VIEWING Wednesday 8 October 10.00 am -8.00 pm Thursday 9 October 9.00 am - 5.00 pm Friday 10 October 9.00 am - 5.00 pm Saturday 11 October 12.00 pm - 5.00 pm Sunday 12 October 12.00 pm - 5.00 pm
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AUCTIONEER
Veronica Scarpati
AUCTION CODE AND NUMBER
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Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.
Principal Auctioneer: Adrien Meyer
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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Acknowledgements
Catalogue notes by James Baskerville, Zack Boutwood, Alice Broadbent, Giada Damen, Jennifer Duignam, Gabrielle Ford, Molly Gearen, Louisa Hutchinson, Annabel Lawton, Richard Lloyd, Murray Macaulay, Rémy Magusteiro, Hélène Rihal, Tim Schmelcher, Katarina Stojanovic, Emily Whittle and Emily Wood. Copyright Coordination by Samantha Moreno.
Additional thanks to Sophie Kappellides, Sean Smith, Ollie Chapman, Rob Bennett, Steve Ward, Elizabeth Dawnay, Julio Leipnitz Jnr, Maria Morando and Jacqueline McKenna for their assistance in the
making of this catalogue, and to Zoe Ainscough, Guillaume Cerutti, Charlotte Lee, Maike Mueller, Christiane zu Rantzau, Tara Rastrick, Alexa Reinhard, and Florina Weber for getting this project off the ground.
We are indebted to Jonas Beyer and Wolfgang Wittrock for contributing their reminiscences to this catalogue. Last but not least, we are grateful to the children of Klaus and Helga Hegewisch – Susanna, Katharina, Ariane, Clementina, Jonas and Jessika – for freely sharing their memories, documents and photographs and for their trust along the way.
No part of this catalogue may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Christie’s.
Helene Rihal Head of Department, Paris Old Master Drawings
Veronica Scarpati Specialist, Head of Works on Paper Sale Impressionist & Modern Art
Murray Macaulay Head of Prints, Europe Prints & Multiples
Stefano Franceschi Specialist Old Master Prints
Emily Wood Senior Sale Coordinator Prints & Multiples
Zack Boutwood Cataloguer Old Master Drawings
Annabel Lawton Cataloguer Impressionist & Modern Art
Louisa Hutchinson Graduate Intern Impressionist & Modern Art
Richard Lloyd Deputy Chairman Prints & Multiples
Tim Schmelcher International Specialist Old Master Prints
Jay Vincze Senior International Director Impressionist & Modern Art
Rémy Magusteiro Associate Specialist African & Oceanic Art
Klaus Hegewisch (1919-2014)
Spellbound: The Hegewisch Collection – An Introduction
by Tim Schmelcher
My first encounter with Klaus Hegewisch occurred in 2007, when he was bidding over the telephone on a group of proofs from Goya’s Desastres de la Guerra. The auction included ten very rare, lifetime impressions from the fabled holdings of the German-Dutch collector Franz Koenigs (1881-1941), which had been consigned to Christie’s by his descendants. At the time, I was only vaguely aware of Klaus Hegewisch as an important collector of modern prints and drawings, in particular by Picasso, but not of his keen interest in Goya – and many other artists! He bid strongly on the first of these proofs, but stopped at the high estimate. He let go quickly of the next lot, which he liked less, thinking – quite reasonably, it seemed – that there were eight more to come and he would surely be able to acquire a few of them. From then on, he bid with great tenacity on the following lots, but came to realise that his competitor – another telephone bidder – had decided to buy them all, at any price. Yet Klaus was not one to give up easily. Although he remained impeccably polite, his mood changed from joviality to quiet determination. Alas, when the hammer fell on the last of these lots at a price four times higher than the estimate, once again to his invisible opponent, he had not bought a single sheet. He thanked me and sighed. Wanting to cheer him up, I said that there would be other opportunities, but he just laughed dryly and said: “I don’t think so.”
On my next visit to Hamburg, my colleague Christiane zu Rantzau and I were invited for tea, and I met Klaus and his wife Erika for the first time in person. We were served a spicy tea from Paris and later shown around their flat, in a typical, white-washed Hamburg house of the late 19th century, not far from the Alster Lake. Sitting down in the living room, what struck me first - as a print specialist - was that we were surrounded by Picasso’s masterpieces of printmaking: an early impression of Le repas frugal (lot 337), La Minotauromachie (lot 323), La femme qui pleure (later sold to MoMA), La Femme a la fenètre (lot 314), Le faune dévoilant une femme and others. I had seen impressions of these before – albeit never all at once in a single room! What was even more astonishing was that these prints where accompanied by drawings, including some of closely related subjects: next to Le repas frugal was a charcoal drawing of an emaciated man and woman, Le Couple, of the same year 1904 (lot 336), while La Minotauromachie was only one print amongst a whole group of drawings on the theme of bulls, bullfights and the minotaur (see lot 322). There were other remarkable correspondences: the drawing La Coiffure (Femme se coiffant) hung above the bronze sculpture of the same motif (lots 305 & 306), and below the drawing Nez quart de Brie, a preparatory drawing for the Desmoiselles d’Avignon (1907), stood a wooden mask from Côte d’Ivoire of the type that had inspired Picasso in his turn towards a very reduced figurative style (lots 310 & 311).
In the adjacent dining room were other icons of modern European graphic art, such as Edvard Munch’s Madonna, Melancholy III and his Self-Portrait with a skeleton arm, as well as a small but exquisite selfportrait of Max Beckmann as a young medical orderly and a large selfportrait in pencil by Otto Dix (lots 316, 327, 329, 333, 339). The master bedroom was a cabinet of old master prints and drawings, with a wall covered with the greatest of Dürer’s engravings facing Rembrandt’s Three Trees, Baldung’s Bewitched Groom and drawings by Tiepolo,
Carracci, Delacroix and Menzel (see lots 301, 302, 304, 307, 308, 309, 334, 341, 348 & 349). In the corridor and study were drawings and prints by Degas, again Otto Dix, Feininger, Kollwitz, Léger, Matisse, Meidner, more Picasso, Redon… Without exception, the works were museal in quality, and yet - the overall effect was surprisingly low-key. There were no paintings and thus hardly any colour, everything was quite simply framed, and the interior comfortable but understated: some English mahogany and vernacular oak furniture, a few beautiful Caucasian kilims, fine Uzbek suzanis thrown over the beds, and floorto-ceiling shelves filled with classic and modern literature, poetry and art books. The surroundings perfectly reflected the character of the inhabitants: Klaus was a tall, lanky man, softly spoken, with a wry smile and sparkly, bright eyes, who even in his eighties possessed an almost boyish charm, dressed with casual elegance in an open-necked shirt and flannel jacket. Erika was a little more theatrical, but equally poised. Although very feminine, her voice had a warm, almost smoky timbre, and she liked to wear trousers and neckties, perhaps a nod to the androgynous fashion of 1920s Berlin or the gamine look of 1950s Paris. We then climbed the stairs to the attic. Here was Erika’s studio, who was an accomplished portrait painter, draughtswoman and printmaker in her own right. Behind her easel and work tables, we saw large plan chests, each drawer marked with an artist’s name, and realised that we had by no means seen everything. The following year, in 2008, Klaus instructed us to prepare a full inventory of the collection. Until then, there was no single, comprehensive record of the whole collection. Now, the real work lay ahead of us and we began at Jersbek, where the Hegewischs were renting a side-wing of a baroque manor house as a
country retreat, in a remote area to the northeast of Hamburg. It was here that I finally grasped the size and depth of the collection: there was a small corridor hung with an exquisite collection of prints by James Ensor, a storage room filled with early proofs and the complete graphic series by Max Beckmann, all in frames and ready for public display; portfolios by Klinger and Redon, prints and drawings by Bresdin, a full set of Carceri by Piranesi... I spend a week there, taking notes and photographs, and then returned to the flat in Hamburg. There, finally, in the drawers were the great works of Goya - Los Caprichos (lot 326), La Tauromaquia, Los Desastres de la Guerra (lot 342), Los Proverbios – and many other treasures. Over the next months and years, my colleagues and I continued to record and value the holdings - not always an easy task, as the Hegewischs were generously and frequently lending to exhibitions around the world, and works were being relocated and rehung as they moved between museums, warehouses, and their places in the city and the countryside. Working with Klaus and Erika over the years, we were always aware of being in the presence of extraordinary collectors and of handling one of the finest, most sophisticated but also most personal collections of works on paper in the world. It is a privilege and an education that continues to this day.
YOUTH AND WAR
Klaus Hegewisch’s life spanned almost a century and encapsulated the trauma and recovery of Germany in the 20th century, and its political, economic and cultural life of the post-war period.
He was born in Hamburg in 1919, just as World War I had ended, as the only child of Gertrud (née Thiele) and Alexander Hegewisch, whose family came from Lübeck, an ancient Hanseatic harbour city on the Baltic Sea. The father was a lawyer and a liberal mind; the mother a free spirit with an independent streak – their marriage did not last long. They separated when Klaus was little, and although they both loved him very much, they were somewhat unreliable and often absent parents, distracted by their own lives, and money was in short supply. He often went to stay with his paternal grandparents in Lübeck,
travelling by train on his own, the conductor bribed with a cigar to keep an eye on the boy. From early on he had to look after himself and to take responsibility, also for his mother, an ambitious dreamer with a tendency to live above her means. The parents did however provide for a good education: he attended Hamburg’s oldest Grammar School and, at a youngster’s rate, joined the city’s most prestigious sailing club. An academic higher education however was of little appeal to young Klaus. Having grown up in two harbour cities, he felt drawn to the sea and the wider world. He left school at the age of 16 to earn a little salary for himself and - in a very Hanseatic tradition – joined a merchant company, Nottebohm & Co., as an apprentice. The firm imported coffee, tobacco, timber and cotton from Central and South America.
Klaus had just completed his apprenticeship in spring 1939 as NaziGermany prepared for war. At first, he was drafted into labour service on a farm for six months, then to the German navy as a sailor on a patrol boat and mine sweeper in the North Sea. Only a few months into the war, the ship was hit by a torpedo and sunk; many of his comrades could not be rescued. It was the first of a series of disasters Klaus would experience – and miraculously survive – during the war. Aged only 22, he was promoted to Lieutenant and entrusted with the command of a larger vessel and crew. Despite all hardships and danger, he tried to keep his men in good spirits, and was much liked and respected. But as news reached him of the bombing raids on Hamburg in 1943, which left the city in ruins, much of the population homeless, injured or dead, his parents’ homes destroyed and many of his wider family and friends killed, he became increasingly vocal in his doubts about the war and the Nazi government. He refused to follow the command to ‘take no prisoners’. In 1944, his ship was hit once again, with several casualties and many wounded. During these last months of the war, one of his crew denounced him for his critical stance, and he was repeatedly interrogated. In the meantime, his father was arrested for his association with the dissident group around Helmuth James Graf von Moltke and Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg, called Kreisauer Circle. He was arrested, interned and sentenced to death, a fate he only escaped due to the advance of the British troops in Northern Germany. As the war finally ended, Klaus continued to
Helga and Klaus Hegewisch in their house, Bismarckstein, Hamburg, circa 1964
serve as a commander on a mine sweeper to clear the shipping routes around the coasts of Denmark and Norway. The vessel hit a mine and sank almost instantly, with devastating effect: almost the entire crew, many of whom he considered friends, were killed. Only he and three others survived. He was finally demobilised aged just 26, highly decorated but injured and ridden with anxiety and guilt about this last catastrophe. Back in civilian life, he suffered a breakdown from which he slowly recovered by retreating for several months on the North Sea island of Sylt.
WORK, FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Despite his traumatic experiences in the navy, Hegewisch would remain a passionate sailor, crossing the Atlantic more than once and keeping a small sailing yacht well past his 80th birthday. His professional life would also be intricately linked to the sea. At the end of 1945, he joined a small import business for fruit and vegetables. He soon became a partner and managed to expand the firm swiftly over the next few years. In 1950, he married Helga Bruns, called ‘Hexi’ by everybody, daughter of Willy Bruns, a successful fruit shipper from Hamburg. Also commercially they soon joined forces, with Bruns remaining in charge of importing bananas from Ecuador, and Hegewisch taking care of their distribution in Germany, as well as managing the import and sale of other fruits and produce from Southern Europe and Latin America. The company did well and continued to grow and adapt until Klaus retired, aged 67, in 1986.
Privately, things were also going well for Klaus and his young wife Helga. In 1955, she gave birth to their first children, the twins Susanna and Katharina, and they moved into a bungalow overlooking the river Elbe, designed and built for them by an architect friend. Over the next nine years, they would have four more children: Ariane, Clementina, Jonas and Jessika. Helga, full of verve, intellectual ardour and a passion for literature, brought a host of inspiring friends into their
life, including many writers and journalists, such as the publisher of the news magazine Der Spiegel, Rudolf Augstein, the art theorist and Fluxus member Bazon Brock, the literary critics Marcel Reich-Ranicki and Fritz J. Raddatz, the left-wing journalist and later member of the terrorist cell RAF, Ulrike Meinhof, the historian and later editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Joachim Fest, and many others –people who would shape the cultural and intellectual life of WestGermany for decades to come.
A young family, a booming business, a modernist house full of children and interesting friends – it must have felt like a rebirth, after a difficult youth and the dark years of the war. As many of his generation, Klaus rarely spoke of his experiences during the war. Today, his children believe that it was through art that their father dealt with his trauma and the demons of the past.
COLLECTING ART: THE EARLY YEARS
Curiously, there is an invisible maritime connection to the beginnings of the Hegewisch Collection. As early as the mid-1950’s, Klaus made some modest purchases in Hamburg auction houses, but it was his wife who got him interested in modern art: her father’s cargo ships had a few cabins and a galley for passengers and it was Helga’s task to give them a fresher, more contemporary look. Together, they began to regularly visit the art academy in Hamburg (then Landeskunstschule) to acquire works by students for the ships’ interiors. They befriended one of the teachers, Wilhelm Grimm (1904-1986), and it was he, Klaus Hegewisch would later say, who ‘taught him to see’.
Grimm was an Expressionist of the second generation with a particular interest in printmaking – a liking that would have an important influence on the collection. Two of Grimm’s most talented students were the graphic artist Horst Janssen (1929-1995) and the surrealist Paul Wunderlich (1927-2010), and the Hegewischs began to collect
their prints and drawings. Janssen lived nearby and they became friends. Klaus valued his opinion and often sought his advice during these first years of buying art. In return, he supported and tolerated the artist even at moments of his most outrageous drunkenness, for which he was notorious. At times, Janssen would throw bricks at the Hegewisch house at night – and still be commissioned to design the birth announcement of their daughter Clementina.
Increasingly relying on their own judgment, the Hegewischs began to look back at the art of the first half of the 20th century and acquired works by Max Beckmann, Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, Pablo Picasso, amongst others. In later years, Otto Dix became a friend and visited them in Hamburg, where he relished the atmosphere on the Reeperbahn, Hamburg’s famous red-light district.
The local, very reputable firm Dr. Ernst Hauswedell & Co. (later Hauswedell & Nolte), was one of the first auction houses were Klaus and Helga bought. Soon, they also travelled to Bern to attend the sales at Galerie Kornfeld. The auction business at the time was very much an insider market, and the Hegewischs were among the few private collectors in the room, surrounded by dealers.
Both houses had particular expertise in works on paper, and right from the beginning, prints and drawings would dominate their collection, as can be seen in photographs taken in their house in the 1960s. It was around this time, however, that the occasional painting would appear on the walls, such as a canvas by Christian Schad. Other acquisitions included important paintings by Richard Oelze, Max Beckman, Otto Dix and a little later Richard Lindner and Francis Bacon. Although Klaus was open to contemporary art, and as a juror had supported the Lichtwark-Prize of the City of Hamburg to be awarded to Joseph Beuys, he remained focused on European art of the early 20th century. The most significant acquisitions of old master prints and drawings were made later, but from the mid-1960s onwards, works of the 19th century by Delacroix, Klinger, Goya and others were being added.
The Hegewisch Family with the artist Horst Janssen, Hamburg, circa 1965
Helga and Klaus Hegewisch at Klipstein und Kornfeld, circa 1960
COLLECTING ART: THE LATER YEARS
The 1970s brought change: Helga’s and Klaus’s marriage began to falter and in 1973 they finally separated. Helga followed her profession as a children’s author, novelist, and scriptwriter, and eventually married the influential mid-20th century journalist and intellectual Melvin Lasky, publisher of the political magazines Encounter and Der Monat. For a while she lived in London, but later settled in Berlin, where she still lives today.
Over the course of the following decades, the collection also underwent some important permutations: some canvasses by Francis Bacon and Richard Oelze stayed with Helga, while Klaus, after his retirement in 1986, decided to sell all his remaining paintings and to place the best works in public collections: Richard Lindner’s Telephone (1966) was sold to the Kunsthalle Nuremberg , the portrait The Poet Iwar von Lücken by Otto Dix (1926) was acquired by the Berlinische Galerie; and Max Beckmann’s Carnival (1920) went to the Tate Gallery in London. These deaccessions and the sale of his business allowed Klaus to deepen and refine his collection of graphic arts, on which he would from then on concentrate exclusively.
In 1981 Klaus had married Erika (née Vaupel; 1929-2024), who as a portrait painter, graphic designer and illustrator had an innate affinity to works on paper. She shared and supported his collecting interests, while he in turn encouraged her to explore printmaking for herself.
