2012.
Kirchner has to face the facts. Life in Berlin is not communal. Each individual is isolated in the crowd. At that time prostitutes were the queens of the Berlin sidewalk. They are recognizable by customers from odd signs which are not sufficient to make them intercepted by the police of morals : the high feather on the hat, the tight dresses in too bright colors.
The Strassenszene series, begun at the end of 1913 and interrupted by the war, marks Kirchner's attempt to interpret this city life which he did not want. An oil on canvas 122 x 91 cm painted in 1913 or 1914 was sold for $ 38M including premium by Christie's on November 8, 2006 over a lower estimate of $ 18M, lot 37. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Two cocottes walk together in the middle of a dense crowd. The characters around them go in all directions, like in a whirlwind, without any interaction between them. Two men are in the foreground, not without arrogance. They are pimps or customers. In the background, the panel of the tram 15 enables to locate the scene in the heart of the big city.
This anxiety-provoking atmosphere is also perfectly transposed by Kirchner in his wood engravings. A Strassenszene with formidably unfriendly characters passed at Sotheby's on October 23, 2017. Fünf Kokotten, a grotesque interpretation of this weird fashion, was sold for CHF 920K before fees by Kornfeld on June 15, 2012.
1915 Jesuiten by Feininger
2007 SOLD for $ 23.3M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
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 including premium 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 including premium by Sotheby's on May 8, 2007 over 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 including premium 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 including premium by Sotheby's on May 8, 2007 over a lower estimate of $ 7M, lot 22.
1918 Totentanz in Berlin
2020 SOLD for £ 9.7M including premium
Born in Berlin, George Grosz is 21 years old in 1914. Disgusted by the atrocities of war, he is twice discharged from the German army. He escapes in 1917 a scheduled execution because he is considered as insane.
The civil society disgusts him just as much. While the corpses are rotting on the barbed wire, the survivors indulge in all the sins in Friedrichstrasse. Prostitutes reign over this increasingly miserable decadence. The war will be lost but nobody pays attention to it.
Grosz protests in a proletarian caricature, violently anti-militarist and anti-bourgeois. He will try unsuccessfully to approach revolutionary and Dadaist movements and his art will be censored by all regimes. For the Nazis, he will be the worst cultural Bolshevik. Many of his works have been destroyed.
On February 5 in London, Christie's sells Gefährliche Strasse (the dangerous street), oil on canvas 47 x 65 cm painted in July 1918, lot 6 estimated £ 4.5M.
The image juxtaposes two nightmarish scenes, symbolizing sex and death. A hilarious prostitute, naked under her transparent clothes, excites a lecherous crowd. In the foreground, an austere soldier with emaciated cheeks resolutely turns his back on the rest of the action. Grosz's screams are worthy of Goya's disasters.
The scene is staged by night in dark colors, with a Futurist fragmentation in the style of Boccioni. In the bottom right, the silhouette of a head expressing repulsion or anger is considered to be a self-portrait of the artist.
The civil society disgusts him just as much. While the corpses are rotting on the barbed wire, the survivors indulge in all the sins in Friedrichstrasse. Prostitutes reign over this increasingly miserable decadence. The war will be lost but nobody pays attention to it.
Grosz protests in a proletarian caricature, violently anti-militarist and anti-bourgeois. He will try unsuccessfully to approach revolutionary and Dadaist movements and his art will be censored by all regimes. For the Nazis, he will be the worst cultural Bolshevik. Many of his works have been destroyed.
On February 5 in London, Christie's sells Gefährliche Strasse (the dangerous street), oil on canvas 47 x 65 cm painted in July 1918, lot 6 estimated £ 4.5M.
The image juxtaposes two nightmarish scenes, symbolizing sex and death. A hilarious prostitute, naked under her transparent clothes, excites a lecherous crowd. In the foreground, an austere soldier with emaciated cheeks resolutely turns his back on the rest of the action. Grosz's screams are worthy of Goya's disasters.
The scene is staged by night in dark colors, with a Futurist fragmentation in the style of Boccioni. In the bottom right, the silhouette of a head expressing repulsion or anger is considered to be a self-portrait of the artist.
