Germany - 2nd page
in addition to Richter
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Top 10 Germany Self portrait II US painting < 1940 Cars Cars II Mercedes-Benz Post war cars Cars 1954-55 Animals Bird
Chronology : 1850-1859 20th century 1913 1914 1915 1930-1939 1938 1950-1959 1955 1967 1988
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Top 10 Germany Self portrait II US painting < 1940 Cars Cars II Mercedes-Benz Post war cars Cars 1954-55 Animals Bird
Chronology : 1850-1859 20th century 1913 1914 1915 1930-1939 1938 1950-1959 1955 1967 1988
1851 Washington crossing the Delaware by Leutze
2022 SOLD for $ 45M by Christie's
On Christmas night, 1776 the surprise crossing of the half frozen Delaware river by General Washington changed the course of the Revolutionary War hampered by a previous series of defeats.
That epic moment was painted by the German-born Emanuel Leutze in the wake of the 1848 European events.
The tall General is straight standing at the bow with a foot on the edge, looking ahead with a stiff determination. The US flag in its 1777 Stars and Stripes version is floating in the wind behind the hero. The boat is populated by various officers and troops including a rowing Black man, a Scot and a rowing woman, highlighting the proud Washington as the father of the US nation as a whole.
Three paintings were executed by Leutze with his assistant Eastman Johnson. Made in 1850, the original version was destroyed in a World War II bombing. The second full scale 3.80 x 6.50 m canvas is housed by the Met Museum.
Prepared in 1851 in parallel with the Met example, the third piece on a reduced scale was commissioned by the Paris art editors Goupil and Vibert for an engraving. It was on loan at the White House from 1979 to 2014. This oil on canvas 102 x 173 cm was sold for $ 45M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 30C.
A pastiche painted by Robert Colescott in 1975 replacing the general by an African American scientist and the troops by a gang of joyful Negroes was sold for $ 15.3M by Sotheby's in 2021. Another pastiche painted in 2018 by Jon McNaughton features President Trump leading his team by night with an oil lamp.
That epic moment was painted by the German-born Emanuel Leutze in the wake of the 1848 European events.
The tall General is straight standing at the bow with a foot on the edge, looking ahead with a stiff determination. The US flag in its 1777 Stars and Stripes version is floating in the wind behind the hero. The boat is populated by various officers and troops including a rowing Black man, a Scot and a rowing woman, highlighting the proud Washington as the father of the US nation as a whole.
Three paintings were executed by Leutze with his assistant Eastman Johnson. Made in 1850, the original version was destroyed in a World War II bombing. The second full scale 3.80 x 6.50 m canvas is housed by the Met Museum.
Prepared in 1851 in parallel with the Met example, the third piece on a reduced scale was commissioned by the Paris art editors Goupil and Vibert for an engraving. It was on loan at the White House from 1979 to 2014. This oil on canvas 102 x 173 cm was sold for $ 45M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 30C.
A pastiche painted by Robert Colescott in 1975 replacing the general by an African American scientist and the troops by a gang of joyful Negroes was sold for $ 15.3M by Sotheby's in 2021. Another pastiche painted in 2018 by Jon McNaughton features President Trump leading his team by night with an oil lamp.
#AuctionUpdate Emmanuel Leutze’s ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware’ sets an auction record for the artist; price realized $45 million pic.twitter.com/waEDUwjlaT
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 13, 2022
1913 Die Füchse by Franz Marc
2022 SOLD for £ 43M by Christie's
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.
As a co-founder of Der Blaue Reiter, Franz Marc was immediately influenced by Boccioni's Futurism and Delaunay's Orphisme. His featured animals went to be displayed in an abstract surrounding of fragmented colors while keeping an expressive posture of their own. By that way he pursued a personal style of painting still in quest of a meaningful interpretation of the speed and force of the raw nature.
Painted in 1913, Die Füchse features two peacefully intertwined foxes of which one of them is dominant. Against the bad repute of the clever animal, the artist had an obvious sympathy for their species. Their robe is realistically dark orange with a white jaw, not reaching the dark red of the naughty beasts in the usual color code of the artist.
This oil on canvas 88 x 66 cm was sold in 1939 by its owner who was fleeing the Nazi Germany. Recently restituted to his heirs by a museum in Düsseldorf, it was sold for £ 43M from an estimate in the region of £ 35M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 34. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
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.
As a co-founder of Der Blaue Reiter, Franz Marc was immediately influenced by Boccioni's Futurism and Delaunay's Orphisme. His featured animals went to be displayed in an abstract surrounding of fragmented colors while keeping an expressive posture of their own. By that way he pursued a personal style of painting still in quest of a meaningful interpretation of the speed and force of the raw nature.