In the meantime, new opportunities had begun to present themselves: in 1973, Pablo Picasso had died and his granddaughter Marina inherited one fifth of his estate. In the following years, the art dealer Jan Krugier (1928-2008) in Geneva began - with the help of young Wolfgang Wittrock (see page 18) – to catalogue and sell prints and drawings on her behalf. Klaus was able to acquire some outstanding works from this source [see lots 322 & 323]. Together with Erika, he continued to travel to Bern for the annual sales at Kornfeld in June, veritable conventions of the ‘works on paper-world’. The great connoisseur and auctioneer Eberhard Kornfeld (1923-2023) became a good friend who, until late in his long life, would habitually recover from the auction season at the Hegewischs’ summer house on the island of Rhodes. By then, Klaus had also begun to attend auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in London and New York. Relatively little was bought on the French art market, although the Hegewischs both loved Paris and eventually bought a small garret apartment for themselves in the Quartier Latin. They would come to visit the many great museums and see exhibitions, which piqued their interest and shaped their tastes. Back home, during the 1970s and 80s, Hamburg experienced an extraordinary artistic blossoming and two of its main cultural institutions, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus theatre and the Hamburger Kunsthalle, attained international importance. Of the protagonists of this period who also became Klaus’s friends, two in particular are worth mentioning in this context. From 1969-1990, the art historian Werner Hofmann (1928-2013) was director of the Kunsthalle. During this period, he staged a series of groundbreaking exhibitions which transformed the understanding and awareness of ‘Art around 1800’. Hofmann was a great influence on Klaus Hegewisch as a collector, and their personal exchanges undoubtedly fostered his interest in artists such as Füssli, Blake, Daumier, Menzel, Delacroix and above all Goya. Meanwhile, in 1972, Ivan Nagel was appointed director of the Schauspielhaus, which he turned into a hotbed of contemporary theatre. Together with his successor Peter Zadek (1926-2009) – also a friend – Ivan Nagel revolutionised what could be done and said on stage. Nagel however was not only a theatre director, but a cultural scholar and critic who later wrote, amongst other texts, a fascinating essay on Goya’s two paintings of the Maja desnuda and Maja vestida at the Prado (‘Der Künstler als Kuppler’, in: I. Nagel, Schriften zur Kunst:
Goya – Dannecker, Berlin, 2011). The Hegewischs always attended his premieres at the Schauspielhaus, and it is not difficult to imagine Klaus and Ivan together pouring over Los Caprichos and Los Desastres de la Guerra. Klaus, once described as ‘a fairly lonesome man with a thousand contacts’, had found in Ivan Nagel a kindred spirit and perhaps his closest friend.
EXHIBITIONS AND THE HEGEWISCH-KABINETT
Although the Hegewischs very much lived with the collection, Klaus felt strongly that it should not be locked away, and that his treasures be made accessible to the public. From quite early on, works were regularly lent to exhibitions in Hamburg, but also further afield in Europe, as well as in the USA, Japan and Australia.
Perhaps encouraged by his friendship with Werner Hofmann, he began thinking of exhibiting their collection on a more regular and formal basis, rather than just responding to individual loan requests. It was however never a question of placing the entire collection permanently in a museum – the art was too much part of their homes and daily lives. In 1996, a solution was found with the Hamburger Kunsthalle, then led by Hofmann’s successor, Uwe M. Schneede. The contemporary wing of the museum, the Galerie der Gegenwart, was still under construction, but it was agreed that, situated between the galleries for modern and contemporary art, a new space would be dedicated to exhibiting prints and drawings from his holdings. It would be called the Hegewisch-
Erika and Klaus Hegewisch at a preview, circa 1985
Kabinett and the collection made available for changing exhibitions for nearly 20 years well after the collector’s death in 2014. The Galerie der Gegenwart and the Hegewisch-Kabinett opened in 1997 with an exhibition of the most important prints and drawings by Picasso. From then on until 2016, every aspect of the collection would be illuminated and many works from the holdings shown in a nearly uninterrupted series of over twenty exhibitions at the Kunsthalle alone (see page 156). Klaus Hegewisch’s commitment to the museum would manifest itself further by the gift of the outstanding, early crayon drawing of The Sick Child by Edvard Munch to mark the 60th birthday of the director, Uwe M. Schneede, in 1999.
SPELLBOUND
The title chosen for this collection and series of sales points in two directions. The term ‘spellbound’ has many connotations and can mean charmed, enchanted, beguiled, mesmerized, but also bewitched, possessed or even cursed. It thus describes Klaus Hegewisch’s relation to the art he collected, which fascinated and enthralled him. For him it was a blessing, but also a spell and an obsession.
At the same time, the word ‘spellbound’ conjures up the motifs and essence of the works he felt attracted to. As he once admitted in a conversation, Klaus Hegewisch felt drawn to the darker, ominous side of life when it came to choosing works for his collection. It has already been suggested that art offered him a path to confronting his own and his country’s traumatic past. The artists best represented in the collection – Goya, Ensor, Redon, Munch, Beckmann, Dix, even Picasso – certainly don’t promise a particularly cheerful viewing. This is not to say that every work in the collection – nor in fact the collection as a whole – is gloomy. There is plenty of beauty, sensuality and humour – in Ensor’s grotesques, Redon’s reveries or Goya’s satires for example – and the brilliance of the works is such that the overall effect is elating. It is perhaps Picasso, the artist who became central to the collection, whose oeuvre best encompasses the wide emotional range of the collection: wonder and joy, charm and lust, but also melancholy, squalor and angst, even horror.
The graphic arts are the natural domain of political protest and social critique, plenty of which can be found here, in the works of Goya, Beckmann, Grosz, Dix and others. Yet the sombre aspects of the collection are not, on the whole, found in the exposure of injustice, terror, and cruelty. What fascinated Klaus was something more subtle and timeless: the nature of the human soul itself. Not an anxious man by all accounts, he was less interested in the physical reality of life than in the psychological, irrational phenomena - the passions, desires, dreams and fantasies – that drive and torment us all. The images in the Hegewisch Collection teem with mythical and fantastical creatures, from Dürer’s serpent in paradise to Goya’s winged demons and goblins, from Redon’s nocturnal chimera, Ensor’s vengeful skeletons and Klinger’s sirens to Picasso’s minotaurs and fauns. Even many of those animals which in themselves seem real and natural – Baldung’s horse, Goya’s cats, bats and owls or Dürer’s stag appearing to Saint Eustace are envoys from another world (see lots 302, 319 & 326).
Hamlet’s famous dictum that ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio/ Than are dreamt of in your philosophy’ (W. Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1.5.167-8) sums up much of the spirit of the collection. In Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Raven, of which an edition illustrated by Gustave Doré and two of his preparatory drawings are included in the collection, the narrator is mourning the death of his beloved Lenore, when at night he hears a tapping at his door. He is filled with dread – ‘here I opened wide the door; - darkness there and nothing more’– as he is visited by a raven who, repeatedly, speaks only one word: “Nevermore”. The raven is a messenger from the land of the dead or perhaps an emanation of his dead lover herself (see lot 303).
The story is a good example of the phenomenon of ‘the uncanny’, described by Sigmund Freud in his essay Das Unheimliche, published in 1919. Analysing the German word unheimlich itself, Freud realises that it is not the opposite, but an inversion of the word heimlich, which carries ambiguous notions of ‘homely’ but also ‘secret’. To prove his point, he cites definitions of the word unheimlich, such as the following by Friedrich Schelling: ‘Uncanny is what one calls everything that was meant to remain secret and hidden and has come into the open’ (quoted in: S. Freud, The Uncanny, transl. David McLintock, Penguin Classics, London, 2003, p. 132). We thus experience as ‘uncanny’ what was once familiar and central to our understanding of the world, but has since been repressed by rationality, science, the enlightenment: a mythical world pervaded by earthly and unearthly forces - spirits, demons, ghosts and gods - which could be manipulated through animism, magic and sorcery.
By no means every work in the Hegewisch Collection can be described as ‘unheimlich’, but once aware of the concept, one sees it again and again: in Baldung’s Bewitched Groom and his malevolent horse (lot 302), Delacroix’s Faust et Mephisto dans la nuit du Sabbat (lot 304), in Dürer’s Dream of the Doctor (lot 307), Goya’s witches and bogeymen (lot 326), Oelze’s strangely human Vogel Fritz (lot 325) or Redon’s sentient yet disembodied heads (lot 350). It comes as no surprise then that even the more contemporary works in the collection, David Hockney’s Six Fairy Tales and André Masson’s Pays de Metamorphoses, in very different ways, correspond to this theme.
Even the most lyrical, tender or explicitly erotic works in the collection have an enchanting or beguiling quality, which causes disquiet rather than comfort. Seemingly quotidian subjects, such as Picasso’s La Coiffure (Femme se coiffant) (lot 305), attain a haunting aspect when seen from this perspective: anyone familiar with German culture, on seeing the figure of the woman combing her hair, would think of Heinrich Heine’s poem Die Lorelei. Presumably based on a local folk
Klaus Hegewisch, probably at the opening of the exhibition Edvard Munch ‘…aus dem modernen Seelenleben’, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2006, showing lot 316.
tale, it tells of a woman sitting on a cliff high above a treacherous stretch of the Rhine, singing and combing her long, golden hair; the boatsmen on the river below, distracted and bewitched by the siren sounds and the sight of the beautiful woman, lose control of their vessels and drown in the rapids. Picasso himself may not have known the story, but the theme of an enchanting, seductive woman occupied him throughout his long artistic career. To stay with Picasso: his preparatory drawing for Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon of 1907 (lot 310), appears devoid of such uncanny connotations, until one realises – so brilliantly demonstrated in the Hegewisch Collection – that the pareddown facial features are based on a very specific type of wooden mask from the Ivory Coast (lot 311), itself a magical and spiritually charged object. Certainly, the drawing may above all be the product of formal experimentation, as are for example those by Oskar Schlemmer and Fernand Léger (lot 332), but with looking at these images comes a sense of something otherworldly, ethereal lurking beneath the surface.
In the Hegewischs’ last apartment, a whole wall was dedicated to depictions of horses and riders, from Dürer and Delacroix to Redon, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec (lot 321) and Picasso. The strong presence of this equestrian theme has always puzzled me: Klaus Hegewisch was a sailor and had no practical interest in horses whatsoever. It may well be that, once he had recognised it as a motif, he became fascinated by different artists’ skill and manner in representing it. In hindsight, however, I suspect there was more to it than pure enjoyment of draughtsmanship and artistic brilliance. German visual and literary culture is replete with ghostly or nocturnal riders, from Dürer’s Knight, Death and Devil (lot 341), Goethe’s ‘Erlkönig’ (depicted by Odilon Redon in his etching La Peur) and ‘Faust’ (lot 304), to Theodor Storm’s ‘Schimmelreiter’ and Rainer Maria Rilke’s ‘Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke’, a prose poem Klaus loved very much.
The man and collector Klaus Hegewisch embodied many aspects of his epoch. Having lived through the horrors of the war and the
Nazi-period, he gratefully and consciously embraced every moment of freedom and joy his life thereafter granted him. Above all, he admired the radicalism and uncompromising stance of the artists he collected, their dedication to their work, their independent view of the world, and their willingness to explore new territories, unbound by convention. He saw artistic creation as an expression of a non-conformist existence. As a successful businessman and father of a large family, he had many obligations and constraints to comply with, yet more than once said to his children that he would have preferred to live the free life of a clochard in Paris. Moments of great enthusiasm and deep despair, of light and shadow, were equally part of his life and character. Perhaps this is why ultimately the graphic arts spoke to him more than painting.
The Hegewisch Collection is remarkable for the astonishing range, focus and quality of its holdings, which make it one of the greatest private ensembles of art on paper in our time. Yet, what makes it truly exceptional and endlessly fascinating is the depth to which it was shaped by the mind – the interests and obsessions – of the collector himself. If this introduction has helped the reader seeing these works and their manifold relations through the ‘inner eye’ of Klaus Hegewisch - and in turn through their own eyes – it has achieved its purpose.
London, July 2025
Tim Schmelcher works as a specialist in Christie’s Prints Department. He joined the firm in 2004 and specialises in old master prints and prints of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
On my first visit to meet Klaus and Erika Hegewisch, I was immediately taken by the humour and unshakable joie de vivre they projected and the special aura that surrounded the couple. As I entered their apartment in Abteistrasse in Hamburg on a bright summer day, the heavy curtains were drawn shut to protect the many prints and drawings displayed on every wall, and I found myself cast into a mysterious twilight. When I commented on this impression, Erika quipped that “since I got together with my husband, my life has become more shadowy”.
The more I got to know the collection, the more I understood that her remark related not only to the closed curtains: perhaps more than most private art collections, Klaus Hegewisch’s collection of prints and drawings was shaped by a very personal perception and taste; and what Erika had so laconically referred to was his fondness for the eerily beautiful, the weird and wonderful, the obscure, the netherworld of the soul.
It is thus of little surprise that exhibitions with titles such as Obscur (Kunsthalle Hamburger Kunsthalle, October 2009 – February 2010), Surrealists before Surrealism (Fundación Juan March, Madrid, October 2013 – January 2014) or Im Banne des Dunkels (‘Captivated by Darkness’; Hamburger Kunsthalle, November 2012 – March 2013) relied, to a significant part, on precious loans from the Hegewisch Collection. The latter, exhibited in the Saal der Meisterzeichnung at the Kunsthalle, was mainly dedicated to the dark, at times even sinister views of Paris by the eccentric and virtuoso etcher Charles Meryon (1821-1868). Quite spontaneously, the Hegewischs had taken me to their flat in Paris to select some works from their collection for the show. Where, if not in Paris – a stone’s throw away from Notre-Dame –could Meryon’s Eaux-fortes sur Paris be hung more appropriately?
This episode demonstrated to me once again that Klaus really lived with his art: it was there to be displayed and seen, not be hidden away in drawers - the dark and introspective aspect was innate to the works in any case. For the subsequent and posthumous exhibition, which
was conceived as a tour d’horizon of the Hegewisch Collection, I thus settled for the title Mit dem inneren Auge sehen (‘Seen with the Inner Eye’; Hamburger Kunsthalle, September 2016 – January 2017). It was the museum’s tribute to the collector Klaus Hegewisch, but also my personal thank-you for the years of trust and support he had afforded me as a young curator.
Naturally, this trust and confidence grew gradually in the course of many personal encounters and conversations. I always considered myself very lucky to be invited by the Hegewischs, who regularly hosted veritable salons, where literary critics and art historians mingled and gathered around their dinner table. Amongst their friends who regularly attended were Werner Hofmann, Martin Warnke, Wolfgang Kemp, Hellmuth Karasek … the list could go on! What made these evenings even more magical – apart from the spirited discussions –was the fact that we were surrounded by graphic masterpieces on the walls, which seemed to have their own, separate conversations amongst each other. Over the heads of the guests at these lively gatherings, the artists held silent but therefore no less intense dialogues: Piranesi with Delacroix, Rembrandt with Munch, Kollwitz with Redon.
With Odilon Redon I mention the artist who above all would keep the ‘Hegewisch Connection’ alive for me, once I had left Hamburg and the Kunsthalle. In 2018, the Kunsthaus Zürich, where I was working by then, was able to acquire Redon’s drawing of L’Araignée qui pleure (‘The Weeping Spider’) from the Hegewisch Collection. This important work – in many ways emblematic for the collection – could not have found a more appropriate permanent home than the Kunsthaus, where it joined its companion drawing L’Araignée souriante (‘The Smiling Spider’), which had been part of our holdings since 2013. Very much in the spirit of the late collector, who enjoyed such pairings so much, these two spiders now hold their own ‘internal conversation’ – and keep the memory of Klaus Hegewisch alive, in Zürich and beyond.
Jonas Beyer Zürich, April 2025
Jonas Beyer is an art historian. From 2011 to 2015 he worked as a scientific assistant and exhibition curator at the Hamburger Kunsthalle. Since 2018 he is curator at the Kunsthaus Zürich, where until recently he was also head of the Department of Prints and Drawings.
(The text has been translated from German by Tim Schmelcher.)
Right: Odilon Redon, L’araignée qui pleure, charcoal, graphite and ink on paper, circa 1880, Kunsthaus Zürich, Grafische Sammlung, 2020 (formerly Hegewisch Collection).
Left: Odilon Redon, L‘Araignée souriante, charcoal on paper , 1881, Kunsthaus Zürich, Grafische Sammlung, Legat Doris Epstein-Meyer, 2013.
Thank you, Klaus Hegewisch – A posthumous Tribute
by Wolfgang Wittrock
Dear Klaus,
It was our love for works on paper that brought us together, a love that took roots in me while working as an intern for Eberhard W. Kornfeld in 1972-73 in Bern. There we met for the first time and never lost sight of each other since.
With each visit to Abteistrasse 24, I was more impressed by the deep joy and pride but also modesty with which you showed me your drawings and watercolours. What united these works of different periods was your unerring sense of quality. Whenever you found a better impression of a print, a more interesting drawing, you tried to replace the lesser one in the collection. Thus, as the trust and confidence between us grew over the years, I too was able to refer some works to you.
And then came a coup de foudre: PICASSO!
At the end of the 1970s, the art dealer Jan Krugier in Geneva was entrusted with the inventory of Marina Picasso’s inheritance from her grandfather. Whenever Krugier showed you and Erika the most wonderful drawings and prints by Picasso, it was a subtle form of torture, as the quality of the works had its price! These were exhilarating, occasionally excruciating, times for you, but – hats off! - you were ultimately rewarded by having the finest private Picasso collection in Germany.
It was around this time that you recommended me as a specialist of works on paper and prints to Krugier, and so began two very exciting years for me. Deep in the subterranean vaults of a Paris bank, I catalogued countless treasures of Picasso’s graphic oeuvre and negotiated the sale of many fine sheets to some of the great museums of the world. As educational and enjoyable it was to handle such important works of art, it could be difficult to work with Jan Krugier, a complex character whose moods were thankfully mellowed by his wife Marie-Anne Poniatowska.
To be occasionally invited, together with my partner Oskar Matzel, to your very atmospheric old captain’s house in Lindos on the island of Rhodes, provided a much-needed respite. I still cherish my memories of these days, not the least of the sailing trips with you!
Hospitality, generosity, enthusiasm and trust were the ingredients of our lasting friendship. Your collection continued to grow and develop, as your delight in new discoveries remained vital. Whether in the rue Maître Albert, in Zürich or Hamburg, there were always new acquisitions to see and admire, including the large woodcuts by Matthias Mansen, which you later donated to the Kunsthalle Hamburg.
You have enriched the lives of those around you so much - and your infectious laughter will always be remembered by those who knew you. Thank you, Klaus!
Yours, Wolfgang
Wolfgang Wittrock Berlin, May 2016
Wolfgang Wittrock is an art dealer, advisor and collector, and author, amongst other publications, of the catalogue raisonnés of the prints of Yves Tanguy and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He lives in Berlin.
(The text has been abridged, and translated from German by Tim Schmelcher, in 2025.)
Klaus Hegewisch on his sailboat, Rhodes, circa 1985
Charms, Spells & Curses
ALBRECHT DÜRER (1471-1528)
Adam and Eve engraving 1504
on laid paper, watermark Bull's Head (Meder 62) a very fine, early impression of the second state (of three), Meder a-b printing richly, with great clarity, depth and intense contrasts trimmed to or on the platemark a few small, skillful repairs and tiny retouches generally in good condition
Plate & Sheet 25,5 x 19,6 cm. (10 x 7æ in.)
£120,000-180,000
US$170,000-240,000
€140,000-210,000
PROVENANCE:
P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London (without their stocknumber, with annotations by Harold Wright in pencil verso).