1920 Merz or the Anti-Dada
2014 SOLD 14 M£ including premium
The art of Kurt Schwitters is a direct consequence of the horrors of war. Along with Arp, he understands that the world has changed and that only a completely new vision may accompany the necessary rebirth.
Technically, Schwitters is very close to the Dada movement in which he had friends. In that defeated Germany promised to decadence, he built his art with torn newspapers and other trash. However, he opted for a positive message that is the opposite of the Dada destruction. Unsurprisingly, Schwitters was later persecuted by the Nazis chasing the decadent art.
His creed is summed up in a few cleverly chosen statements.
Pioneer of installations nearly half a century ahead of his time, he introduces himself to his colleagues as a painter who nails his pictures together.
He promotes his Merz revolution, a word that appeared perhaps by chance in one of his works after he tore a paper of the Kommerz und Privatbank. Merz is in only four letters a remarkable anticapitalist and anti-industrial motto.
On June 24 in London, Christie's sells a 1920 Merzbild in large size, 109 x 80 cm including the artist's frame. Positively titled Ja Was? Bild, it anticipates the paintings-poems by Miro. The reverse side covered by newspaper fragments must be considered as a full part of the Bild.
Ja Was? Bild is estimated £ 4M. I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is altogether extremely rare and historically important. It was sold for £ 14M including premium.
Technically, Schwitters is very close to the Dada movement in which he had friends. In that defeated Germany promised to decadence, he built his art with torn newspapers and other trash. However, he opted for a positive message that is the opposite of the Dada destruction. Unsurprisingly, Schwitters was later persecuted by the Nazis chasing the decadent art.
His creed is summed up in a few cleverly chosen statements.
Pioneer of installations nearly half a century ahead of his time, he introduces himself to his colleagues as a painter who nails his pictures together.
He promotes his Merz revolution, a word that appeared perhaps by chance in one of his works after he tore a paper of the Kommerz und Privatbank. Merz is in only four letters a remarkable anticapitalist and anti-industrial motto.
On June 24 in London, Christie's sells a 1920 Merzbild in large size, 109 x 80 cm including the artist's frame. Positively titled Ja Was? Bild, it anticipates the paintings-poems by Miro. The reverse side covered by newspaper fragments must be considered as a full part of the Bild.
Ja Was? Bild is estimated £ 4M. I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is altogether extremely rare and historically important. It was sold for £ 14M including premium.
1936 Self Portrait with Crystal Ball by Beckmann
2005 SOLD for $ 16.8M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
1938 The Fury of the Birds
2017 SOLD for £ 36M including premium
After the First World War, German artists like Max Beckmann, Max Ernst, George Grosz and Otto Dix brought social criticism to the level of a major art far beyond caricature. Of course the Nazi regime does not agree. Beckmann is one of the targets of Hitler's furious attacks on degenerate art.
Beckmann precipitately left Germany in 1937 and settled in Amsterdam. Like Miro at the same time in Spain, he could not manage to stay away from politics. He immediately conceived a great composition, first entitled Der Land des Wahnsinningen (the country of the insane) which would express his horror of the collectivisms.
Completed at the end of the summer of 1938, Hölle der Vögel (hell of birds) is the achievement of that project. This oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm is for sale by Christie's in London on June 27, lot 11. Three days before the press release of May 8, Financial Time announced an estimate of £ 30M.
This scene mixes the medieval and the modern to better express the permanent threat of abject persecution. Tortures are inflicted by hooded birds. In a claustrophobic atmosphere with black lines and garish colors, the victim chained on an Inquisition bed is a light spot. A bird plows his back to the blood with a large knife.
This lugubrious ceremony is presided by a harpy standing out of her broken egg with a monstrous breast. The crowd of secondary characters is made up of screaming nudes who perform the Hitler Grüss, removing any possible doubt about the interpretation of this allegory in the modern world.
The narrative abundance in that work is inspired by medieval imagery. The choice of the bird as a symbol of blind fury reminds the man-swallowing bird in Bosch's Hell.