Painted in 1913, Die Füchse features two peacefully intertwined foxes of which one of them is dominant. Against the bad repute of the clever animal, the artist had an obvious sympathy for their species. Their robe is realistically dark orange with a white jaw, not reaching the dark red of the naughty beasts in the usual color code of the artist.
This oil on canvas 88 x 66 cm was sold in 1939 by its owner who was fleeing the Nazi Germany. Recently restituted to his heirs by a museum in Düsseldorf, it was sold for £ 43M from an estimate in the region of £ 35M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 34. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1913-1914 Berliner Strassenszene by Kirchner
2006 SOLD 38 M$ by Christie's
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 by Christie's on November 8, 2006 from 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 by Christie's on November 8, 2006 from 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 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 in 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 in 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.
1938 Hölle der Vögel by Beckmann
2017 SOLD for £ 36M by Christie's
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 was sold for £ 36M by Christie's on June 27, 2017, lot 11.
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 was sold for £ 36M by Christie's on June 27, 2017, lot 11.
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 Beckmann
2001 SOLD for $ 22.5M by Sotheby's
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 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 by Christie's in 2017.
On May 10, 2001 Sotheby's sold for $ 22.5M 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 by Christie's in 2017.
On May 10, 2001 Sotheby's sold for $ 22.5M 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.
1954 Fangio's Mercedes-Benz W196
2013 SOLD for £ 19.6M by Bonhams
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 was sold for £ 19.6M on July 12, 2013 by Bonhams.
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 was sold for £ 19.6M on July 12, 2013 by Bonhams.
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.
1955 Mercedes-Benz Uhlenhaut Coupé
2022 SOLD for € 135M by RM Sotheby's
Two special adaptations of the 3 litre 300 SLR coupé were made by Mercedes-Benz in 1955. Designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut, they are known as the Uhlenhaut coupés. Capable of reaching 290 km/h, this model was the fastest road going car of its time.
Employed by Mercedes-Benz since 1931, Uhlenhaut had been a lead designer of the Silver Arrows, of the Formula One highly successful W196 of JM Fangio fame and of the open top Rennsport 300 SLR of Stirling Moss fame. He was also behind the scene of the Le Mans winner W194 and of the road going 300 SL gullwing.
The Uhlenhaut coupés were assembled as two seaters with gullwing doors on two W196 chassis left unused after the 1955 Le Mans crash and the subsequent withdrawal of the brand from motor sport.
Both prototypes were retained by Mercedes-Benz from new. Uhlenhaut had one as a company car. He once drove the 230 km on the autobahn between Stuttgart and Munich in less than an hour.
The first one is on display in the museum of the brand. The second car was used as a demonstration car and was restored in 1986. It was sold for € 135M on May 5, 2022 by RM Sotheby's in a private auction, lot 1. The proceeds help to create a Mercedes-Benz fund for young researchers in environmental science and carbon dioxide reduction.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house, featuring with the hammer Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby's Europe.
Employed by Mercedes-Benz since 1931, Uhlenhaut had been a lead designer of the Silver Arrows, of the Formula One highly successful W196 of JM Fangio fame and of the open top Rennsport 300 SLR of Stirling Moss fame. He was also behind the scene of the Le Mans winner W194 and of the road going 300 SL gullwing.
The Uhlenhaut coupés were assembled as two seaters with gullwing doors on two W196 chassis left unused after the 1955 Le Mans crash and the subsequent withdrawal of the brand from motor sport.
Both prototypes were retained by Mercedes-Benz from new. Uhlenhaut had one as a company car. He once drove the 230 km on the autobahn between Stuttgart and Munich in less than an hour.
The first one is on display in the museum of the brand. The second car was used as a demonstration car and was restored in 1986. It was sold for € 135M on May 5, 2022 by RM Sotheby's in a private auction, lot 1. The proceeds help to create a Mercedes-Benz fund for young researchers in environmental science and carbon dioxide reduction.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house, featuring with the hammer Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby's Europe.
1967 Dschungel by Polke
2015 SOLD for $ 27M by Sotheby's
An exile from East Germany from 1953 and a student from 1961 to 1967 at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Sigmar Polke mingled his young political experience of the laying of the images with the avant-garde artistic conceptions of his teacher Joseph Beuys.
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. Relying on Lichtenstein and Warhol, they developed a specifically German form of pop art based on social concerns instead of a mere illustration of the consumerism of their time. Richter wanted to escape the Socialist propaganda art while Polke's family expected to escape poverty.