Private Collection, Southern Germany. Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 6 June 2007, lot 718. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
LITERATURE:
A. von Bartsch, Le Peintre Graveur, Vienna, vol. VII, 1808, no. 1, pp. 13-14.
J. Meder, Dürer-Katalog, Vienna, 1932, no. 1, pp. 69-70.
F. W. H. Hollstein, German Engravings Etchings and Woodcuts, CA. 14001700, Albrecht and Hans Dürer, Amsterdam, 1962, no. 1, pp. 4-5 (another impression ill.).
W. L. Strauss (ed.), The Illustrated Bartsch, Vol. 10, New York, 1980, no. 1, p. 9 (another impression ill.).
R. Schoch, M. Mende & A. Scherbaum, Albrecht Dürer, Das druckgraphische Werk, Munich, vol. I, 2001, (Kupferstiche, Eisenradierungen und Kaltnadelblätter), no. 39, pp. 110-113 (another impression ill.).
Adam and Eve is undoubtedly one of Dürer's most famous engravings and one of the most widely reproduced - and hence most familiarimages of the Fall of Man. Yet to see a very fine, early impression, such as the present one of the second state, in the original is an altogether different and exhilarating experience. The rendering of the subtle effects of light and shade on the beautifully sculpted bodies against the velvety black background of the forest, the slight nuances of skin colour between Adam and Eve, and the variety of different materials and surfaces - hair, feathers, fur, snake skin, tree barks, leaves and rocks - is astounding, and it almost beggars belief that this should have been achieved with the simple means of a copper plate, a sharp steel tool, ink and paper.
This is quite clearly a work of great ambition and confidence. Several preparatory drawings survive, more than for any other print by Dürer, in public collections, including the British Museum, London, the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the Albertina, Vienna and the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; the latter a beautiful, complex study of the two figures on a blackened background (Winkler 333). Adam and Eve is also the only one of his prints to bear his full name and birthplace: ALBERT DVRER NORICUS FACIEBAT 1504 reads the tablet in a sober Latin script.
In 1505 Dürer embarked on his second journey to Venice, possibly to escape another outbreak of the plague in Nuremberg, and it is likely that he intended the print to be a show-piece for the Italian market, to demonstrate his talent and abilities and to attract commissions as a painter and printmaker. For this purpose, Dürer combined the virtues of Northern art, the painstaking realism and attention to detail for which the Italians admired the Flemish masters, with Italy's own artistic ideals of the Renaissance: disegno and the depiction of nudes of classical proportions.
Yet Dürer's Adam and Eve is more still than a stupendous formal exercise and a dazzling display of technical virtuosity. A precedent to his most mature prints, the three so-called Meisterstiche (see also lots 334 & 341), it is also a work of great symbolic and intellectual complexity. The entire composition is an image of duality and division. The Tree of Knowledge separates Adam from Eve, and divides the image into two halves. Whilst Eve is associated with this tree, Adam grasps a branch of mountain ash, identified as the Tree of Life. The parrot and the serpent respectively symbolise wisdom and betrayal. The cat and mouse in the foreground form another pair of opposites as predator and prey, but death has not yet come into the world and they sit peacefully together.
Apart from Christian iconography, Dürer also alluded to contemporary humanist philosophy, and the other animals depicted are not just examples of God's creation in the Garden of Eden: the
moose, the cow, the rabbit and the cat each respectively represent the melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine and the choleric temperaments. The theory of these 'four humours' as the ruling principles of the human spirit was widely debated amongst the educated at the time. The mountain goat however is a traditional symbol of lust and damnation. Far in the background behind Eve, it stands on the edge of the abyss, about to fall.
And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 1:14-19)
Dürer's engraving depicts the last moment of innocence, just moments before the history of mankind and the world begins with a curse. It is thus apt that it should also stand at the beginning of this catalogue, all the more so as it touches on many themes which occupied Klaus Hegewisch as a collector: the position of mankind in the world, the beauty of the human body, the erotic attraction and tension between man and woman, the representation of the creatures of the earth, and - implicit in the story of Adam and Eve - the origin of suffering and death.
The present impression of the second state, before Dürer added a crack in the bark of the tree below Adam's armpit in the third, final state, is remarkable for the rich contrasts with which it is printed. Formally, the darkness of the shadows and the background add to the three-dimensionality of the bodies, while also heightening the drama of this seemingly peaceful, yet all-decisive biblical scene.
The first state of this print, before the correction of the number 5 on the tablet, survives in a single impression at the Museum Otto Schäfer in Schweinfurt.
Hans Baldung's so-called Bewitched Groom is one of the most enigmatic and fascinating woodcuts of his time. Lacking the mythological allusions and dense symbolism of the most complex prints by Albrecht Dürer - Baldung's master between 1503-1507 - it presents the viewer with a clear, yet sophisticated composition. Seen slightly from above, a man lies flat on his back, his feet in the foreground. He seems to have fallen suddenly on the floor and dropped his tools, which identify him as a groom: a pitchfork and a currycomb.
A few steps behind him, on the threshold to another room in the stable building, stands a powerful horse, seen from behind but with the head turned towards the groom and the viewer with glaring eyes and flared nostrils. To the right, between the figure of the horse and the groom, an old woman leans from the outside into the interior of the room. With her wizened face and bare, sagging breast she conforms with the stereotype of a 'hag' or witch. Above her head, she holds a torch, perhaps about to throw it and to set the room on fire.
A few art historical connections can be made: the iconography of Baldung's old woman goes back to depictions of the Three Fates, in particular Atropos, who cuts the thread of life, while the actual model
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HANS BALDUNG, CALLED GRIEN (1484-1545)
The Bewitched Groom woodcut circa 1544-1545
on laid paper, watermark Barrel and countermark a good but later impression of this rare print second, final state trimmed to or just outside the borderline some minor retouches in places generally in good condition
Block & Sheet 33,1 x 19,7 cm. (13 x 7æ in.)
£8,000-12,000
US$11,000-16,000
€9,300-14,000
PROVENANCE:
Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 17 June 1987, lot 6. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Verhext – Phantastische Graphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, November 1997 – March 1998.
LITERATURE:
F. W. H. Hollstein (et al.), German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts 1400-1700, Vol. 2, Amsterdam, 1954-1968, no. 237, p. 139 (another impression ill.).
M. Mende, Hans Baldung Grien - Das graphische Werk, Unterschneidheim, 1978, no. 76. (another impression ill.).
G. Bartrum, German Renaissance Prints 1490-1550, London, 1995, no. 69, pp. 79-80. (another impression ill.).
for this figure may have been Mantegna's allegory of Envy (invidia) in Mantegna's engraving of the Battle of the Sea Gods (Bartsch 18). The figure of the groom was almost certainly also inspired by Mantegna and his painting of the Dead Christ (Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan), shown with extreme foreshortening from a very similar perspective. Dürer was certainly familiar with the works of Mantegna, and there can be very little doubt that his pupil Hans Baldung was too. Finally, it is worth noting that, with his sideburns and moustache, the groom resembles the artist in his later self-portraits, and that the coat-of-arms with the rampant unicorn is Baldung's own. The woodcut thus appears to be a self-portrait of sorts, yet the meaning of the event remains a mystery. Is the horse just a bystander, as the witch has cursed the groom? Has she put a spell on the horse, who in turn has felled the groom? Or is the ominously staring horse taking revenge on its master with the help of the witch? Are the two complicit in their attack on the man? Baldung left the scene frozen in time, in suspense between a past and a future we will never know. What is evident is that the artist took an unusual interest in witchcraft and created some of most influential depictions of witches and sorcery in Western art.
GUSTAVE DORÉ (1832-1883)
'...here I opened wide the door; Darkness there and nothing more...': an illustration for Edgar Allan Poe: 'The Raven' signed Gv Doré (lower right)
black chalk, pen and brown ink, grey wash, heightened with white on paper
52,7 x 35,4 cm. (20æ x 13√ in.)
£5,000-8,000
US$6,800-11,000
€5,800-9,200
PROVENANCE:
Karl & Faber, Munich, 27-28 November 1980, lot 466. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Verhext – Phantastische Graphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, November 1997-July 1998 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des Künstlers – Druckgraphik und vorbereitende Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, March-October 1999 and March-October 2000, p. 38 (ill.) & p. 94.
ENGRAVED: for F. S. King in E. A. Poe, The Raven, London, Sampson Low, 1883, New York, Harper & Brothers, 1884 (see H. Leblanc, Catalogue de l’œuvre complet de Gustave Doré, Paris, 1931, pp. 280-281)
This large and imposing sheet is a preliminary drawing for an engraved illustration to the 1883 publication of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven. It illustrates the fourth stanza of the poem:
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, “Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;— Darkness there and nothing more.
Doré was one of the most sought-after and active illustrators of the latter half of the 19th century. He illustrated publications such as Dante’s Divine Comedy (between 1861 and 1868) and Milton’s Paradise Lost (1866), amongst many others. The Raven was to be Doré’s final project; he produced 26 large illustrations for the poem, completing the series of drawings just before his death in January 1883 – with the book being published posthumously.
Several drawings of similar technique and dimensions for The Raven are known. Some of which are in institutional collections, including: ANATKH at the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg (inv. 55.992.13.31; see Gustave Doré. L’imaginaire au pouvoir, exhib. cat., Paris, Musée d’Orsay, and Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 2014, no. 76, ill.); For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore –/ nameless here for evermore in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (inv. 14935; see ibid., no. 228, ill.); Le Corbeau et la Mort in the Museé d’Orsay, Paris (inv. 266496, see Christie’s, Paris, 22 March 2023, lot 92, sold €94,500). The preparatory drawing for Sorrow for Lenore is in the Hegewisch Collection.
Engraving for E. A. Poe, The Raven, 1883, stanza 4
FERDINAND-VICTOR-EUGÈNE
DELACROIX (1798-1863)
Faust et Mephisto dans la nuit du Sabbat (recto); Studies of horses (verso)
brush, black ink and grey wash (recto); graphite (verso) 23 x 34,8 cm. (9 x 13æ in.)
£25,000-35,000
US$34,000-47,000
€29,000-40,000
PROVENANCE:
Estate of the artist, with his studio stamp (L. 838a); his posthumous sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 22-27 February 1864, possibly lot 389 ('scène de sabbat') or lot 391 ('diverses compositions pour les lithographies de Faust').
Karl & Faber, Munich, 13-14 June 1985, lot 346. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des KünstlersDruckgraphick und vorbereitende Zeichnungen aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, exh. cat., 26 March -24 October 1999, p. 20. (ill.), pp. 88-89.
LITERATURE:
A. Robaut, L'oeuvre complet de Eugène Delacroix, Paris, 1885, no. 1535.
A. Moreau, Delacroix et son œuvre: avec des gravures en fac-simile des planches originales les plus rares, Paris, 1873, no. 388, p. 324.
L. Delteil, Delacroix - The Graphic Work, San Francisco, 1997.
ENGRAVED: for J. W. Goethe, Faust, Paris, 1828, ill. 16 (no page number).
The present sheet is a preparatory drawing for one of the 17 lithographs which adorn a French luxury edition of Goethe’s Faust (Part I) published in 1828, and one of the earliest works for the project. Commented on by Goethe himself, the images by Delacroix are a true milestone in the rise of Romanticism and a major contribution to the redefinition of the relation between text and illustration in the 19th century.
Delacroix's journey to England in 1825, where he attended a performance of Faust in London, strongly influenced him. It was presumably following this visit to the theatre that the idea of an illustrated edition of the tragedy began to take shape. The drawing can thus be dated to the crucial, early years of Delacroix's career.
With Romanticism, Delacroix embraced its fantastical elements, and the illustrations for Goethe's Faust are not an isolated project but denote a persisting interest in the 'gothic': other drawings, such as King James at the Battle of Poitiers or The Assassination of the Bishop of Liège (Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. nos. RF 3153 & RF 1961 13) are examples of works dedicated to medieval narratives. Following on from his work on Faust, other illustration projects continued to occupy him
with subjects in the 'gothic' manner: from 1834 to 1843 he worked on lithographs for an edition of Shakespeare's Hamlet (see Delteil, pp. 250 - 289, nos. 103-118), before turning once again, from 1836 onwards, to Goethe, illustrating his Goetz von Berlichingen (see Delteil, pp. 290309, nos. 119-125).
Even though the sabbat scene is not central to the drama, it is one of the most memorable, and still looms large in popular culture and imagination today, with the Walpurgisnacht as the quintessence of German 'gothic'. In this drawing, all the ominous and 'spooky' elements are present: the gallows in the background, the witch on the ground, and the horses in mid-air, reminiscent of Dürer's woodcut of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It is a prime example of the artist's ability to express the torment of the soul through the contortion of bodies. His freedom of stroke, especially in the horses heads, makes it a highpoint of dark romanticism in Delacroix's oeuvre.
Delacroix began working on his illustrations for Goethe’s Faust shortly after the publication of Albert Stapfer's translation into French in 1825 (R. Vilain, '"An Excess of Savage Force"? - Faust in French: Stapfer, Delacroix, and Goethe’, in: The Princeton University Library Chronicle, Vol. 73, Spring 2023, no. 3, pp. 313-371). The artist was given complete freedom in his approach to the project: he chose lithography (rather than engraving) to keep the freshness and the vivacity of his own hand in the final images; the images were to be included on single pages separate from the text and without pagination; some in portrait format others printed sideways onto the pages in a landscape format. These innovations represent a major contribution to the history of book illustration - and a bold statement from the artist, who seems to impose himself as equal to the author.
Three other drawings of the same scene are known: one in reverse to the present composition at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (inv. no. FII 3; see J. Mack-Andrick, Eugène Delacroix, exh. cat., Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle, 2003-2004, no. 47, ill.), and two others in the same direction, one at the Louvre (inv. no. RF 10006; Delteil, p. 189), and one in a private collection (sold Christie's, London, 5 July 2022, lot 65 (on tracing paper)).
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) saw some of the drawings and lithographs before their publication in 1928. In fact, he received a first proof of the final lithograph for the present sabbat scene as early as 1826, before all other illustrations. Goethe’s comments were enthusiastic: ‘Herr Delacroix [hat] meine eigene Vorstellung bei Szenen übertroffen hat, die ich selber gemacht habe’ (‘in scenes I myself composed, Mr Delacroix has exceeded my own imagination’; quoted from: Goethe, MA, XIX, p. 168). In 1818, presumalbly after seeing the complete book, Goethe summed up the style of Delacroix’s drawings and illustrations perfectly when he remarked that the artist had ‘einen unruhig strebenden Helden mit gleicher Unruhe des Griffels begleitet’ (‘accompanied a restlessly striving hero with a similarly restless pencil’; quoted from: Goethe, MA, XVIII/ii, p.125).
One can’t expect a greater tribute.
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PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
La Coiffure (Femme se coiffant)
charcoal on paper
31 x 22,7 cm. (12º x 9 in.)
Executed in 1906
£150,000-250,000
US$210,000-340,000
€180,000-290,000
PROVENANCE:
Leo Stein (1872-1947) & Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), United States & Paris; acquired directly from the artist.
Alice B. Toklas (1877-1967), United States & Paris; by descent from the above in 1946.
Georges E. Seligmann (1896-1998) & Edna Seligmann (1903-1952), New York; acquired from the above in 1947; then by descent; their estate sale, Sotheby's, New York, 4 November 1982, lot 9.
Sotheby's, New York, 12 November 1988, lot 125.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
New York, The New Gallery, Picasso: an American Tribute, April - May 1962, no. 5 (ill.; with incorrect medium).
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Four Americans in Paris - The Collections of Gertrude Stein and Her Family, December 1970 - March 1971, p. 168 (titled 'Study for Woman Combing Her Hair'; with incorrect medium).
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Pablo Picasso - A Retrospective, May - September 1980, p. 74 (ill.; titled 'Study for Woman Combing Her Hair' and with incorrect medium).
London, Tate Gallery, Picasso: Sculptor/Painter, February - May 1994, no. 7, pp. 42 (ill.) & 256 (titled 'Study for Woman Combing her Hair'; with incorrect medium).
Karlsruhe, Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg, Picasso - Zeichner des Menschen, October - December 1996, no. 24 (ill.; with incorrect medium).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Pablo Picasso - Der blinde Minotaurus - Die Sammlung Hegewisch in der Hamburger Kunsthalle, February 1997, pp. 22-23 (ill.) & 77 (with incorrect medium).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des Künstlers II - Von Toulouse-Lautrec bis Picasso, April - September 2000, pp. 74 (ill.) & 107. Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Weibsbilder, September 2000 - March 2001 (no cat.).
Oslo, Munchmuseet, Pablo Picasso - Den blinde Minotaurus - grafikk og tegning, November 2002 - February 2003 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus - Stiftung Hermann F. Reemtsma, Pablo Picasso - Der Stier und das Mädchen - Meisterblätter aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, June - October 2010, no. 4, p. 110 (ill.; with incorrect medium). Williamstown, Massachusetts, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Picasso looks at Degas, June - September 2010, no. 202, pp. 180-181 (ill.) & 340 (titled 'Woman Doing Her Hair'); this exhibition later travelled to Barcelona, Museu Picasso, October 2010 - January 2011.
Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Picasso: Bleu et Rose, September 2018 - January 2019, no. 259, pp. 301 (ill.) & 384 (with incorrect medium).
LITERATURE:
C. Zervos, Pablo Picasso, vol. 6, Supplément aux volumes 1 à 5, Paris, 1954, no. 751 (ill. pl. 91; with incorrect medium).
W. Rubin, Picasso in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1972, no. 20, pp. 36 & 194 (ill.; titled 'Study for Woman Combing Her Hair').
J. Palau i Fabre, Picasso: Life and Work of the Early Years, 1881-1907, Oxford, 1981, no. 1366, pp. 473 (ill.) & 553 (titled 'Sketches for "Kneeling Woman Plaiting Her Hair"'; with incorrect medium).
W. Spies, Picasso, Das Plastische Werk, exh. cat., Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1983, pp. 26 (ill.) & 407 (with incorrect medium).
W. Spies, Picasso - The Sculptures, Stuttgart, 2000, pp. 32 (ill.) & 425 (titled 'Woman Combing Her Hair').
I. Conzen, A. Spotter & G. Messling, Picasso: Badende, exh. cat., Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 2005, no. 2, p. 21 (ill.).
K. Jacobson (ed.), The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 2011, no. 331, pp. 122 (ill.) & 441 (titled 'Study for Woman Combing Her Hair'; with incorrect medium).
A. Temkin & A. Umland, Picasso Sculpture, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2015, no. 19, p. 42 (ill.; titled 'Study for Kneeling Woman Combing Her Hair').