The political violence in Hölle der Vögel may be compared to Picasso's Guernica, also conceived in 1937. Beckmann's painting, cautiously preserved in a private apartment in Paris until the end of the Second World War, would have deserved a similar notoriety.
Please watch both videos shared by Christie's, one of thempositioning the artwork within Beckmann's career and the other one in which the auction house chose to accompany it by the reading of a similarly inspired poem by W. H. Auden.
Beckmann precipitately left Germany in 1937 and settled in Amsterdam. Like Miro at the same time in Spain, he could not manage to stay away from politics. He immediately conceived a great composition, first entitled Der Land des Wahnsinningen (the country of the insane) which would express his horror of the collectivisms.
Completed at the end of the summer of 1938, Hölle der Vögel (hell of birds) is the achievement of that project. This oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm is for sale by Christie's in London on June 27, lot 11. Three days before the press release of May 8, Financial Time announced an estimate of £ 30M.
This scene mixes the medieval and the modern to better express the permanent threat of abject persecution. Tortures are inflicted by hooded birds. In a claustrophobic atmosphere with black lines and garish colors, the victim chained on an Inquisition bed is a light spot. A bird plows his back to the blood with a large knife.
This lugubrious ceremony is presided by a harpy standing out of her broken egg with a monstrous breast. The crowd of secondary characters is made up of screaming nudes who perform the Hitler Grüss, removing any possible doubt about the interpretation of this allegory in the modern world.
The narrative abundance in that work is inspired by medieval imagery. The choice of the bird as a symbol of blind fury reminds the man-swallowing bird in Bosch's Hell.
The political violence in Hölle der Vögel may be compared to Picasso's Guernica, also conceived in 1937. Beckmann's painting, cautiously preserved in a private apartment in Paris until the end of the Second World War, would have deserved a similar notoriety.
Please watch both videos shared by Christie's, one of thempositioning the artwork within Beckmann's career and the other one in which the auction house chose to accompany it by the reading of a similarly inspired poem by W. H. Auden.
1938 Self Portrait with Horn by Max Beckmann
2001 SOLD 22.5 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
Max Beckmann does not accept that his art is described as degenerate by Hitler. Painted in 1936, his self-portrait with a crystal ball is a poignant message : he would like to react but does not have the solution. He is only 52 but he certainly appreciates that his premature aging and his surly attitude will not help him. The shadow over the eyes does not encourage dialogue. This oil on canvas 110 x 65 cm was sold for $ 16.8M including premium by Sotheby's on May 3, 2005.
In 1937 it is much worse. The Nazis confiscate 500 of his works from museums and include several in the Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich. Threatened with imprisonment and castration, Beckmann flees Germany and settles in his sister-in-law's home in Amsterdam.
His works mark then a desire for revenge, now with a scathing criticism of the Nazi regime. Hölle der Vögel, oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm completed in 1938, was sold for £ 36M including premium by Christie's on June 27, 2017.
On May 10, 2001 Sotheby's sold for $ 22.5M including premium a Self-portrait with horn, oil on canvas 110 x 100 cm painted in 1938.
The instrument is not played but brandished at the height of the closed mouth like a helpless challenge. The sullen mouth expresses anxiety and once again the eyes are in the shade. The striped jacket resembles the coat of a convict or a Harlequin.
In 1937 it is much worse. The Nazis confiscate 500 of his works from museums and include several in the Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich. Threatened with imprisonment and castration, Beckmann flees Germany and settles in his sister-in-law's home in Amsterdam.
His works mark then a desire for revenge, now with a scathing criticism of the Nazi regime. Hölle der Vögel, oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm completed in 1938, was sold for £ 36M including premium by Christie's on June 27, 2017.
On May 10, 2001 Sotheby's sold for $ 22.5M including premium a Self-portrait with horn, oil on canvas 110 x 100 cm painted in 1938.
The instrument is not played but brandished at the height of the closed mouth like a helpless challenge. The sullen mouth expresses anxiety and once again the eyes are in the shade. The striped jacket resembles the coat of a convict or a Harlequin.