Lichtenstein's images are supported by the Ben-day dots widely used for the printing of images in the magazines. Polke relied on the similar Raster-dots of wall posters which he enlarged in a painting technique very close to abstract art. A narrative picture thus emerges from Polke's dots just like it emerges at the same time from Richter's blurs.
The themes of the two fellows are varied. Polke specially targets the exotic bliss deceptively promised to the bourgeois by the tour operators.
Painted in 1966, Rasterbild mit Palmen features a row of un-located palm trees in the hazy fog of the Raster-dots. This dispersion on canvas 130 x 110 cm is a rare example of Polke's multi-colored Raster paintings. It was sold for $ 21.5M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 18.
Dschungel (Jungle) is a dispersion on canvas 160 x 245 cm painted in 1967 by Sigmar Polke. The painting, including dark leaves in the foreground, is entirely built with small dots of color, as if it were an advertisement poster.
Parting away from the signature blur by Polke and Richter, the unidentified tropical scenery in backlighting is dominated by a huge sun rising or setting over the sea with a spectacular halo.
Dschungel was sold by Sotheby's for £ 5.75M on June 29, 2011 and for $ 27M on May 12, 2015, lot 8.
Polke did not have holidays in the idyllic jungle and has not seen New York yet. He warns against the false promises made by the consumer society. Only the rich benefit from capitalism. Stadtbild II, painted in 1968, is a demonstrator of that evolution in Polke's political sensitivity after he completed his studies in Düsseldorf.
The theme looks opposite to the Jungle as its skyscrapers lit in the night are now superseding the tropical sun, but the contrasts of colors are similarly striking and both artworks question the society by referring to the travel posters. Stadtbild II, dispersion on canvas 150 x 126 cm, was sold for £ 4.6M in the same 2011 sale as Dschungel, and for $ 8M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 20 B.
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. Relying on Lichtenstein and Warhol, they developed a specifically German form of pop art based on social concerns instead of a mere illustration of the consumerism of their time. Richter wanted to escape the Socialist propaganda art while Polke's family expected to escape poverty.
Lichtenstein's images are supported by the Ben-day dots widely used for the printing of images in the magazines. Polke relied on the similar Raster-dots of wall posters which he enlarged in a painting technique very close to abstract art. A narrative picture thus emerges from Polke's dots just like it emerges at the same time from Richter's blurs.
The themes of the two fellows are varied. Polke specially targets the exotic bliss deceptively promised to the bourgeois by the tour operators.
Painted in 1966, Rasterbild mit Palmen features a row of un-located palm trees in the hazy fog of the Raster-dots. This dispersion on canvas 130 x 110 cm is a rare example of Polke's multi-colored Raster paintings. It was sold for $ 21.5M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 18.
Dschungel (Jungle) is a dispersion on canvas 160 x 245 cm painted in 1967 by Sigmar Polke. The painting, including dark leaves in the foreground, is entirely built with small dots of color, as if it were an advertisement poster.
Parting away from the signature blur by Polke and Richter, the unidentified tropical scenery in backlighting is dominated by a huge sun rising or setting over the sea with a spectacular halo.
Dschungel was sold by Sotheby's for £ 5.75M on June 29, 2011 and for $ 27M on May 12, 2015, lot 8.
Polke did not have holidays in the idyllic jungle and has not seen New York yet. He warns against the false promises made by the consumer society. Only the rich benefit from capitalism. Stadtbild II, painted in 1968, is a demonstrator of that evolution in Polke's political sensitivity after he completed his studies in Düsseldorf.
The theme looks opposite to the Jungle as its skyscrapers lit in the night are now superseding the tropical sun, but the contrasts of colors are similarly striking and both artworks question the society by referring to the travel posters. Stadtbild II, dispersion on canvas 150 x 126 cm, was sold for £ 4.6M in the same 2011 sale as Dschungel, and for $ 8M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 20 B.
1988 Self Portrait of Kippenberger in Picasso Underpants
2014 SOLD for $ 22.6M by Christie's
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, 2014, Christie's sold for $ 22.6M from a lower estimate of $ 15M an oil on canvas 242 x 202 cm, lot 40. 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 year and size was sold for $ 18.6M from a lower estimate of $ 9M by Christie's on May 12, 2014, lot 13. 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, also of same year and size, was sold for $ 4.1M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2009. 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, 2014, Christie's sold for $ 22.6M from a lower estimate of $ 15M an oil on canvas 242 x 202 cm, lot 40. 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 year and size was sold for $ 18.6M from a lower estimate of $ 9M by Christie's on May 12, 2014, lot 13. 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, also of same year and size, was sold for $ 4.1M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2009. Showing the man bending as for vomiting, it is the most realistic of these three artworks.