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Entrancing and evocative, Pablo Picasso’s La Coiffure (Femme se coiffant) was executed in 1906. The charcoal composition is a paean to the female nude and her coiffure, which Picasso explores from a number of angles. Alice B. Toklas, the partner of the poet and early patron of the artist, Gertrude Stein, inherited this drawing from her and later sold it to the collectors Georges E. and Edna Seligmann. A note from Toklas, which confirms Stein's purchase from Picasso and describes the work, remains affixed to the reverse of the frame. ‘Study of kneeling nude figure and a hand,’ she wrote, ‘principle figure on the left of page represents kneeling nude, legs NOT seen, arms holding hair. Right shoulder forward. There are two attempts at placement of breasts. Right of page, three small drawings, the top, study of a hand, below the same figure as the principle but with legs drawn in. Below this one, the same figure seen from the back.’
The compilation of these figures imbues the work with a mesmerizing quality, as conventions of scale and viewpoint dissolve. Moreover, the alignment of the two smaller figures at right, one above another and on an axis, conveys a kind of motion, as if the figures are rotating. Picasso’s linework with the charcoal further enhances the feeling of transience in La Coiffure, building a tension between the corporeality evoked by his deep, masterful shading, and the ephemerality of the softer strokes in the overlapping forms and figures. The figure appears in a state of metamorphosis.
The subject of La Coiffure, a nude woman combing her hair, preoccupied the artist in the latter half of 1906. Picasso turned to the female nude as a central focus following his return from Holland in 1905, shifting away from the clothed figures that dominated his earlier works. Interested in volume and form, Picasso embarked on a series of
Pablo Picasso, La Coiffure, 1906. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
works with the female nude as his principal theme, a number of which featured women styling their hair. Both the female nude generally, and the female nude styling her hair, have long and rich heritages in the Western art historical canon. A number of scholars, including Werner Spies, have pointed to Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres as a particular influence for Picasso’s interest in the subject between 1905 and 1906; Ingres’ Le bain turc was first exhibited in 1905 at the Salon d’Automne in Paris, and attracted significant contemporary interest. Spies described the work as ‘an encyclopaedia of the nude,’ as almost two dozen nude or half-clothed female figures are rendered in a panoply of poses (W. Spies, Picasso - The Sculptures, Stuttgart, 2000, p. 32). For Picasso's burgeoning fascination with form, Le bain turc offered a compilation of physically similar forms in a variety of positions, prompting his own explorations into the formal values of the female nude.
Picasso composed a number of works on the theme of La Coiffure, employing a range of media; from the charcoal and paper of the present work, to oil paint and canvas, and even to sculpture. La Coiffure is closely related to the bronze Femme se coiffant (Zervos, vol. 1, no. 329; see lot 306 in this sale), as well as to La Coiffure (Zervos, vol. 1, no. 336; The Museum of Modern Art, New York). In the present work, Picasso’s interest in form and its construction is clearly demonstrated with the depiction of the same pose from three perspectives. A conscious meditation on how to construe form, La Coiffure reveals the artist’s keenly analytical eye, and exemplifies his artistic process. In addition to showcasing Picasso’s technical drive, La Coiffure acts as an enchanting celebration of the body, and the repetition and variation of form and posture endow the drawing with a haunting presence.
stamped with the foundry mark C. VALSUANI CIRE PERDUE (on the base at left); numbered 6 / 10 (on the base at right)
bronze with dark brown patina
Height: 42 cm. (16Ω in.)
Conceived in 1906; cast in bronze by Valsuani in 1968 in a numbered edition of 10
£200,000-300,000
US$280,000-410,000
€240,000-350,000
PROVENANCE:
Probably Heinz Berggruen, Paris. Perls Galleries, New York (no. 13031), by 1981 until at least 1986.
Private collection, New York.
Christie's, New York, 15 November 1988, lot 28.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
New York, Perls Galleries, Picasso 100th Birthday Selection, OctoberNovember 1981, no. 17 (titled 'Femme Arrangeant ses Cheveux').
New York, Perls Galleries, Picasso and Peers, November - December 1983 (titled 'Femme Arrangeant ses Cheveux').
New York, Perls Galleries, Group Exhibition, September - January 1986 (titled 'Femme Arrangeant ses Cheveux').
New York, Perls Galleries, Léger - Picasso, April - August 1986 (titled 'Femme Arrangeant ses Cheveux').
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Picasso, Der blinde Minotaurus - Die Sammlung Hegewisch in der Hamburger Kunsthalle, February 1997, pp. 24-25 (ill.) & 77-78 (titled 'Femme s'arrangeant ses Cheveux (La Coiffure)' and dated '1906-1907').
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des Künstlers II, Von Toulouse-Lautrec bis Picasso, April - September 2000, pp. 75 (ill.) & 107.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Weibsbilder, September 2000 - March 2001 (no cat.).
Oslo, Munchmuseet, Pablo Picasso - Den blinde Minotaurus - grafikk og tegning, November 2002 - February 2003 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus Stiftung Hermann F. Reemtsma, Pablo Picasso - Der Stier und das Mädchen - Meisterblätter aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, June - October 2010, no. 5, p. 111 (ill.; titled 'Die Frisur - Sich kämmende Frau').
LITERATURE:
C. Zervos, 'Sculptures des peintres d'aujourd'hui', in Cahiers d'Art, vol. 1, Paris, January 1928, p. 285 (another cast ill.; titled 'Figure').
A. Level, Picasso, Paris, 1928, no. 55, p. 58 (another cast ill.; dated 1904).
C. Vrancken, Picasso, exh. cat., Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 1932, no. 227, p. 71 (another cast referenced; titled 'Figure' and dated 'circa 1900').
J.J. Sweeney, 'Picasso and Iberian Sculpture', in The Art Bulletin, vol. XXIII, no. 3, New York, September 1941, fig. 8, p. 194 (another cast ill.; and dated '1905').
C. Zervos, Pablo Picasso, vol. 1, Œuvres de 1895 à 1906, Paris, 1957, no. 329 (another cast ill. pl. 153; titled 'La Coiffure' and dated '1905').
R. Penrose, Picasso, Amsterdam, 1961, no. 5 (another cast ill.; titled 'Femme agenouillée peignant ses cheveux').
W. Spies, Picasso Sculpture, London, 1972, no. 7, pp. 28, 37 (another cast ill.) & 301 (titled 'Woman Arranging her Hair').
W. Rubin, Picasso in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1972, fig. 19, pp. 36 & 194 (another cast ill.; dated '1905-1906').
R. Johnson, The Early Sculpture of Picasso, 1901-1914, New York, 1976, no. 51, pp. 56-58 & 214 (another cast ill.; titled 'Kneeling Woman').
W. Rubin, Pablo Picasso, A Retrospective, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1980, p. 74 (another cast ill.).
J. Palau i Fabre, Picasso: Life and Work of the Early Years, 1881-1907, Oxford, 1981, no. 1364, pp. 473 (another cast ill.) & 553 (titled 'Kneeling Woman Plaiting Her Hair').
W. Spies, Picasso, Das Plastische Werk, Stuttgart, 1983, no. 7-II, pp. 26-28 (another cast ill.), 326 (another cast ill.) & 372.
Musée Picasso (ed.), Catalogue sommaire des collections, Paris, 1985, no. 277, pp. 141 & 151 (another cast ill.).
J. Richardson, A Life of Picasso, vol. I, 1881-1906, London, 1991, pp. 460-461 (another cast ill.; titled 'Fernande Combing Her Hair').
M.T. Ocaña & H.C. von Tavel, Picasso, 1905-1906: From the Rose Period to the Ochres of Gósol, exh. cat., Museu Picasso, Barcelona, 1992, no. 197, pp. 372373 (another cast ill.).
C.-P. Warncke & I. Walther, Pablo Picasso, vol. I, Werke 1890-1936, Cologne, 1991, p. 143 (another cast ill.).
E. Cowling & J. Golding, Picasso: Sculptor/Painter, exh. cat., Tate Gallery, London, 1994, no. 2, pp. 42 (another cast ill.) & 256.
W. Rubin (ed.), Picasso and Portraiture: Representation and Transformation, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1996, p. 264 (another cast ill.; titled 'Woman Plaiting Her Hair (Fernande)').
W. Spies, Picasso, The Sculptures, Stuttgart, 2000, no. 7-II, pp. 26, 31-33 (another cast ill.), 346 (another cast ill.) & 394.
E. Weiss & M.T. Ocaña, eds., Picasso, Die Sammulng Ludwig, Munich, 2001, no. 9 (another cast ill.).
I. Mössinger (ed.), Picasso et les femmes, exh. cat., Kunstsammlungen, Chemnitz, 2002, p. 75 (another cast ill.; with incorrect dimensions and titled 'Woman Plaiting Her Hair (Fernande)').
E. Cowling & R. Kendall, Picasso Looks at Degas, exh. cat., Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, 2010, no. 201, pp. 180-182 (another cast ill.) & 340 (titled 'Woman Plaiting Her Hair').
A. Baldassari (ed.), Picasso, Capolavori dal Museo Nazionale Picasso di Parigi, exh. cat., Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2012, no. 101 (another cast ill.).
A. Temkin & A. Umland, eds., Picasso Sculpture, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2015, no. 21, pp. 32-33 (another cast ill.), 39, 42-43 (another cast ill.), 49 (another cast ill.) & 298 (titled 'Kneeling Woman Combing Her Hair').
Musée national Picasso (ed.), Picasso Sculptures, exh. cat., Musée national Picasso, Paris, 2016, no. 13, p. 51 (another cast ill.).
‘The head the face the human body these are all that exist for Picasso’
GERTRUDE STEIN
This exceptional bronze, cast in 1968 in an edition of ten, is based on a ceramic first conceived in 1906 - this year stands as a pivotal moment in the progression of the modern art movement when Picasso, inspired by Iberian and pre-Roman ‘primitivist’ art, began to create his protoCubist pieces. The present work is emblematic of a decisive turning point in the artist’s long career and unquestionably paved the way towards his landmark painting of the following year, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907).
The subject is modelled on Fernande Olivier, the muse who became Picasso’s first serious lover, and the sculpture is remarkable not only for the sense of movement it conveys but for the tenderness it demonstrates towards her.
In the summer of 1906, the twenty-four-year-old pair took a break from Paris and made the difficult journey to Gósol, a village in the northwestern region of the Catalonian Pyrenees, not that far from the artist’s family home in Barcelona. Suffering from a creative block, Picasso found the stimulus he sought in the Romanesque wall art and medieval sculpture he encountered there and in the much earlier monumental Iberian stone sculpture antiquities such as The Lady of Elche and the Cerro de los Santos; pieces that he saw in the Louvre in the same year. Following the trip, he felt at last inspired and determined to assimilate some of the schematic styling, the archaisms and the ‘magical’ power that he so admired in these artefacts into his own artistic production.
Paul Gauguin, Oviri, 1894. Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Digital image: akg-images.
After his return to Paris, Picasso made the ceramic of Femme se coiffant in the autumn at the studio of his fellow countryman Francisco ‘Paco’ Durrio, a skilled sculptor, ceramicist and jeweller. There he could not only admire the other’s finished works but also observe his techniques and practical processes. Another significant influence was awaiting him there, too. Paul Gauguin, a close friend of Durrio, had recently left a number of sculptures with him for safekeeping. A retrospective of Gauguin’s work at the Salon d’Automne also took place in 1906, and Picasso had been particularly struck by some of the stoneware sculptures exhibited there; John Richardson, Picasso’s friend and biographer, credits Gauguin’s Oviri as a key inspiration for Femme se coiffant
The figure is shown sitting on her heels, with knees held together demurely and her belly protruding slightly, her seiza-like pose adjusted by her right arm reaching across her body with the fingers of her hand combing or arranging her tumblingly long hair unselfconsciously. The head is gently inclined and the distrait expression on her face is one of unseeing absorption. Picasso captures the essence of the spontaneous and endearing everyday gesture of his lover. There is a raw simplicity to the modelling with echoes of Art Nouveau also evident. Notice how delicately the fingers are spread and the sense of intimacy created in the way the ear is revealed as the hair is drawn back from it.
The figure is made to be viewed frontally or from the side, not in the round. This perspectival intention is supported by Picasso’s drawings of the same subject, the majority of which also portray the figure from the side. Executed in this way, as a relief that privileges a particular vantage point, Femme se coiffant occupies the liminal sphere between two and three-dimensional art. As Anne Umland suggests, Picasso 'forced the sculpture to perform in a way that is aligned with painting, creating a distinctively hybrid form’ (‘Beginnings,’ in: Picasso Sculpture, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2015, p. 33). Picasso drew and painted the same coiffure subject extensively, consciously bringing his avant-garde sensibility to the thematic tradition followed by, among others, Delacroix and Ingres, and the later Impressionists Renoir and Degas. Many of Picasso’s studies, including La Coiffure (Femme se coiffant) (Zervos, vol. 6, no. 751; see lot 305 in this sale) are understood to have served as experimental, preparatory works for the present sculpture.
The significance of the work has been recognised by those institutions holding other casts from the edition, including the Musée Picasso in Paris, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, and the Berggruen Museum in Berlin. To find the sculpture and a closely related drawing in the same private collection is even more remarkable and is testimony to the extraordinary connoisseurship and discriminating taste of Klaus Hegewisch.
Installation view of the exhibition Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1980, featuring another cast of Femme se coiffant and lot 305.
The Dream of the Doctor engraving circa 1498 on laid paper, watermark Gothic P (Meder 321) a very fine impression, Meder c printing richly, with great clarity and depth with touches of burr and some plate tone towards the edges trimmed just inside the platemark but outside the borderline generally in very good condition
Sheet 18,9 x 12,1 cm. (7Ω x 4æ in.)
£25,000-35,000
US$34,000-47,000
€29,000-40,000
PROVENANCE:
Unidentified, initials PH in brown ink verso (Lugt 2085).
Heinrich Anton Cornill-d'Orville (1790-1875), Frankfurt (Lugt 529); his sale, H.G. Gutekunst, Stuttgart, 14-15 May 1900, lot 89 ('Prachtvoller, früher Abdruck, auf Papier mit gotischen P') (to Gutekunst).
Peter Gellatly (1831–1912), Essex and London (Lugt 1185); his sale, 13–18 May 1911, H.G. Gutekunst, Stuttgart, lot 352 ('...Von dieser Schönheit äusserst selten') (to McDonald).
Harlow, McDonald & Co., New York.
Private Collection, USA; presumably acquired from the above.
Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 22 June 2001, lot 25.
Acquired from the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mit dem inneren Auge sehen –Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, September 2016 – January 2017, no. 9, pp. 35 (ill.) & 75.
LITERATURE:
A. von Bartsch, Le Peintre Graveur, Vienna, vol. VII, 1808, no. 76, p. 44. J. Meder, Dürer-Katalog, Vienna, 1932, no. 70, p. 98.
F. W. H. Hollstein, German Engravings Etchings and Woodcuts, CA. 14001700, Albrecht and Hans Dürer, Amsterdam, 1962, no. 70, p. 64 (another impression ill.).
W. L. Strauss (ed.), The Illustrated Bartsch, Vol. 10, New York, 1980, no. 76, p. 68 (another impression ill.).
R. Schoch, M. Mende & A. Scherbaum, Albrecht Dürer, Das druckgraphische Werk, Munich, vol. I, 2001, (Kupferstiche, Eisenradierungen und Kaltnadelblätter), no. 18, pp. 65-67 (another impression ill.).
Resting on soft cushions by a stove, a man has fallen asleep, whilst a devil or demon blows sinful thoughts into his ear. In his lustful dreams, Venus herself tempts him while little Amor tries to walk on stilts and has cast aside a toy ball. The moral lessons are obvious; sloth leads to lust, and love is fickle. The so-called Dream of the Doctor is a secular version of the Fall of Man, complete with the apple resting on the stove, and the figure of the Goddess of Love is closely related to Eve in Adam and Eve (see lot 301). Whilst the themes of lust, temptation and seduction are certainly reflected in this exquisite and highly original print, there is a charm and lightheartedness about it which does not quite seem to support the moral rigour of the message. Dürer seems to have taken particular pleasure in the invention of the demon, which he created with the same sense of humour and joy in the grotesque we find again and again in this collection, from Goya to Ensor, Redon and Picasso.
The present very fine impression comes with prestigious provenance: it was once in the collection of Heinrich Anton Cornill-d'Orville, the 19th century amateur-scholar, merchant and collector of prints, who became director of the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main; and was later acquired by Peter Gellatly, one of the great English collectors of old master prints during the early years of the 20th century.
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Body & Spirit
This large drawing is a first study, with several variations, for an impressive painting of the same subject commissioned by a Veronese patron, now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (inv. no. 61.1200). The canvas has been dated to 1758 (M. Gemin & F. Pedrocco, Giambattista Tiepolo - I dipinti - Opera completa, Venice, 1993, no. 471(ill.)).
The complex iconography is an example for Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s remarkable ability to depict abstract concepts through allegories and personifications. Here the artist represents Time bringing Truth out of darkness, illustrating the concept, first elaborated in ancient Greek philosophy, that nothing can be concealed forever. Time is depicted as an old winged man with a scythe nearby, the symbol of death. Truth is embodied by a beautiful young woman, who is partially covered by a transparent veil. Her emblem, the shining sun, is seen next to her. Cupid, with his quiver of arrows, represents earthly love rendered powerless by Time.
Tiepolo returned to the subject of Time and Truth repeatedly in drawings, paintings and fresco decorations throughout his career.
GIOVANNI BATTISTA TIEPOLO
(1696-1770)
Time revealing Truth
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash on paper 39 x 26,3 cm. (15¡ x 10¡ in.)
£40,000-60,000
US$55,000-81,000
€47,000-69,000
PROVENANCE:
Marqués de Valverde de la Sierra, Madrid. Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, 17th Marqués of Cerralbo (18451922), Madrid.
Maud Alice Cunard, Lady Cunard (1872-1948), London. P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London (Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, Autumn 1934, no. 76 (ill.)).
Sir Thomas Dalmahoy Barlow (1883-1964), London. Dr Francis Springell (1898-1974) and Mrs Springell, Portinscale, Cumberland; Sotheby's, London, 30 June 1986, lot 80. Sotheby's, New York, 8 January 1991, lot 109.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Madrid, Exposicion de Dibujos 1750 a 1860, 1922, no. 529 (ill.).
London, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Loan Exhibition of Drawings by Old Masters from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Francis Springell, 1959, no. 31 (ill.).
Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Dr and Mrs Francis Springell, 1965, no. 61. Venice, Fondazione Cini, Disegni veneti di collezioni inglesi, 1980, no. 79 (ill.).
Greenwich, National Maritime Museum, The Story of Time, 1999, no. 210 (ill.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des Künstlers - Druckgraphik und vorbereitende Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, 1999, pp. 16-17 (ill.) & pp. 86-87.
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ADOLPH VON MENZEL (1815-1905)
A Man wiping his Neck (A Study for 'Eisenwalzwerk')
signed A. Menzel. and inscribed 74. (lower right) charcoal on buff-coloured paper
26 x 19,3 cm. (10º x 7.6/8 in.)