1941 The Decadent Metamorphosis of Max Ernst
2011 SOLD 16.3 M$ including premium
2016 SOLD for £ 7.6M including premium
PRE 2016 SALE DISCUSSION
The Stolen mirror by Max Ernst was sold for $ 16.3M including premium by Christie's on November 1, 2011. It is now estimated £ 7M for sale by Christie's in London on February 2, lot 106.
I introduced this painting as follows in 2011 :
World War II was a great shock to the inhabitants of planet Earth. The surrealist artists, accustomed to metaphors and symbols, went to express an anguished vision of the world.
The personal circumstances of Max Ernst had become difficult. German citizens living in France were suspects and prosecuted. Bucolic life with Leonora Carrington was no more possible. In July 1941, he emigrated to the United States with the help of Peggy Guggenheim.
Like all masterpieces of surrealism, the oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm that comes for sale is blurring the issue. It has a tragic title, The Stolen Mirror (possibly by reference to his separation from Leonora) and a significant subtitle, Product of France.
Dated 1941, probably painted in Santa Monica, this panoramic view of a seaside bordered by a road evokes the decadence of France at war, except that the monuments are inspired by Angkor Wat, this temple which anticipates what our cities will be after the end of the living world.
The technique of decalcomania is used by Ernst to provide a petrified texture to the living beings. Monumental pillars are transformed into naked women, or possibly it is the reverse. They shelter living but decomposed birds. A couple of lovers in the meadow is in a similar altogether sharp and rotting condition.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's in 2011.
The Stolen mirror by Max Ernst was sold for $ 16.3M including premium by Christie's on November 1, 2011. It is now estimated £ 7M for sale by Christie's in London on February 2, lot 106.
I introduced this painting as follows in 2011 :
World War II was a great shock to the inhabitants of planet Earth. The surrealist artists, accustomed to metaphors and symbols, went to express an anguished vision of the world.
The personal circumstances of Max Ernst had become difficult. German citizens living in France were suspects and prosecuted. Bucolic life with Leonora Carrington was no more possible. In July 1941, he emigrated to the United States with the help of Peggy Guggenheim.
Like all masterpieces of surrealism, the oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm that comes for sale is blurring the issue. It has a tragic title, The Stolen Mirror (possibly by reference to his separation from Leonora) and a significant subtitle, Product of France.
Dated 1941, probably painted in Santa Monica, this panoramic view of a seaside bordered by a road evokes the decadence of France at war, except that the monuments are inspired by Angkor Wat, this temple which anticipates what our cities will be after the end of the living world.
The technique of decalcomania is used by Ernst to provide a petrified texture to the living beings. Monumental pillars are transformed into naked women, or possibly it is the reverse. They shelter living but decomposed birds. A couple of lovers in the meadow is in a similar altogether sharp and rotting condition.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's in 2011.
1954 The Open-Wheeled Champion
2013 SOLD 19.6 M£ including premium
Everything goes very fast, in any meaning of the word, for Mercedes-Benz at the beginning of 1954. Technology is the best asset to win competitions. For coming back to racing, the German brand aligns the 300SL model for endurance and the W196 single-seater model for Formula 1.
They must win. Mercedes managed to take the best driver, Juan Manuel Fangio, world champion in 1951 with Alfa Romeo, who had just won the first two grand prix of the season on a Maserati.
For their first collaboration, Mercedes and Fangio win the Reims grand prix on a W196 with enclosed wheels. Surrounding the wheel by a piece of bodywork is a theoretical advantage because it limits the impact of air friction. The top speed exceeds 200 km / h.
At that time, the skill of the pilot is prevailing on theories. The next grand prix, at Silverstone, is sinuous. Powerless against Ferrari, Fangio requires the withdrawal of the enclosing to improve his freedom of action. This is the right decision.
Thus are born the chassis 005 and 006 of the W196. With the open wheeled 006, Fangio wins the next two grand prix, in Germany at the Nürburgring and in Switzerland at Bremgarten.
The 006 has no rival for the title of most prestigious single-seater car of all time, formerly driven by the most skilful driver of all time. It is for sale on July 12 by Bonhams at Goodwood.
POST SALE COMMENT
006 is not far from being the most prestigious car of all time in all categories. Its result at auction is the highest of all time: £ 19.6 million including premium.
An open wheeled W196 (perhaps the 006) is driven by Fangio himself during a demonstration at the Nürburgring in 1986. The image below is licensed under Creative Commons with attribution By Lothar Spurzem [CC-BY-SA-2.0-de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons.
They must win. Mercedes managed to take the best driver, Juan Manuel Fangio, world champion in 1951 with Alfa Romeo, who had just won the first two grand prix of the season on a Maserati.
For their first collaboration, Mercedes and Fangio win the Reims grand prix on a W196 with enclosed wheels. Surrounding the wheel by a piece of bodywork is a theoretical advantage because it limits the impact of air friction. The top speed exceeds 200 km / h.
At that time, the skill of the pilot is prevailing on theories. The next grand prix, at Silverstone, is sinuous. Powerless against Ferrari, Fangio requires the withdrawal of the enclosing to improve his freedom of action. This is the right decision.
Thus are born the chassis 005 and 006 of the W196. With the open wheeled 006, Fangio wins the next two grand prix, in Germany at the Nürburgring and in Switzerland at Bremgarten.
The 006 has no rival for the title of most prestigious single-seater car of all time, formerly driven by the most skilful driver of all time. It is for sale on July 12 by Bonhams at Goodwood.
POST SALE COMMENT
006 is not far from being the most prestigious car of all time in all categories. Its result at auction is the highest of all time: £ 19.6 million including premium.
An open wheeled W196 (perhaps the 006) is driven by Fangio himself during a demonstration at the Nürburgring in 1986. The image below is licensed under Creative Commons with attribution By Lothar Spurzem [CC-BY-SA-2.0-de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons.
1964 The Pleasure of the Buttered Toast
2017 SOLD for $ 17M including premium
In Düsseldorf in the years following the construction of the Berlin Wall, Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke finished their art studies at the Kunstakademie. They bring their frustration within a society that fails to find its way between capitalism and communism. Both are exiled from the Deutsche Demokratische Republik : Polke moved to the West in 1953 at the age of 12, Richter in 1961 at 29.
The influence of Joseph Beuys, professor since 1961 at the Kunstakademie, is preponderant : young artists may and must create some resolutely new forms of art. Richter and Polke cut out in the magazines the photos which display at their best the social banality. With other students they create in 1963 the movement Kapitalistischer Realismus regrouping the protesting painters.
The young artists create paintings where the form is generated by printing dots leaving unambiguous their inspiration from the magazines. Unlike Lichtenstein on the other side of the Atlantic, they nevertheless take liberties with the structure of this pattern.
Richter has an anti-militarist sensibility. Düsenjäger, oil on canvas 130 x 200 cm painted in 1963, was sold for $ 25.6M including premium by Phillips on November 16, 2016.
Polke is studying the consumerist society with its advertisements and posters offering promises to which disadvantaged families will not have access. On May 17 in New York, Christie 's sells at lot 15 B Frau mit Butterbrot, casein, household lacquer and oil on canvas 160 x 140 cm painted in 1964.
That young 'new woman' far larger than life is superbly stereotyped with a perfect hairstyle, hand and teeth. She raises to her mouth the buttered bread with an expression of intense pleasure as exaggerated as if she was playing for a commercial advertisement. Depending on his degree of frustration, the viewer can judge whether she wants to share her desire or to keep it selfishly.
The influence of Joseph Beuys, professor since 1961 at the Kunstakademie, is preponderant : young artists may and must create some resolutely new forms of art. Richter and Polke cut out in the magazines the photos which display at their best the social banality. With other students they create in 1963 the movement Kapitalistischer Realismus regrouping the protesting painters.
The young artists create paintings where the form is generated by printing dots leaving unambiguous their inspiration from the magazines. Unlike Lichtenstein on the other side of the Atlantic, they nevertheless take liberties with the structure of this pattern.
Richter has an anti-militarist sensibility. Düsenjäger, oil on canvas 130 x 200 cm painted in 1963, was sold for $ 25.6M including premium by Phillips on November 16, 2016.