£40,000-60,000
US$55,000-81,000
€47,000-69,000
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Düsseldorf, Germany. Galerie Arnoldi Livie, Munich. Acquired from the above in 2005; then by descent to the present owners.
F. Wolter, Von Ausstellungen und Sammlungen in Die Kunst: Monatshefte für freie und angewandte Kunst, 11, 1905, p. 281 (ill.). K. Kaiser, Adolf Menzel - Eisenwalzwerk, Berlin, 1953, p. 72, fig. 60.
The present drawing is a study for Menzel's most famous painting, The Iron Rolling Mill (Eisenwalzwerk), also known as Modern Cyclopes. Menzel began working on the monumental canvas in 1872 and completed it in 1875. Its importance and impact immediately recognized and the painting acquired in the year of its completion for the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, where it can be seen to this day (inv. no. A I 201).
As an historicist artist and painter for the Prussian aristocracy, Menzel is often seen as caught between convention and modernism. His oeuvre, below the virtuoso surface, has an emotional and intellectual complexity that Françoise Forster-Hahn described as a ‘psychological dilemma, which is rooted in the social conditions of nineteenth century Germany, betray[ing] the artist’s inner isolation and his equivocal relation to Wilhelminian society’ (‘Authenticity into Ambivalence: The Evolution of Menzel’s Drawings’, in: Master Drawings, XVI, no. 3, Autumn 1978, pp. 255-346). At times seen as a forerunner of the impressionists or a master of realism, Menzel paid close attention to the conditions of modern life and of common people.
Menzel was an obsessive draughtsman, who carried pen and paper wherever he went and prepared his paintings down to every detail with countless sketches from life. The present study is one of several preparatory drawings for the figure of the worker cleaning himself after his shift, depicted in the middle ground on the far left of The Iron Rolling Mill.
The reception of his masterpiece exemplifies the ambiguity with which his paintings were met by his contemporaries as well as later commentators, and which may in fact be inherent to his work: while some saw the painting as a critique of the machine age and the plight of the workers, others took it for a glorification of the industrial might of the Prussian Empire. Both interpretations may be a misunderstanding of the artist, whose inspiration was, above all, rooted in direct observation, in this case of the workers and factories he deliberately visited. Notably, the iron rail forge of Königshütte in Upper Silesia, where he made numerous detailed sketches of machines and people. A considerable number of these study sheets are now at the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin (for example inv. nos. SZ Menzel N 154 and SZ Menzel N 156).
Eisenwalzwerk, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, inv. A I 201.
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PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
Nez quart de Brie (Étude pour Les Demoiselles d'Avignon ou Nu avec draperie)
pencil on paper
31 x 24,2 cm. (12º x 9Ω in.)
Drawn in 1907
£500,000-800,000
US$680,000-1,100,000
€580,000-920,000
PROVENANCE:
Leo Stein (1872-1947) & Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), United States & Paris; acquired directly from the artist.
Alice B. Toklas (1877-1967), United States & Paris; by descent from the above in 1946.
Georges E. Seligmann (1896-1998) & Edna Seligmann (1903-1952), New York; acquired from the above in 1947; then by descent; their estate sale, Sotheby's, New York, 4 November 1982, lot 11.
Sotheby's, New York, 12 November 1988, lot 128.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
New York, The New Gallery, Picasso: an American Tribute, April - May 1962, no. 9 (ill.; titled 'African Head' and with incorrect medium).
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Four Americans in Paris - The Collections of Gertrude Stein and Her Family, December 1970 - March 1971, p. 169 (with incorrect medium).
Milan, Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta, Il disegno del nostro secolo: Prima parte, Da Klimt a Wols, April - July 1994, no. 61, pp. 137 (ill.) & 429 (with incorrect medium).
Karlsruhe, Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg, Picasso - Zeichner des Menschen, October - December 1996, no. 26 (ill.; titled 'Nase').
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Picasso - Der Blinde Minotaurus, February 1997, pp. 26-27 (ill.) & 78 (titled 'Frauenkopf Tête de Femme (Nez Quart de Brie)').
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des KünstlersDruckgraphik und vorbereitende Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, March - October 1999, pp. 77 (ill.) & 108.
Oslo, Munchmuseet, Pablo Picasso - Den blinde Minotaurus - grafikk ogtegning, November 2002 - February 2003 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus Stiftung Hermann F. Reemtsma, Pablo Picasso - Der Stier und das Mädchen - Meisterblätter aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, June - October 2010, no. 7, p. 111 (ill.; titled 'Frauenkopf - Nase wie ein Viertel eines Brie').
LITERATURE:
C. Zervos, Pablo Picasso, vol. 6, Supplément aux volumes 1 à 5, Paris, 1954, no. 968 (ill. pl. 116; with incorrect medium and dated '1906').
J. Palau i Fabre, Picasso: Life and Work of the Early Years, 1881-1907, Oxford, 1981, no. 1484, pp. 497 (ill.) & 556 (titled 'Head with Flat Nose' and with incorrect medium).
H. Seckel (ed.), Les Demoiselles d'Avignon 3, vol. 1, exh. cat., Musée Picasso, Paris, 1988, no. 2, pp. 260-261 (ill.; titled 'Tête de femme').
C.-P., Warncke, Pablo Picasso, vol. 1, Werke 1890-1936, Cologne, 1991, p. 154 (ill.; titled 'Kopf einer Frau, Studie für "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon"' and dated 'June-July 1906').
K. Jacobson (ed.), The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian AvantGarde, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 2011, no. 363, pp. 225, 240, 268 (ill.) & 445.
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Drawn in 1907, Picasso’s powerful Nez quart de Brie (Étude pour Les Demoiselles d'Avignon ou Nu avec draperie) elucidates the artist’s radical proto-cubist style as he worked towards his groundbreaking, painting, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (Zervos, vol. 2a, no. 18; The Museum of Modern Art, New York). In this pivotal shift towards a very pared-down figurative style, Picasso represented an overall form through its fragmentation into geometric shapes, eschewing traditional naturalistic representation. As he juxtaposes the sharp, slanting lines of the nose, jawline, and shoulders with the sweeping, curvilinear arches and parabolas that define the eyes, ears, and forehead, Picasso imbues Nez quart de Brie with a powerful and rhythmic intensity. In its mask-like quality, the highly stylised face in the present work emanates an evocative and compulsive power, its vacant gaze immediately arresting.
Picasso’s innovative approach took inspiration from the recently deceased Paul Cezanne, who had boldly championed the virtues of formal geometry in his oeuvre, and Picasso had attended the posthumous retrospective of Cezanne’s works at the 1906 Salon d’Automne. Picasso was also influenced by African and Iberian art, both of which were the subject of significant contemporary cultural study and discussion. At the beginning of the 20th century, Paris was abuzz with the discoveries of the recent excavations of French archaeologists Arthur Engel and Pierre Paris at Osuna and Cerro de los Santos, and the Louvre Museum’s collection of Iberian art and statuary was inaugurated in 1904. Picasso came upon the Louvre’s so-called ‘Iberian Cabinet’ in early 1906, and stylistic features of Iberian art swiftly began to permeate his work. Later that same year, Picasso travelled to Gósol, in the Catalonian Pyrenees, and art historian James Johnson Sweeney suggests this ten-week sojourn likely served as a catalyst for his enthusiasm for Iberian sculpture.
Upon his return to Paris, Picasso resumed work on a portrait of Gertrude Stein, one of his most important patrons, repainting his sitter’s head and face in a profoundly Iberianesque idiom. In Gertrude Stein (Zervos, vol. 1, no. 352; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) the hallmarks of Iberian representation manifest in the dignified geometry of her mask-like countenance, as well as in the heavy lids of her eyes and the slope of the bridge of her nose. Nez quart de Brie demonstrates the crucial progression of Picasso’s embrace of the stylistic qualities of Iberian sculpture, as he amplified and intensified the architectonic geometry of the human visage. This stylistic evolution would ultimately lead to the establishment of Cubism. Here, in his exploration of the formalised structure of the face, Picasso moved away from the naturalistic, capturing humankind’s élan vital In Nez quart de Brie, the artist conveys the figure’s facial features with a compelling severity, which combined with the purity of the medium imbues the figure with a transcendental and atavistic gravitas.
Scholars and art historians have noted the similarity of Nez quart de Brie to the rightmost figure in Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, as well as to Nu à la draperie (Zervos, vol. 2a, no. 47; State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg). In all three of these works, Picasso imbues the simplified, geometric architecture of the face with a three-dimensionality, an effect created by meticulous strokes of hachure lines. In Nez quart de Brie, Picasso’s skilled wielding of the pencil with varying applications of pressure intensifies this sculptural quality, furthering the feeling of depth and volume.
Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo acquired Nez quart de Brie directly from Picasso, when they purchased Carnet 10, one of the artist’s sketchbooks which they carefully separated so as to better display the individual drawings. Highly influential cultural figures throughout the early 20th century, Gertrude and Leo, indelibly shaped the reception of contemporary art in Paris at the turn of the century, collecting works of then little-known artists, who, through the Stein’s weekly salon, were to become some of modern art’s greatest names. Leo and Gertrude lived together on the rue de Fleurus, where they hosted open-house evenings every Saturday, prosthelytising on their most recent acquisitions. Although both were enraptured by his ability as a draughtsman, Gertrude was the most passionate about his talent, and when the two divided their collection in 1914 she kept almost all of his drawings. Nez quart de Brie remained with Gertrude throughout her life. Gertrude’s championing and endorsement of Picasso had such a fundamental impact on Picasso’s career, that, following the 1938 publication of her biography of the artist, William Cook wrote to her; ‘you have done Picasso legend and it will stay that way… without you he would have melded off somewhere, into something else, you have kept him and made him Picasso’ (William Cook to Gertrude Stein, 27 March 1938, in D. Gallup, ed., The Flowers of Friendship. Letters written to Gertrude Stein, New York, 1953, p. 327).
Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co., London, 30 November 1981, lot 294. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
The richness and stylistic complexity that define this region - and which pose a considerable challenge to any classificatory endeavorbecome strikingly evident when one focuses on a specific variation within the Northern Dan style: the masks endemic to the Bafing region, distinguished by the presence of a bird’s beak. These masks belonging to the Bafing substyle combine the fundamental characteristics of the central Dan style with a decidedly 'constructivist' inclination or, viewed from another perspective, a 'Picassian' sensibility. Additional distinctive features include the ornamental application of metal and the adornment of the beak with a beard-like covering. The incorporation of the bird’s beak onto the human features appears to be inspired by the influences of the Kono, the Kpelle, and other groups within the Mandé family inhabiting Liberia and Guinea.
While the majority of scholars specializing in the Dan people generally acknowledge that there is typically no systematic correlation between the form and function of masks, the Dan masks of the Bafing substyle constitute a notable exception to this rule, as they all fulfill the same specific role: that of 'firewatcher' or 'messenger', known by the name Sagbwe. As 'firewatchers', their principal duty was to protect the village from conflagrations during the dry season when the formidable desert wind blew. Occupying a high rank within the hierarchy of messengerguardians of the villages, the mask presented here, with a wonderful, deep patina, was known by the evocative sobriquet 'King of Birds'. For comparable examples, one may refer to the mask preserved at the Buffalo Museum of Science (inv. no. C13729), as well as those held by the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac (inv. no. 71.1971.112.2 & inv. no. 71.1930.92.2), the latter acquired prior to 1930, published by Delange and Leiris (J. Delange, & M. Leiris, Afrique Noire. La création plastique, Paris, 1967, no. 143, p. 139).
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
Femme nue allongée et coiffée d'un turban
signed and dated Picasso 19 (lower right) pencil on paper
22,3 x 33,4 cm. (8æ x 13¿ in.)
Drawn in Spring 1919
£150,000-250,000
US$210,000-340,000
€180,000-290,000
PROVENANCE:
Paul Rosenberg (1881-1959), Paris; probably acquired directly from the artist. Confiscated by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg in Spring 1941 from his bank vault in Libourne; transferred to the Jeu de Paume, Paris, on 5 September 1941 (ERR no. PR 106).
Recovered from the Jeu de Paume, Paris and restituted to Paul Rosenberg on 25 September 1945 (no. 112), then by descent; collection sale, Sotheby's, London, 3 July 1979, lot 9.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Bielefeld, Kunsthalle, Picassos Klassizismus - Werke 1914-1934, April - July 1988, no. 12, pp. 211 (ill.) & 312.
Malaga, Palacio Episcopal, Picasso Clásico, October 1992 - January 1993, no. 15 (ill.; titled 'Mujer desnuda con turbante').
Balingen, Stadthalle, L'Éternel Féminin: From Renoir to Picasso, JuneSeptember 1996, pl. 64 (ill.; titled 'Nude with a Turban').
Baden-Württemberg, Landeskreditbank, Picasso - Zeichner des Menschen, October - December 1996, no. 35 (ill.; titled 'Akt mit Turban').
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Pablo Picasso - Der blinde Minotaurus - Die Sammlung Hegewisch in der Hamburger Kunsthalle, February 1997, pp. 30-31 (ill.) & 79.
Venice, Palazzo Grassi, Picasso: The Italian Journey, 1917-1924, March - June 1998, no. 106, p. 209 (ill.).
Balingen, Musée d'Art Moderne, Pablo Picasso: Metamorphosen des Menschen, Arbeiten auf Papier 1895-1972, June - September 2000, no. 85 (ill.; titled 'Akt mit Turban').
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hegewisch-Kabinett - Weibsbilder, September 2000 - March 2001 (no cat.).
Münster, Graphikmuseum Pablo Picasso, Picassos imaginäres Museum, November 2001 - February 2002, no. 8, pp. 78-79 (ill.); this exhibition later travelled to Heilbronn, Städtische Museen, March - May 2002; and Würzburg, Museum im Kulturspeicher, September - December 2002.
London, Tate Modern, Matisse - Picasso, May - August 2002, no. 100, pp. 178 (ill.),181 & 189 (ill.); this exhibition later travelled to Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, September 2002 - January 2003; and New York, The Museum of Modern Art, February - May 2003.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Parcours: Bilder vom Orient, May - August 2006, no. 53, p. 53.
Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus - Stiftung Hermann F. Reemtsma, Pablo Picasso - Der Stier und das Mädchen - Meisterblätter aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, June - October 2010, no. 9, p. 111 (ill.).
Rome, Scuderie del Quirinale, Picasso: Between Cubism and Classicism, 1915-1925, September 2017 - January 2018, no. 118, p. 190 (ill.).
LITERATURE:
W. George, Pablo Picasso, Rome, 1924, pl. XXII (ill.; titled 'Nude Woman with Turban').
C. Zervos, Pablo Picasso, vol. 3, Œuvres de 1917 à 1919, Paris, 1949, no. 296 (ill. pl. 104; with incorrect medium).
A. Sanchez Podadera, A. Romero Marquez & J.C. Jimenez Moreno, Genial Picasso, Malaga, 1996, p. 141.
J. Palau i Fabre, Picasso: Des ballets au drame (1917-1926), Barcelona, 1999, no. 384, pp. 131 (ill.) & 497 (titled 'Nu étendu au turban').
A. Nicosia & L. Mattarella, eds., La Roma di Picasso: Un grande palcoscenico, 17 febbraio - 2 maggio 1917, Geneva, 2008, fig. 12, p. 83 (ill.; titled 'Nudo giacente').
In Pablo Picasso’s 1919 drawing, Femme nue allongée et coiffée d’un turban, a statuesque nude woman reclines across a divan bed. Propped up on her elbow, her cheek rests against her palm as she gazes dreamily beyond the viewer, her expression tranquil and wistful. Soft coils of hair peek out from underneath her headdress, which flows down over her shoulder as she toys with the rippling fabric. Femme nue allongée et coiffée d’un turban illustrates Picasso’s masterful draughtsmanship, as his meticulous lines of cross-hatching endow the female figure with a rich physicality and sensuality.
In both his subject matter and his neoclassical, naturalistic style, Picasso paid homage to the celebrated French painter Jean-AugusteDominique Ingres, recalling in particular the artist’s 1814 painting, La grande odalisque. Picasso was well-acquainted with Ingres’s orientalistinspired masterpiece, which had been on display at the Musée du Louvre since 1899. In January 1907, the composition had been exhibited beside Édouard Manet’s Olympia, sparking a renewed bout of intrigue surrounding both works. In the present work, Picasso’s eponymous nude figure sports a turban-style headdress, a direct reference to Ingres’s composition which is intensified by their similar recumbent postures. Well-versed in the Western art historical canon, Picasso had always been greatly influenced by the art of his predecessors, and Femme nue allongée et coiffée d’un turban elucidates Picasso’s transition into his so-called ‘Neoclassical period.’ Following the First World War, the rappel à l’ordre coursed through Paris, as artists shifted away from the radical experimentation of the avant-garde, instead embracing classical motifs and traditional subject matter. Additionally, Picasso’s 1917 travels to Italy, where he had been enraptured by the works of the Old Masters, such as Raphael and Michelangelo, acted as a catalyst for his interest in more classical styles of figuration.
Baron Frédéric (Freddy) Rolin (1919-2001), New York, in 1979.
Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co., London, 30 November 1981, lot 277. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
LITERATURE:
Quéant, O. et al., 'Publicité Simone de Monbrison - Simone de Monbrison Advertisement', in: Plaisirs de France, Paris, February 1974, no. 416, p. 21.
Chaffin, A. & F., L'art kota - Les figures de reliquaire, Meudon, 1979, no. 129, pp. 228-229.
The abstract representation and reinvention of the human body in Kota art have long exerted a profound fascination, deeply inspiring the European avantgarde in Paris and elsewhere. It has thus become customary to invoke the names of Modigliani, Picasso or Brâncuși, among others, when discussing this artistic tradition.
These sculptures occupy a fundamental role within the ancestral cult, the very basis of Kota society. Upon the passing of a chief or notable figure, descendants would affix these figures - crafted from wood and copper, a noble material - to bark or wicker baskets, thereby safeguarding the sacred relics. This act symbolized a reciprocal relationship: the offering of the living to the departed and the protection of the departed over the living. Each statue embodied a distinct spirit, which accounts for the remarkable diversity of styles characterizing Kota reliquary figures. Their uniqueness also derived from the clan motifs carved on their backs - emblems of lineage or magical symbols of protection.