Polke is studying the consumerist society with its advertisements and posters offering promises to which disadvantaged families will not have access. On May 17 in New York, Christie 's sells at lot 15 B Frau mit Butterbrot, casein, household lacquer and oil on canvas 160 x 140 cm painted in 1964.
That young 'new woman' far larger than life is superbly stereotyped with a perfect hairstyle, hand and teeth. She raises to her mouth the buttered bread with an expression of intense pleasure as exaggerated as if she was playing for a commercial advertisement. Depending on his degree of frustration, the viewer can judge whether she wants to share her desire or to keep it selfishly.
1967 The Psychedelic Jungle of Sigmar Polke
2015 SOLD for $ 27M including premium
On June 29, 2011, Sotheby's sold for £ 5.75M including premium Dschungel (Jungle), a dotted painting on canvas 160 x 245 cm executed in 1967 by Sigmar Polke.
At that time Polke was a young photographer and painter who had not yet completed his art studies. Along with his elder fellow Gerhard Richter, another East German passed to the West, he considered the anti-Art of creating large size images from trivial pictures.
They were influenced by the pop art of Lichtenstein and Warhol with an additional feeling typical of Germany at that time, questioning the contradiction between leisure and war for the use of our planet.
In the same 2011 sale, Stadtbild II painted in 1968 by Polke was sold for £ 4.6M including premium. The theme looks opposite to Jungle, the city against the tropical scenery, but the contrasts of colors are similarly striking and both artworks question the society by imitating the travel posters.
I described Dschungel as follows before the 2011 sale :
The unidentified tropical landscape in backlighting is dominated by a huge sun rising or setting over the sea with a spectacular halo. The painting, including dark leaves in the foreground, is entirely built with small dots of color, as if it were an advertisement poster.
Dschungel is now lot 8 for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 12.
At that time Polke was a young photographer and painter who had not yet completed his art studies. Along with his elder fellow Gerhard Richter, another East German passed to the West, he considered the anti-Art of creating large size images from trivial pictures.
They were influenced by the pop art of Lichtenstein and Warhol with an additional feeling typical of Germany at that time, questioning the contradiction between leisure and war for the use of our planet.
In the same 2011 sale, Stadtbild II painted in 1968 by Polke was sold for £ 4.6M including premium. The theme looks opposite to Jungle, the city against the tropical scenery, but the contrasts of colors are similarly striking and both artworks question the society by imitating the travel posters.
I described Dschungel as follows before the 2011 sale :
The unidentified tropical landscape in backlighting is dominated by a huge sun rising or setting over the sea with a spectacular halo. The painting, including dark leaves in the foreground, is entirely built with small dots of color, as if it were an advertisement poster.
Dschungel is now lot 8 for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 12.
1970 The Preferred Car of Jo Siffert
2017 SOLD for $ 14M including premium
Porsche had never won the 24 hours of Le Mans. A change in regulations announced after the 1968 season by the ACO for the two classes 3 liters and 5 liters is seized as an opportunity. Porsche creates in parallel the models 908 and 917.
The rule for the 5 liter homologation requires that the model is produced in 25 identical units. Porsche's motivation is so intense that they line up their twenty-five 917 in the yard of the factory as early as April 1969. Success is still questionable because the 917 is very difficult to drive. None of them finished the 24 hours of Le Mans 1969 and a driver died during that race.
Porsche immediately conceived the necessary improvements, resulting in two variants of the chassis for each of the two models : K for Kurz Heck and LH for Lang Heck. The short variant is faster in top speed but less stable. Many drivers will prefer the LH.
On August 18 at Pebble Beach, Gooding sells a historically important 917K, lot 44 estimated $ 13M. Here is the link to the press release.
This car assembled in 1970 was immediately entered in the training and test sessions at Le Mans, Nürburgring and Ehra-Lessien in April and May, demonstrating the exceptional speed achieved by the 917K model.
It is purchased in June 1970 by Jo Siffert who does not use it in competition but leases it for the preparation of the film Le Mans. It is one of three 917K starring in this movie for which they also served as camera cars for shooting at full speed. This 917K was Siffert's favorite car and led his funeral procession in October 1971.