Kota art is thus distinguished by stylistic currents and creative choices that occasionally give rise to veritable masterpieces, such as this effigy. This Mbulu Ngulu figure was created at the Northern Obamba workshops and exemplifies their stylistic tradition. It is notable for its geometric treatment and the pronounced schematization of the face, coupled with the elegant fluidity of its lines. The exceptional craftsmanship in metalwork is revealed through the juxtaposition of brass strips upon the cruciform facial motif, radiating from either side of the nose, as well as the repoussé patterns. Ornamental richness further manifests in the variety of striated and diamond-shaped motifs adorning the lateral headdresses, neck, and crescent-shaped crest. The precision of proportions contributes to the geometric harmony emanating from the figure.
The present statue may be closely related to three others, likely the work of the same artist or atelier: the first, published by the Chaffins (A. and F. Chaffin, L'art kota - Les figures de reliquaire, Meudon, 1979, no. 130, p. 230); the second, acquired prior to 1929 by Joseph Laporte (P. Wingert, 'Style Determinants in African Sculpture', in: African Arts, Los Angeles, Spring 1972, vol. V, no. 3, p. 43); and the last, published by Elgar (F. Elgar, Toiles d’aujourd’hui et formes africaines, Nantes, 1960, no. 89, p. 1).
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PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
La Femme à la fenêtre aquatint
1952 on ARCHES wove paper signed in pencil, numbered 3/50 and dedicated Pour Monsieur Stern a very fine, rich and tonal impression of the second, final state printed by Lacourière, published by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris the full sheet, in very good condition
Plate 83,2 x 47,3 cm. (32æ x 18¬ in.)
Sheet 90 x 63,5 cm. (35ƒ x 25 in.)
£120,000-180,000
US$170,000-240,000
€140,000-210,000
PROVENANCE:
Oscar Stern (1882-1961), Stockholm; a gift from the artist; then by descent; his posthumous sale, Kornfeld & Klipstein, Bern, 30 May 1964, lot 394. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Picasso - The Blind Minotaur, 1997, p. 89 & 71 (ill.) (catalogue by Christoph Heinrich, with a contribution by Werner Spies). Oslo, Munchmuseet, Pablo Picasso - Den blinde Minotaurus - grafikk og tegning, November 2002 - February 2003 (no cat.)
LITERATURE:
G. Bloch, Catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé et lithographé 1904-1967, Bern, 1968, vol. I, no. 695, pp. 159-160 (another impression ill.).
B. Baer, Picasso – Peintre-Graveur, Bern, 1990, vol. IV, no. 891 II.B.b) (another impression ill.).
J. Sliwka, Reframed – The Woman in the Window, London, 2022, pp. 70 - 73 (another impression ill.)
G. Utley, 'Francoise Gilot – Picasso Postwar: New Life, New Art, New Love', in: K. Beisiegel (ed.), Picasso – The Artist and his Muses, London, 2016, p. 124 (another impression ill.)
Picasso’s monumental portrait from 1952, La Femme à la fenêtre, is one of his largest prints executed entirely in aquatint - a technique he employed with remarkable mastery. Using the sugar-lift aquatint method he had almost single-handedly developed, Picasso brushed the image directly onto the printing plate, producing a painterly effect characterised by soft washes and tonal variation. This particular impression is distinguished by its rich tonal depth and dramatic contrasts, resulting in an image that is both strikingly bold yet beautiful and tender. Dedicated Pour Monsieur Stern, the print was gifted by the artist to the Swedish collector Oscar Stern (1882–1961).
The print depicts Françoise Gilot, Picasso’s lover and muse from 1943 to 1953. Gilot featured prominently in Picasso’s oeuvre during this period, appearing in numerous prints such as the companion piece to the present one, Torse de Femme (L'Egyptienne) (B. 746), as well as Vénus et l'Amour, d'après Cranach (B. 1835) and the lithographic series La Femme au fauteuil (B. 588). In La Femme à la fenêtre, Gilot is portrayed inside a room standing by a window, a motif deeply embedded in art historical tradition. One of the contemporaries of Picasso who explored this theme extensively was Henri Matisse. Gilot and he requently visited Matisse at his villa in Vence, and it was whilst living in nearby Vallauris that Picasso created this print.
The window motif in La Femme à la fenêtre serves as a conceptual device that explores the dynamics of gaze and identity. The viewer assumes the role of voyeur, peering through a metaphorical window at the woman in a reflective, private moment, while she is looking out, seemingly unaware of being observed. In Matisse’s related painting Young Woman at the Window, Sunset (Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore) and La Femme à la fenêtre, the women are depicted with their hands raised to the window; the emotional tenor however differs significantly. In Matisse’s painting, the figure’s hand rests on the handle, as if she is about to open the window. In contrast, Gilot’s hands, inked almost entirely black, are pressed and silhouetted against the bright window pane, a gesture evoking psychological tension, perhaps even confinement.
Created in the penultimate year of their relationship, the print may reflect the emotional estrangement between Picasso and Gilot. By 1950, he had initiated an affair with Geneviève Laporte and Gilot split up with him three years later, famously becoming the only woman to do so. Picasso depicts Gilot with a cool detachment, very different to his portraits of other lovers, which are often charged with intense emotion and physical desire. Gilot later explained her lack of attachment and emotional transparency: 'Even Picasso never really knew me, despite our ten years together, because I closed myself off. I never opened myself up. Why should I?' (quoted in: Utley, 2016, p. 120).
In the portrait, Gilot’s individuality and personal expression is obscured by geometric abstractions that define her hair and body, while the tightly cropped framing of the scene offers little insight into her interior life. Her contemplative gaze is directed at something beyond, away from the viewer, suggesting a psychological withdrawal or daydream - a momentary escape from her own world. She appears absorbed by something outside the window, an unseen and unknowable presence that eludes both the viewer and the artist. The emotional distance Picasso sensed between them and expressed in this print may well have contributed to the dissolution of their relationship. La Femme à la fenêtre thus stands not only as a technical triumph and one of the artist's most startling compositions in the print medium but also as a poignant reflection on intimacy and alienation. It remains one of Picasso’s final portraits of Gilot, created the year before she left him in the autumn of 1953.
Henri Matisse, Jeune fille à la fenêtre, soleil couchant, 1921-1922. Baltimore Museum of Art, The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland, BMA 1950.245. Photography by Mitro Hood.
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‘I never opened myself up. Why should I?’
FRANÇOISE GILOT
EDVARD MUNCH (1863-1945)
The Kiss ('Kyss')
etching with open-bite, drypoint and burnisher 1895 on Arches laid paper signed and inscribed avant lettre in red crayon a very fine, early impression, printing with strong contrasts and a selectively wiped tone printed by L. Angerer or C. Sabo, Berlin the full sheet, the paper toned, the signature and inscription faded Plate 34,3 x 27,2 cm. (13Ω x 10æ in.)
Sheet 56,7 x 44,3 cm. (22º x 17Ω in.)
£50,000-70,000
US$68,000-95,000
€58,000-81,000
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Edvard Munch - ... aus dem modernen Seelenleben, March - May 2006, no. 203, p. 179, pl. 30 (ill.).
LITERATURE:
G. Schiefler, Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks Edvard Munchs bis 1906, Berlin, 1907, no. 22, p. 45.
G. Woll, The Complete Graphic Works, Oslo and London, 2012, no. 23, p. 56 (another impression ill.).
Edvard Munch created The Kiss in 1895 while living in Berlin, and early impressions such as the present one were printed there. Shortly thereafter, officials in Kristiana (now Oslo) decreed that the work was immoral and prohibited it from exhibition. For late 19th-century middle-class audiences, the image proved scandalous, and indeed, hardly anything this overtly erotic had been created in Western Artoutside a pornographic context - since the Renaissance. Yet for Munch and his bohemian circle, the print exemplified the artist's claim that '... there should be no more paintings of people reading and women knitting. In the future they should be of people who breathe, who feel emotions, who suffer and love.' In his depiction of a passionate embrace of two nude lovers, he went far beyond the formal genre of courtship pictures or even the brothel scenes of Edgar Degas or Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Yet there is nothing trite, vulgar or obscene about this image. Instead, Munch's etching projects a feeling of tenderness, as well as physical and emotional tension. As in many of his best prints, the artist had pared down the subject to its essential elements, while also imbuing it with great sense of atmosphere. The present, very early proof impression is printed with much plate tone, wiped clear in the illuminated windows of the building across, and it conveys the experience of witnessing an intimate, fleeting moment in time particularly well.
‘...there should be no more paintings of people reading and women knitting’
EDVARD MUNCH
EDVARD MUNCH (1863-1945)
Madonna (Woman making Love)
lithograph
1895 on thin cream wove paper
a brilliant, early impression of the black stone only Woll's variant A) I.1
printing with great clarity, very nuanced and transparent, yet rich in contrasts with margins, several skilfully repaired tears
Image 59,8 x 44,3 cm. (23 x 17Ω in.)
Sheet 62,9 x 46,3 cm. (24æ x 18º in.)
£70,000-100,000
US$95,000-140,000
€81,000-120,000
PROVENANCE:
Galerie Kornfeld & Klipstein, Bern, 13-15 June 1968, lot 737.
Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 22 June 1993, lot 84.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Weibsbilder, September 2000 - March 2001 (no. cat.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mit dem inneren Auge sehen - Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, September 2016 - January 2017, no. 19, p. 51 (ill.) & 76. (catalogue by Jonas Beyer, with additional texts by Steven Reiss, Wolfgang Wittrock and an interview with the collector by Belinda Grace Gardner).
LITERATURE:
G. Schiefler, Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks Edvard Munchs bis 1906, Berlin, 1907, no. 33, pp. 49-51.
G. Woll, Edvard Munch: The Complete Graphic Works, New York, 2001, no. 39, p. 69-72 (another impression ill.).
G. Woll, Edvard Munch: The Complete Graphic Works, Oslo & London, 2012, no. 39, p. 66-69 (another impression ill.)
Munch's Madonna is among the most haunting and evocative depictions of womanhood in the history of European art. Originally conceived in Berlin between 1893 and 1894, the work stands at the crossroads between the symbolist art of the late 19th century and the modernism of the early 20th century. The print, first created in 1895, was the culmination of a series of five painted versions executed by Munch between 1893 and 1895. Just as Munch did not date these paintings, they have also been ascribed various titles, and two versions were originally presented as part of a series called Die Liebe ('Love') with the title Liebendes Weib ('Woman making Love'). One of the first written references to the series came from Munch's friend and critic, Stanislaw Przybyszewski, who described one of the paintings exhibited in 1894 as '...a robed Madonna lies on a crumpled sheet, with the halo of the future martyrdom of birth...the mystery of eternal procreation fills the woman's face with a radiant ecstasy' (quoted in: W. Timm, The Graphic Art of Edvard Munch, Greenwich, 1969, p. 53). That same year 'Madonna' would gain currency as the title of this series of works. Munch's intent was to represent 'Woman' from the point of view of her
lover at the moment she conceives a new life within; Munch described that precise moment as being when 'life and death join hands', when 'Woman' stands at the gateway between life and death, as the artist saw it, and reaches her apotheosis, being at her most desirable, most majestic and most fearful. In Munch's own words: 'The interval when the whole world stopped in its course - Your face holds all the beauty of the kingdom of earth - Your lips, crimson as the ripening fruit, part as in pain - The smile of a corpse - Now life shakes the hand of deathThe chain is forged which binds the thousand generations that are dead to the thousand generations yet to come' (quoted in: A. Eggum, Edvard Munch: Paintings, Sketches, and Studies, Oslo, 1984, p. 116). While the artist's attitude towards women - torn between attraction, deification and fear - and his association of sex with death are deeply rooted in the 19th century, yet his visual language is astonishingly daring and modern, from the aureole surrounding the naked body to the decorative 'sperm border' and the strange and deeply disturbing homunculus in the lower left corner.
Edvard Munch was arguably a greater printmaker than painter, as the print medium forced him to condense his ideas and motifs into concise and powerful forms, and Madonna is a masterpiece of his graphic oeuvre. As with other of his most important prints, he experimented over the course of several decades to perfect his vision. Therefore, many variations of Madonna exist, ranging from including and excluding the border, cropping the figure at the waist, handcolouring the image or printing from several stones in colour, and using a large variety of papers.
The present sheet is one of the very first monochromatic impressions, printed in 1895. Gustav Schiefler in his very first catalogue raisonné of Munch's prints, published in 1906, distinguished two states of this print: the first with many lighter areas, especially on the woman's right arm and around the head and figure of the embryo; the second with the areas reworked and darkened. According to Woll however, who acknowledged this change in her catalogue of 2001, these variations are not the result of additional work to the stone but simply the result of the stone 'filling in' and losing definition as it was repeatedly printed and distinguishes between early and later impressions. We follow Gerd Woll in her assessment, noting practically all impressions belong to the latter variant, while the present one is undoubtedly very early, as Kornfeld already stated in the sale catalogue of 1993, when it last came to the market. The transparency and highly nuanced articulation of the lines and surfaces, together with the thin paper used for this impression, add to the ethereal quality of the image. Of the examples we could compare, only one hand-coloured impression in the Munchmuseet (inv. no. 194-36) seems equally clear and early as the present one.
It was only in 1902-1903 that Munch began to explore printing methods to apply color to the image. Eventually, Munch's pictorial and technical acumen would make him one of the most acclaimed and influential printmakers of the Modern era. Impressions of Madonna exhibited at the Armory Show in New York in 1913 were priced at US$ 200, placing them among the most valuable and sought-after prints of the early 20th century, a status which this powerful image retains even today, a more than a hundred years later.
GUSTAV KLIMT (1862-1918)
Liegender Halbakt mit gespreizten Schenkeln
indistinctly signed GUSTAV KLIMT (lower right) pencil on paper
56,8 x 37,2 cm. (22¡ x 14¬ in.)
Drawn circa 1916-1917
£120,000-180,000
US$170,000-240,000
€140,000-210,000
PROVENANCE:
Willy Haas (1891-1973), Prague & Hamburg; then by descent; Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 6 June 1975, lot 977. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Zurich, Kunsthaus, Gustav Klimt, September - December 1992, no. Z136, p. 312 (ill.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Weibsbilder, September 2000 - March 2001 (no cat.).
Rome, Complesso del Vittoriano, Klimt, Kokoschka, Schiele - Dall'art nouveau all'espressionismo, October 2001 - February 2002, no. 39, p. 94 (ill.; titled 'Nudo seduto').
Paris, Musée Maillol, Gustav Klimt - Papiers érotiques, March - May 2005, pp. 161 (ill.) & 191 (with incorrect dimensions).
LITERATURE:
A. Strobl, Gustav Klimt - Die Zeichnungen - 1912-1918, Salzburg, 1984, vol. III, no. 2968, pp. 204-205 (ill.).
Gustav Klimt’s erotic drawings from 1916-1917 are among the most formally and psychologically charged works of his celebrated career. Focused almost solely on female nudes, these works are executed with a rapid, expressive line that privileges immediacy and expression, conveying a striking physical and emotional presence. Exemplifying the artist’s mature handling, Liegender Halbakt mit gespreizten Schenkeln is an image from which both erotic abandonment and technical mastery radiate. The sole female figure is captured in a moment of uninhibited ecstasy, with her eyes closed and her lips softly parted. Lying on her back, the woman is viewed from above – a striking perspective that suggests both the physical proximity of artist to model and the intense intimacy of the scene. Klimt contrasts the smooth expanses of the model’s thighs with the expressively textured folds of her dress gathered around her waist, while the vast space surrounding her isolates her from any narrative context, suspending the body in an undefined, almost weightless realm. This compositional strategy evokes the influence of the Japanese ukiyo-e prints which adorned Klimt's studio walls –particularly their flattened perspective and emphasis on the momentary.
The eroticism in Liegender Halbakt mit gespreizten Schenkeln is neither moralised nor sensationalised; rather than positioning the nude as a passive object of desire, Klimt imbues her with sexual autonomy and psychological complexity. The scholar Max Eisler noted that Klimt sought to depict the sudden, transitory moment when desire transforms the body and consciousness. Thus, Klimt renders pleasure not as a spectacle for the viewer but an inner experience, captured with startling honesty and sensitivity.
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OTTO DIX (1891-1969)
Elli
signed and dated DIX 1921 (lower right); inscribed Elli (upper centre) pencil on paper
63,6 x 42 cm. (25 x 16Ω in.)
Drawn in 1921
£40,000-60,000
US$55,000-81,000
€47,000-69,000
PROVENANCE:
Property of the artist, until at least 1964. Private collection, Hanover. Galerie Brockstedt, Hamburg, by 1971. Acquired from the above; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Heidelberg, Kurpfälzisches Museum, Kunst in Dresden: 18.-20. JahrhundertAquarelle, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik, September - November 1964, no. 123, p. 45.
Hamburg, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Otto Dix - Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Graphik, December 1966 - January 1967, no. 137; this exhibition later travelled to Frankfurt, Kunstverein, February - March 1967.
Stuttgart, Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart, Otto Dix zum 80. Geburtstag: Gemälde, Aquarelle, Gouachen, Zeichnungen, Radierfolge 'Der Krieg', OctoberNovember 1971, no. 230, p. 171.
Hamburg, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Otto Dix - Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Grafiken, Kartons, April - June 1977, no. 21, pp. 67 (ill.) & 130.
Munich, Museum Villa Stuck, Otto Dix, August - October 1985, no. 331, pp. 167 (ill.) & 310.
Milan, Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta, Il disegno del nostro secolo: Prima parte, Da Klimt a Wols, April - July 1994, no. 149, pp. 239 (ill.) & 418.
Berlin, Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, Otto Dix: 'Dame mit Nerz und Schleier' - Aquarelle, Zeichnungen und Graphiken um ein neu entdecktes Bild von 1920, November 1995 - January 1996, no. 2 (ill.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Weibsbilder, September 2000 - March 2001 (no cat.).
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Glitter & Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s, November 2006 - February 2007, no. 80, pp. 224-225 (ill.).
LITERATURE:
O. Conzelmann (ed.), Otto Dix: Handzeichnungen, Hanover, 1968, no. 65, pp. 36 & 41 (ill.).
H. Kinkel, Otto Dix, Protokolle der Hölle - Zeichnungen, Frankfurt, 1968, no. 69, p. CXXI & pl. 69 (ill.).
O. Conzelmann, Otto Dix, Weiber, Frankfurt, 1976, p. 105 (ill.).
B.S. Barton, Otto Dix and Die neue Sachlichkeit, 1918-1925, Ann Arbor, 1981, no. IV.C.20, p. 139.
M. Eberle, Der Weltkrieg und die Künstler der Weimarer Republik. Dix, Grosz, Beckmann, Schlemmer, Stuttgart, 1989, no. 44, p. 58 (ill.; titled 'Akt').
L. Tittel (ed.), Otto Dix: Die Friedrichshafener Sammlung - Bestandskatalog, Friedrichshafen, 1992, no. 25, pp. 34-35 (ill.).
U. Lorenz, Otto Dix - Das Werkverzeichnis der Zeichnungen und Pastelle, vol. II, Bonn, 2002, no. EDV 5.2.34, p. 705 (ill.).
Otto Dix moved to the bustling city of Dresden in 1919, eager to resume his artistic career upon the conclusion of the First World War. One of Germany’s most important cultural centres, it was here that he would study art at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste and become one of the founding members of the Dresdner Sezession Gruppe. Dix’s lodgings were located in the city’s red-light district, and the women working there would take employment as life models, enabling Dix to work from a vast array of sitters. Between 1919 and 1922, Dix drew prolifically, creating around two hundred drawings and exploring the female nude with a striking and direct frankness. Elli, drawn in 1921, dates to this rich period of creativity.
The present lot is distinguished as one of the most fully worked in a series of drawings of this frequent sitter. Here, Elli is contextualised within the artist’s studio, her clothing cast on the well-worn chair behind her. Her trade is evoked by her suggestively rolled downstockings. Despite the presence of what should be hallmarks of sensuality – the model’s nude body, her stockings, her heeled shoes – the scene is devoid of eroticism. Elli presents her sex candidly. With her unflinching gaze towards the viewer, and her open stance, the work is imbued with hints that suggest that, for her, the physical act of sex has been divorced from any kind of sensuality or intimacy. The graphic quality of Elli’s body and expressive rendering of her face are a testimony to Dix’s unrivaled draughtsmanship, but even more powerfully, to his astute ability to depict the emotional inner world of his sitters.
Wondrous Creatures
ALBRECHT DÜRER (1471-1528)
Saint Eustace
engraving circa 1501 on laid paper, without watermark a fine impression, Meder b-c printing with great clarity, intense contrasts and depth, and much inky relief trimmed inside the platemark, fractionally or on just inside the subject in places a few small defects and minor repairs, generally in good condition Sheet 35,6 x 25,9 cm. (14 x 10º in.)
£80,000-120,000
US$110,000-160,000
€93,000-140,000
PROVENANCE:
James Everard, 10th Lord Arundel of Wardour (1785–1834); then by inheritance to his widow Mary Anne Everard (1787–1845).
Stonyhurst College (see Lugt 2373b; with a similar stamp); gifted from the above in 1837; Christie's, London, 28 November 1989, lot 27.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
LITERATURE:
A. von Bartsch, Le Peintre Graveur, Vienna, vol. VII, 1808, no. 57, p. 35.
J. Meder, Dürer-Katalog, Vienna, 1932, no. 60, pp. 93-94.
F. W. H. Hollstein, German Engravings Etchings and Woodcuts, CA. 14001700, Albrecht and Hans Dürer, Amsterdam, 1962, no. 60, pp. 52-53 (another impression ill.).
W. L. Strauss (ed.), The Illustrated Bartsch, Vol. 10, New York, 1980, no. 57, p. 51 (another impression ill.).
R. Schoch, M. Mende & A. Scherbaum, Albrecht Dürer, Das druckgraphische Werk, Munich, vol. I, 2001, (Kupferstiche, Eisenradierungen und Kaltnadelblätter), no. 32, pp. 92-95 (another impression ill.).
The largest of all Dürer's engravings, Saint Eustace has always been regarded as one of his greatest. Dürer himself considered this early work something of a show-piece and took it with him on his journey to the Netherlands in 1521. In his travel diary he mentions six occasions of selling or presenting it to potential patrons.
According to the legend, a Roman soldier called Placidas saw a vision of the crucified Christ appear between the antlers of a stag he was hunting. Upon hearing God's voice spoken by the animal, 'O Placidas, why pursuest thou me?', he fell on his knees, was converted and baptized with the name Eustace. In Dürer's engraving the saint is shown kneeling on the banks of a stream, transfixed by his vision, while his horse and hounds wait patiently for their master. The animals are depicted with delightful naturalism, as is the woodland vegetation, the gnarled and splintered tree trunk, and the view in the distance of a hill surmounted by a castle, with a murmuration of starlings spiraling around its castellated turrets. This display of technical virtuosity may have been Dürer's counter to the hotly contested view prevalent in the 16th century that sculpture was superior to painting due to its capacity to show the figure three-dimensionally. Dürer's depiction of the natural world in Saint Eustace in such exquisite detail - and in the case of the dogs from different sides at once - was a provocative claim for the parity of the 'flat arts'. One of the most admired and best loved elements in Dürer's whole graphic oeuvre are indeed the greyhounds in the foreground, which prompted Vasari's effusive description of the engraving as 'amazing, and particularly for the beauty of some dogs in various attitudes, which could not be more perfect'.
Although Saint Eustace, the patron saint of huntsmen, was enormously popular in Northern Europe at this time, it is intriguing to think that Dürer may have seen Pisanello's famous painting of the subject (circa 1438-42) - or a version of it - during his first journey to Venice in 1494-95. The small panel, now at the National Gallery in London, is significantly reduced in height, but a later copy at the Fondazione Cini in Venice presumably shows the original composition, taller and with a mountainous landscape in the background.
Fine impressions of Saint Eustace, such as the present one, have always ranked amongst the most highly-prized possessions of a print collector. Although the composition of this magnificent print still has the charm and immediacy of Dürer's 'gothic' engravings of the 1490s, the exquisite depiction of details and textures anticipates the technical perfection of the artist's Meisterstiche of 1513-14 (see lots 334 & 341). The fact that the saint, at the moment of his epiphany and conversion, seems to levitate rather than kneel on the ground, only adds to the mysterious and enchanting air of the scene.
a very fine, rich and nuanced impression of the first state (of four) printing with great contrasts and clarity an extremely rare proof before lettering and before the edges of the subject were squared off with margins, in good condition
Image 21,5 x 28,5 cm. (8Ω x 11¿ in.)
Sheet 27 x 36 cm. (10¬ x 14¿ in.)
£10,000-15,000
US$14,000-20,000
€12,000-17,000
PROVENANCE:
Galerie Kornfeld, Bern.
Acquired from the above in 1965; then by descent to the present owners.
LITERATURE:
A. Robaut, L'oeuvre complet de Eugène Delacroix 1813-1863 - peintures, dessins, gravures, lithogravures, Paris, 1885, no. 288, p. 80 (another impression ill.).
L. Delteil & S. Strauber, Delacroix - The Graphic Works - A catalogue raisonné, San Francisco, 1997, no. 77, pp. 196-197 (another impression ill.).
A. G. Yaffe, Prints of Eugène Delacroix, exh. cat., Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, March - May 1977, no. 17, p. 24.
Much has been written about Eugène Delacroix the painter and draughtsman, much less about his practice as a printmaker, despite his substantial oeuvre created between 1814 and 1856. Aged only 21,
Delacroix was one of the early adopters of lithography, a technique invented in the very year of his birth, 1798, by Johann Alois Senefelder (1771- 1834) in Germany. His first lithographs were social and political caricatures published in the periodical Miroir in 1821-22. Although amusing and competently drawn, it is clear from these works that the young artist had not yet grasped the full potential of the new printing method, as he still relied on the descriptive line as the defining element of his compositions. In 1825 however he began to experiment with crayon and the tonal qualities of lithography, as well as with the scraper, scratching white lines or areas into a black base tone, a method later known as manière noire - used extensively in the present print. The first larger group of prints in this manner were his illustrations for Goethe's Faust, printed and published by Charles Motte in Paris in 1828 (see lot 304), which are characterised by an intense chiaroscuro.
Perhaps inspired by Théodore Géricault, as well as George Stubbs and Antoine-Louis Barye, it was around the same time that Delacroix began to created depictions - almost portraits - of horses, but also lions, tigers and other wild beasts. From 1828 onwards, he would make over two hundred prints of animals, the majority after 1830. Cheval sauvage terrassé par un tigre is hence one of the earliest - and arguably most exciting - of these animal scenes and of his lithographic oeuvre on the whole. Here, Delacroix is employing his lithographic crayons with the same freedom as he would use a pen or brush on a sheet of paper, composing the image not only out of black and white but a highly nuanced register of middle tones. His manner is gestural and free-flowing, full of movement and drama. His marks are no longer timid and descriptive, but confidently visible and in places almost abstract, allowing the scene to take shape out of varying degrees of light and shade.
The subtlety and spontaneity of Delacroix’s mark-making is particularly evident in the present, very rare trial proof. Delteil records a total of 7 impressions of the first state. A related pencil drawing in the same direction is in the Szépművészeti Museum in Budapest (MFA 1935.2691).
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*321
HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (1864-1901)
Chevaux et chiens lévriers indistinctly stamped with the artist's monogram (Lugt 1338; lower right) pen and India ink and pencil on paper 20 x 31 cm. (7√ x 12º in.)
Executed in 1881
£8,000-12,000
US$11,000-16,000
€9,300-14,000
PROVENANCE:
Gustave Pellet (1859-1919), Paris; probably acquired directly from the artist. Maurice Exsteens (1887-1961) & Maud Pellet, Paris; by descent from the above. Robert von Hirsch (1883-1977), Frankfurt am Main & Basel; his posthumous sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, London, 27 June 1978, lot 849. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Paris, Galerie Marcel Guiot, Exposition Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, April 1928, no. 90, p. 12 (titled 'Études de Chevaux'; with incorrect medium). (Possibly) Berlin, Galerie Alfred Flechtheim, Seit Cézanne in Paris, NovemberDecember 1929, no. 180, p. 11 (titled 'Pferdestudie'). Tübingen, Kunsthalle, Toulouse Lautrec - Gemälde und Bildstudien, November 1986 - March 1987, no. 7, pp. 32-33 (ill.; titled 'Sheet of Sketches with Horses, Riders and Greyhounds').
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des KünstlersDruckgraphik und vorbereitenden Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, Part II: April - September 2000, pp. 46 (ill.) & 98.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Von Delacroix bis Cezanne - Französische Zeichnungen des 19 Jahrhunderts, November 2004 - February 2005 (no cat.).
LITERATURE:
M. Joyant, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, vol. II, Dessins, estampes, affiches, Paris, 1927, p. 182 (titled 'Chevaux et chiens'; with incorrect medium).
M. Joyant, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paris, 1930, no. 16 (ill.; with incorrect medium).
M.G. Dortu, Toulouse-Lautrec et son œuvre, vol. V, Catalogue des dessins, New York, 1971, no. D.2.063, pp. 342-343 (ill.; with incorrect medium).
B. Denvir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Paris, 1991, no. 26, pp. 42 (ill.) & 211 (titled 'Chevaux et lévriers').
Executed in 1881, when Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was just seventeen, the studies in Chevaux et chiens lévriers unfold in a flurry of galloping horses, crouched riders and leaping greyhounds. The muscular body of a horse occupies the centre of the sheet, suspended at the threshold of momentum in the impossible ‘flying gallop’- legs extended front and back- a pose Toulouse-Lautrec would later reprise in his celebrated lithograph Le Jockey (Wittrock 308; an impression of which is also in the Hegewisch Collection). Surrounding this central figure, sleek hounds dart across the page; their wiry bodies rendered in quick, fluid lines. Equestrian and hunting themes were a natural choice for the young artist, whose father was an avid horseman, hunter, falconer, and racegoer. Count Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec intended his son to follow his example, reportedly quipping ‘In our family, we christen a child at once and then put him on a horse!’ (H. Perruchot, ToulouseLautrec, Cleveland, 1961, pp. 25-36). These pursuits had preoccupied Toulouse-Lautrec’s upbringing; however, his own equestrian ambitions were shattered by the childhood accidents which stunted the growth of his legs. Despite these physical limitations, the equestrian world remained central to his imagination.
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PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
Courses de taureaux
dated and inscribed Boisgeloup 24 juillet xxxiv- (verso) pencil on paper
25,7 x 34,3 cm. (10¿ x 13Ω in.)
Drawn in Boisgeloup on 24 July 1934
£100,000-150,000
US$140,000-200,000
€120,000-170,000
PROVENANCE:
The artist's estate.
Marina Picasso (b. 1950), Paris; by descent from the above.
Galerie Jan Krugier & Cie., Geneva (no. JK 2862); on consignment from the above. Acquired from the above in April 1980; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Munich, Haus der Kunst, Pablo Picasso: Eine Ausstellung zum hundertsten Geburtstag - Werke aus der Sammlung Marina Picasso, February - April 1981, no. 176, pp. 337 & 340 (ill.; titled 'Stier und Pferd'); this exhibition later travelled to Cologne, Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle, August - October 1981; and Frankfurt am Main, Städtische Galerie, October 1981 - January 1982.
Venice, Centro di Cultura di Palazzo Grassi, Picasso - Opere dal 1895 al 1971 dalla Collezione Marina Picasso, May - July 1981, no. 222, pp. 328 & 330 (ill.; titled 'Toro e Cavallo').
Tokyo, The National Museum of Modern Art, Picasso: Masterpieces from Marina Picasso Collection and from Museums in U.S.A. and U.S.S.R., AprilMay 1983, no. 139, pp. 280 (ill.) & 342 (titled 'Bull Disembowling a Horse'); this exhibition later travelled to Kyoto, Municipal Museum, June - July 1983. Bielefeld, Kunsthalle, Picasso - Todesthemen, January - April 1984, no. 52, pp. 214 (ill.) & 296 (titled 'Stier und Pferd').
Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, Picasso: Works from the Marina Picasso Collection in Collaboration with Galerie Jan Krugier, Geneva, with Loans from Museums in Europe and the United States of America and Private Collections, July - September 1984, no. 108, p. 116 (ill.; titled 'Bull and Horse'); this exhibition later travelled to Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, October - December 1984.
Tübingen, Kunsthalle, Picasso: Pastelle, Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, April - June 1986, no. 152, p. 280 (ill.; titled 'Stier und Pferd'); this exhibition later travelled to Dusseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, June - July 1986. Bielefeld, Kunsthalle, Picassos Surrealismus: Werke 1925-1937, SeptemberDecember 1991, no. 75, pp. 110 (ill.) & 338 (titled 'Stier und Pferd').
Paris, Musée Picasso, Picasso: Toros y Toreros, April - June 1993, no. 70, pp. 170 (ill.) & 253 (titled 'Taureau et cheval'); this exhibition later travelled to Bayonne, Musée Bonnat, July - September 1993; and Barcelona, Museu Picasso, October 1993 - January 1994.
London, Croydon Museum, Cock and Bull stories: A Picasso Bestiary, MarchMay 1995, p. 45 (ill.; titled 'Bull and Horse').
Kyoto, The National Museum of Modern Art, Picasso: The Love and the Anguish - The Road to Guernica, October - December 1995, no. 27, pp. 100-101 (ill.) & 337 (titled 'Bull Disemboweling a Horse'); this exhibition later travelled to Tokyo, Tobu Museum of Art, December 1995 - March 1996. Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Picasso, Der blinde Minotaurus - Die Sammlung Hegewisch in der Hamburger Kunsthalle, February 1997, pp. 38-39 (ill.) & 80 (titled 'Stier und Pferd (Stierkampf)').
Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Picasso: Corrida de toros, 1934, January - May 1999, no. 7, p. 49 (ill.; titled 'Toro y caballo'). Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Picasso: Sous le soleil de Mithra, June - November 2001, no. P 60, p. 98 (ill.; titled 'Taureau et cheval'); this exhibition later travelled to Musée Picasso, Paris, November 2001 - March 2002. Oslo, Munchmuseet, Pablo Picasso - Den blinde Minotaurus - grafikk og tegning, November 2002 - February 2003 (no cat.).
Münster, Graphikmuseum Pablo Picasso, Pablo Picasso and Marie-Thérèse Walter: Between Classicism and Surrealism, May - August 2004, p. 221. Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus Stiftung Hermann F. Reemtsma, Pablo Picasso - Der Stier und das Mädchen - Meisterblätter aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, June - October 2010, no. 21, p. 113 (ill.; titled 'Stier und Pferd').
LITERATURE:
C. Zervos, Pablo Picasso, vol. 8, Œuvres de 1932 à 1937, Paris, 1957, no. 217 (ill. pl. 100).
S. Goeppert & H.C. Goeppert-Frank, Minotauromachy by Pablo Picasso, Geneva, 1987, p. 25 (ill.; titled 'Bullfights - Courses de taureaux').
Laden with an electrifying dramatic tension, Courses de taureaux depicts the terrifying triumph of a bull over a horse in a Spanish bullfight or corrida de toros. Pablo Picasso attended his first bullfight at the age of eight, and, enthralled by the event, subsequently asked for materials so as to paint an interpretation of the scene. This early captivation with bullfighting as artistic subject matter lingered throughout his life, and he turned to the theme time and again in his oeuvre. One such flurry of fanatical inspiration took hold of the artist in the summer of 1934, and it was during this period, on 24 July 1934, that Picasso drew the present work. His revitalised obsession with the subject was likely sparked by his visit to Barcelona the previous year, where he attended the local bullfights with his son Paulo, hoping to inspire the same passion for the spectacle in his son that he had experienced in his own youth.
In Courses de taureaux, Picasso renders the bull’s head and neck in meticulous detail, making its ferocious roar of belligerence as it disembowels the horse all the more menacing. The bull is framed by the wounded mare, whose raised leg and arching neck echo the sweeping curves of the bull’s horns. In a stark contrast to the shaded tonality of the bull, the horse is depicted in simple lines, with minimal definition. This juxtaposition of styles intensifies the differentiation between the two animals, reiterating the potent strength and vitality of the bull, and the diminishing life force of the defeated horse. The theme was rich in symbolism for Picasso, and the bull is representative of the wild, animalistic impulses and brutality of the human self. The artist also viewed the mare’s surrender to the bull as an allegory of the antagonism between male and female. Additionally, it was around this time that Picasso adopted the mythical Minotaur – a creature half-man and halfbull – as an alter-ego, and Courses de taureaux possesses a somewhat surreal quality with Picasso’s anthropomorphic approach to the bull’s bared teeth and grimacing jaw.
*323
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
La Minotauromachie
etching and engraving with scraper 1935 on Montval laid paper a fine, rich and atmospheric impression of this highly important print Baer's seventh, final state published by the artist, Paris the full sheet, in very good condition
Plate 49,5 x 69,2 cm. (19ƒ x 27º in.)
Sheet 57 x 77,6 cm. (22Ω x 30Ω in.)
£700,000-1,000,000
US$950,000-1,400,000
€810,000-1,200,000
PROVENANCE:
Estate of the artist.
Marina Picasso (b. 1950), Paris; by descent from the above.
Galerie Jan Krugier & Cie., Geneva; on commission from the above. Acquired from the above after 1976; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Picasso - Der blinde Minotaurus - Die Sammlung Hegewisch in der Hamburger Kunsthalle, February 1997, pp. 50-51 (ill.) & 84.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Verhext - Phantastische Graphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, November 1997 - March 1998 (no cat.).