The car was found 30 years later in a Parisian suburb, covered with dust but untouched except for the absence of the engine. The next owner bought an original engine from the same series. The complete restoration was supervised by a former Porsche engineer who still had access to the factory archives of the 917 program.
Please watch the video shared by Gooding.
The rule for the 5 liter homologation requires that the model is produced in 25 identical units. Porsche's motivation is so intense that they line up their twenty-five 917 in the yard of the factory as early as April 1969. Success is still questionable because the 917 is very difficult to drive. None of them finished the 24 hours of Le Mans 1969 and a driver died during that race.
Porsche immediately conceived the necessary improvements, resulting in two variants of the chassis for each of the two models : K for Kurz Heck and LH for Lang Heck. The short variant is faster in top speed but less stable. Many drivers will prefer the LH.
On August 18 at Pebble Beach, Gooding sells a historically important 917K, lot 44 estimated $ 13M. Here is the link to the press release.
This car assembled in 1970 was immediately entered in the training and test sessions at Le Mans, Nürburgring and Ehra-Lessien in April and May, demonstrating the exceptional speed achieved by the 917K model.
It is purchased in June 1970 by Jo Siffert who does not use it in competition but leases it for the preparation of the film Le Mans. It is one of three 917K starring in this movie for which they also served as camera cars for shooting at full speed. This 917K was Siffert's favorite car and led his funeral procession in October 1971.
The car was found 30 years later in a Parisian suburb, covered with dust but untouched except for the absence of the engine. The next owner bought an original engine from the same series. The complete restoration was supervised by a former Porsche engineer who still had access to the factory archives of the 917 program.
Please watch the video shared by Gooding.
1988 Self Portrait of Kippenberger in Picasso Underpants
2014 SOLD for $ 22.6M including premium
Regarding painting, the time of Martin Kippenberger could have been a lost generation. He admires Picasso as the ultimate artist who summarizes the art of the twentieth century. He likes the photo made by Duncan in 1962 where Picasso is shirtless, wearing only white underpants.
In 1988, Kippenberger is activist, ambitious and worldly. Coming to Vienna for business, he unintentionally arrives in a grubby hotel because all the others are full. He stages himself in Picasso pants and looks in the mirror. He sees how much he is ugly.
Kippenberger's self-portraits in Picasso underwears display an unpleasant bearded man with a beer belly. He is 35 years old. This series not only shows the beginning of the inexorable physical decline of the artist, but it mostly questions the future of artistic expression in the classis form of painting.
On November 12 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 242 x 202 cm, lot 40 estimated 15M. In an arrogant attitude opposite to Picasso's, the man without legs is placed on a shelf as if he were a pottery.
Another painting of same size was sold for $ 18.6M including premium by Christie's on May 12, 2014. The man is seen through a buttocks-shaped keyhole. His attitude is so abject that he prefers hiding his head in a blue drop.
Another one, sold for $ 4.1M including premium by Sotheby's on May 12, 2009, had been discussed in this column. Showing the man bending as for vomiting, it is the most realistic of these three artworks.
In 1988, Kippenberger is activist, ambitious and worldly. Coming to Vienna for business, he unintentionally arrives in a grubby hotel because all the others are full. He stages himself in Picasso pants and looks in the mirror. He sees how much he is ugly.
Kippenberger's self-portraits in Picasso underwears display an unpleasant bearded man with a beer belly. He is 35 years old. This series not only shows the beginning of the inexorable physical decline of the artist, but it mostly questions the future of artistic expression in the classis form of painting.
On November 12 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 242 x 202 cm, lot 40 estimated 15M. In an arrogant attitude opposite to Picasso's, the man without legs is placed on a shelf as if he were a pottery.
Another painting of same size was sold for $ 18.6M including premium by Christie's on May 12, 2014. The man is seen through a buttocks-shaped keyhole. His attitude is so abject that he prefers hiding his head in a blue drop.
Another one, sold for $ 4.1M including premium by Sotheby's on May 12, 2009, had been discussed in this column. Showing the man bending as for vomiting, it is the most realistic of these three artworks.