Oslo, Munchmuseet, Pablo Picasso - Den blinde Minotaurus - grafikk og tegning, November 2002 - February 2003 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus - Stiftung Hermann F. Reemtsma, Picasso - Der Stier und das Mädchen - Meisterblätter aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, JuneOctober 2010, p. 114, no. 27 (ill.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mit dem inneren Auge sehen - Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, September 2016 - January 2017, no. 30, pp. 64-65 (ill.) & 77.
LITERATURE:
G. Bloch, Picasso - Catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé et lithographié 1904-1967, Bern, 1968, p. 286, no. 288, p. 88 (another impression ill.).
B. Baer, Picasso - Peintre-Graveur, Bern, 1986, vol. III, no. 573 B.c.5., p. 24 (another impression ill.).
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On a Saturday in early July 1935 Picasso sat in Roger Lacourière's studio in Paris and began work on a huge copper plate. The image he would conjure up in elaborate detail over the next five days would become known as La Minotauromachie and is recognized as perhaps the most important graphic work of the 20th century. The image is a paradise for interpretation: anecdote mixed with symbolism mixed with myth. Coupled with Picasso's well-known aversion to providing explanations for his art, the layered complexity of La Minotauromachie makes it one of his most intriguing images.
Reading from left to right we see a bearded man climbing a ladder, turning to look over his shoulder at the mysterious scene which plays out beneath him. To his right, two women at a window also look down, and immediately in front of them two doves sit by a shallow drinking dish. Below the window, a young flower girl holds up a candle which illuminates the head of a wounded horse on whose back lies a torera a female bull-fighter, who appears unconscious. Almost the entire right side of the image is taken up by the enormous figure of a Minotaur, whose outstretched right arm seeks to grasp for or shield him from the candle. Visible beyond the Minotaur on the distant horizon is a half sunken sailboat.
Most interpretations of La Minotauromachie begin by recounting the events in Picasso's life at the time. The period between the winter of 1934 until the summer of 1935 saw almost no artistic production for Picasso, who described it as la pire époque de ma vie' ('the worst period of my life'). In June 1935 Picasso's wife Olga had finally left him following her discovery that his young mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter was pregnant. This situation provoked a deep sense of inner turmoil in Picasso, which resulted in a depression and artistic paralysis. Printmaking, a practice demanding a significant amount of physical involvement, appears to have provided Picasso with a much-needed activity, which proved to be cathartic. As he was working on the copper plate, through his engagement with the material, strength and creative energy returned to the artist, and as the image began to take shape, Picasso grew in confidence and the composition in potency and complexity.
La Minotauromachie is replete with autobiographical references and the psychological forces at work. As is suggested by its title, the primary symbolic sources are those of the tauromachie (the bullfight) and of the Minotaur, both of which were at the heart of Picasso's personal iconography since the early 1930s. The central group uses images from the bullfight as a visual metaphor for his sexual 'battle' with Marie-Thérèse. We see a fatally wounded horse twisted in pain and fear, its flank gored open. The torera lying on the horse's back bears the profile of Marie-Thérèse. In their in-depth study of the image, Goeppert and Goeppert-Frank identify this figure's swollen abdomen as a reference to Marie-Thérèse's pregnancy. According to their interpretation, Picasso portrays the consequences of the male bull (himself) having fatally 'penetrated' the female horse; the torera has also made a similar sacrifice with her pregnancy. The flower girl, although less physically identifiable as Marie-Thérèse, is her spiritual counterpart. Her calm presence and open display of selfless affection recall why Picasso turned to Marie-Thérèse as his lover and refuge from the repressive conservatism of Olga. Hers are the qualities Picasso now feels he has lost: the innocence and acceptance of MarieThérèse's adolescence.
The dark, looming presence of the Minotaur counterbalances the flower girl's attempt to shed light on the scene. Picasso began using the image of a Minotaur as his own alter ego in the early 1930s. In the etchings of the Suite Vollard from 1933-1936 we find a complete lifecycle of the beast, beginning with scenes of the creature as a sexually confident male indulging in bacchanalian, orgiastic celebrations,
which then give way to more sentimental works, depicting the Minotaur in a tender and pensive mood, caressing his sleeping lover. These are followed by several images of a blind Minotaur, led through a barren land or the night by a young Marie-Thérèse. The final plates show the beast as a victim, slain in the bullring as the fear-inspiring outsider. These variations on the theme appear to culminate in La Minotauromachie, yet the depiction of the Minotaur is here at its most ambivalent: powerful and violent, yet hesitant, almost helpless and strangely fragile, at once drawn towards and repelled by the candle.
By introducing the Minotaur Picasso takes us from the realm of earthly battles into a world of legend and the surreal. The mythical Minotaur is the physical embodiment of man's fundamentally split nature, torn between rationality and responsibility and desire and lust, between tenderness and violence. By portraying himself as this composite creature living on the boundary of human experience, Picasso hints at a quasi-magical or super-natural element of his own personality as the source of his creativity.
La Minotauromachie is the apotheosis of the themes Picasso developed throughout the 1930s, and together with Le repas frugal (lot 336) and La femme qui pleure of 1937, is considered one of the greatest prints of modern times. Packed with symbols and allusions, the image is as compelling as it is perplexing and contradictory. Picasso believed that art is not created to make sense of the world, but rather to capture the unknowable elementary forces of nature and the human existence. La Minotauromachie has been regarded as a spiritual, allegorical self-portrait, and it remained a deeply personal work for Picasso. His most significant prints tended not to be printed and editioned in the same orderly way that most of his graphic output was. The artist saw these works as private creations and preferred to give impressions only to close friends or important collectors. Even buying one of these masterpieces was no simple process— having sufficient funds was not the only criteria - and many aspiring purchasers went away empty-handed. Picasso carefully selected those who he considered worthy to own a Minotauromachie and therefore a piece of his own mythology. As a result, some unsigned impressions intended to be signed and dedicated, remained with him until his death in 1973. As part of Marina Picasso's inheritance from her grandfather, these were eventually sold through Galerie Krugier, where the present impression was acquired.
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; bequeathed by the above in 1984.
Sotheby's, London, 10 November 1987, lot 2.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
This Bamana headdress, formerly kept by the renowned merchant and collector Gaston de Havenon (1904-1993), stands as a magnificent exemplar of the horizontal style.
Known as n’gonzon koun, these antelope-shaped crests are 'carved in two distinct parts - the head and the body - which are subsequently joined by iron clasps, U-shaped nails, as well as metal or leather elements'. Ci Wara, a religious association of initiated Bamana men, derives its name from this mythical creature, half antelope and half human, to whom the invention of agriculture and its transmission to humanity are attributed. The ritual dances of Ci Wara accompany and encourage farmers during their toil in the fields, while praising their efforts upon their return to the village once their work is complete. Bound to agrarian rites, the crests from this region are also distinguished by the horizontal arrangement of their composition, here superbly rendered by the elongated elliptical horns. In perfect harmony with the parallel axis of the body, these horns extend gracefully backward in gentle curves, enhancing the delicate treatment of the face. Moreover, the artist devoted meticulous attention to surface details: the fine spiral incisions along the length of the horns, the geometric patterns adorning the antelope’s head and body, and the addition of metal elements representing the eyes.
Taken as a whole, this work exemplifies an elegance imbued with modernity through the cubist articulation of its forms. For a comparable example, see the piece housed in the Rietberg Museum, Zurich (inv. no. RAF 204) published by Leuzinger (E. Leuzinger, Afrikanische Skulpturen - African Sculptures, Zurich, 1963, p. 41).
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RICHARD OELZE (1900-1980)
Vogel Fritz
signed Oelze (lower right) pencil on paper
59,8 x 40,3 cm. (23Ω x 15√ in.)
Drawn in 1952
£8,000-12,000
US$11,000-16,000
€9,300-14,000
PROVENANCE:
Galerie Brockstedt, Hamburg, by 1964. Probably acquired from the above; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Richard Oelze, SeptemberOctober 1964, no. 254, pp. 63 (ill.) & 92 (dated 'circa 1952'). Berlin, Akademie der Künste, Richard Oelze: Gemälde und Zeichnungen, January - March 1987, no. Z 84, p. 249 (ill.); this exhibition later travelled to Bielefeld, Kunsthalle, March - April 1987; Hamburg, Kunstverein, May - June 1987; and Munich, Museum Villa Stuck, December 1987 - February 1988.
LITERATURE:
R. Damsch-Wiehager, Richard Oelze - Ein alter Meister der Moderne, Munich & Lucerne, 1989, no. Z 84, p. 243. W. Schmied, Richard Oelze, Göttingen, 1965, pp. 32 & 51 (ill.).
Although strongly associated with the Surrealist movement, Richard Oelze is a singular figure in history of art of the 20th century. He joined the Bauhaus in Weimar as a student in 1921, where he is said to have attended a paintings course with Paul Klee, yet it was probably the preparatory classes of Johannes Itten (1888-1967) and his mysticism which had a greater influence on him. In 1929, after the forced closure of the Bauhaus, Oelze first moved to Dresden, then Ascona, then Berlin and finally to Paris, where he lived between 193236 and made the acquaintance of Max Ernst, Tristan Tzara, Leonor Fini, Victor Brauner and others. It was in those years that he began to exhibit with the Surrealists. Noteworthy are his participations at the Salon des Sur-Indépendants in 1933 in Paris and the Exposition Minotaure in 1934 in Brussels, followed by the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries London, and finally the exhibition Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York under the curatorship of Alfred Barr. It was Barr who in 1940 acquired Oelze's painting Erwartung (1935-36) for the museum. The preparatory drawing for this painting, arguably his best known work, is in the Hegewisch Collection.
Just as Oelze was gaining some recognition as a painter, World War II - which he spent serving in the German Army as a cartographer - almost put an end to his public career as an artist. After the war, he settled in Worpswede in Northern Germany, living in poverty and near-complete isolation. Only thanks to his partner in later life, Ellida Schargo von Alten, who rescued him from neglect and oblivion, did he engage with the world again. In the 1960s, younger artists including Klaus Hegewisch's friend Horst Janssen were among the first to 'rediscover' Richard Oelze. Once again, the art world took notice of him and he received a number of prestigious awards. His first retrospective at the Kestner-Gesellschaft in 1964 finally established his position as an important,
albeit somewhat divergent, protagonist of Surrealism. In the final years of his life he retreated once more into isolation, became too weak to paint and so sensitive to noise and light that he no longer left his house (see C. Hopfengart, Die Söhne des Junggesellen - Richard Oelze - Einzelgänger des Surrealismus, exh. cat., Kunsthalle Bremen, November 2000 - January 2001, pp. 9-14).
The present large drawing of Vogel Fritz is an unusual motif for Oelze who, apart from some exquisite portraits, rarely created singular figures and is mostly known for his mysterious landscapes. Stylistically however, 'Fritz the Bird' is very much as Oelze saw and depicted the world: not as being made of solid shapes and objects, but rather as mirages or clusters of particles temporarily taking on a biomorphic appearance before transforming into something else or disintegrating altogether.
Despite this ethereal quality, there is also something funny and endearing about Fritz, reminiscent of the ceramics created by the Martin Brothers (active 1873 - 1914), a family of English potters particularly known for their grotesque bird figures.
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The Self & The World
FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)
Los Caprichos
the complete set of eighty etchings with burnished aquatint, drypoint and engraving 1797-98
on laid paper, without watermark a fine, uniform set from the First Edition published by the artist, Madrid, 1799, in an edition of approximately three hundred copies very good to fine impressions printed in dark sepia printing sharply, with great contrasts and brightly wiped highlights, with the scratch on plate 45 the sheets loose, with wide margins some minor foxing, otherwise in very good condition
Plates 21,4 x 15,2 cm. (8Ω x 6 in.) (and similar)
Sheets 28,8 x 19,3 cm. (11ƒ x 7≈ in.) (and similar) (80)
£120,000-180,000
US$170,000-240,000
€140,000-210,000
PROVENANCE:
Galerie Kornfeld, Bern.
Acquired from the above, circa 1990-95; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Verhext – Phantastische Graphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, November 1997 – March 1998 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mit dem inneren Auge sehen –Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, September 2016 – January 2017, no. 12 & 13, pp. 38-39 (ill.) & p. 75 (pl. 1 & 43 only).
LITERATURE:
L. Delteil, Le peintre graveur illustré: Francisco Goya, Paris, 1922, nos. 38-117. T. Harris, Goya - Engravings and Lithographs - Catalogue raisonné, Oxford, 1964, nos. 36-115, pp. 70-158.
W. Hofmann (ed.), Goya – Das Zeitalter der Revolutionen, exh. cat., Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, 1980.
A. E. Pérez Sánchez & E. A. Sayre (eds.), Goya and the Spirit of Enlightenment, exh. cat., Museo del Prado, Madrid; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989.
A. E. Pérez Sánchez & J. Gállego, Goya – The Complete Etchings and Lithographs, Munich & New York, 1995.
M. P. McDonald, Renaissance to Goya - Prints and Drawings from Spain, exh. cat., British Museum, London, 2012, p. 234-273.
S. Loeb Stepanek, F. Ilchmann, J. A. Tomlinson (eds.), Goya - Order & Disorder, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2014.
M. P. McDonald, Goya's Graphic Imagination, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, February - May 2021, pp. 98-131.
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Although Francisco de Goya, born in 1746, grew up and reached maturity in a period of relative peace and stability, the crucial decades of his life as an artist coincide with the greatest social and political upheaval the western world had experienced for centuries, including the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, the French Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon, the Peninsular War and the Restoration thereafter. His life and work bridged two ages, as the art historian Theodor Hetzer put it so graphically by describing Goya’s early and late works: ‘One makes you think of Tiepolo, the other of Manet ’ (cited in: Hofmann, p. 18)
During the first half of Goya’s life, Spain was under the stern but dutiful rule of Carlos III, an absolute yet enlightened monarch, comparable in his ambitions and style of government to his Northern European contemporaries Frederick II of Prussia, Maria Theresa of Austria and Catherine II of Russia. A benevolent despot, Carlos III was determined to modernize his country by fostering educational and economic reforms and supporting the sciences and the arts. He promoted a host of infrastructural projects such as the building of canals and the settlement of previously unpopulated regions, and allowed a certain amount of religious tolerance and freedom of speech and press. Under his rule, the power of the Church and the Holy Inquisition diminished and the Jesuits were expelled. His death and the coronation of his son in 1788 did not change things overnight, but Carlos IV was a weak king and under his rule – or rather that of Queen Maria Luisa and the mercurial minister Manuel Godoy - Spain could ultimately not withstand the repercussions of the French Revolution.
Goya, with increasing success as a court painter in Madrid, moved in progressive circles and his friends and patrons included the most prominent intellectuals and politicians of the Spanish Enlightenment. From this elevated viewpoint, Spain must have seemed a rather schizophrenic place, under strain but not yet torn between an idealistic and cosmopolitan elite on one side, and a people mired in ancient traditions of privilege and servitude, faith and superstition, corruption and violence on the other.
Although there is an ominous element already present in his earlier works, it was not until he was well over forty years old that Goya clearly expressed the urge to depict a more personal - and darkerview of the world. Perhaps due to his illness in 1792, which left him deaf, Goya ‘turned in on himself’ (Pérez Sánchez, Complete Etchings, p. 32) and began to explore his own fantasies. In a letter of 1794 he wrote to his friend, the poet Bernardo de Iriarte, that in some recent works he had ‘succeeded in making observations that commissioned works customarily do not allow, in which capricho and invención have no scope.’ (cited in: Pérez Sánchez, Enlightenment, p. xxi)
On 6 February 1799, Goya placed an advertisement on the front page of the Diario de Madrid, to announce the publication of Los Caprichos: ‘A collection of prints of fantasy subjects, invented and etched by Don Francisco Goya. The author, persuaded that the correction of human vices and errors (although seemingly the province of eloquence and poetry) can also be the goal of painting; has chosen as subjects appropriate for his work, from among the innumerable eccentricities and errors common to all civil society, and from the concerns and vulgar deceptions allowed by custom, ignorance or personal gain, those that he believed most apt to furnish
material for ridicule and at the same time, stimulate the fantasy of the artist.’ (translated by J. A. Tomlinson in: Order and Disorder, p. 347)
With Los Caprichos, Goya for the first time made his visions of the more sinister side of Spanish society - and the human soul in general - accessible to a wider audience, beyond his small group of friends and patrons. It was an enormous undertaking, prepared over several years and based on hundreds of drawings: eighty etchings with aquatint, printed in an edition of three hundred. At the time, it was the largest series of prints ever conceived by a single artist. For sale at a small liquor and perfume store on the street where Goya lived, only some thirty sets of this first and only lifetime edition were sold. In 1803, the artist gave the plates and the remaining impressions to the King, in exchange for an allowance for his son Javier - and presumably to escape the wrath of the Inquisition.
A crushing failure at the time, in hindsight Los Caprichos is the pivotal work of Goya’s entire oeuvre. In one grandiose, dark symphony he unleashes his unsparing satirical sense and his wild imagination, plate after plate, tied loosely together by related motifs and laconic, often mysterious titles. The only plate without an engraved title is perhaps the most famous of all: the artist, overcome by sleep, with his head resting on a table, is surrounded by creatures of the night: owls, bats, a cat and a lynx. On the front of the table the following words appear vaguely out of the aquatint surface: El sueño de la razon produce monstruos. The phrase is ultimately untranslatable, as sueño can mean both ‘sleep’ and ‘dream’. This ambiguity – does Reason dream up monsters or do monsters arise as Reason sleeps? – is characteristic of the entire series. Having first conceived it as the title page, Goya changed his mind and placed it as plate 43 at the centre of the series, thus dividing it roughly into two parts. The first section is largely devoted to satires of courtship and prostitution, mocking the vanities and pretensions of the young and old. It is in the nightmarish second section that the monsters arise, witches and demons fly, and goblins awake. Beyond the mere evocation and critique of superstition and witchcraft, the precise meaning of these later plates is even more cryptic. Concealed through visual puns, word play and allusions to proverbs, they often ridicule the idle and ruling classes, the clerics and the nobility.
Wickedly satirical and subversive as the Caprichos are in their imagery and content, they also represent a technical revolution. Having previously created a number of competent yet ultimately conventional etchings after Velazquez, Goya in this series suddenly and completely mastered the aquatint method. In particular through his use of blank paper for glowing highlights among dense shades of grey and black, he created images of dramatic and disturbing beauty. What makes Los Caprichos however one of the greatest unified series of images ever produced, is not just his baffling draughtsmanship or his technical mastery, nor his sharp satirical wit, but the intensity of his imagination and the depth of his humanity. Comparing Goya with the satirists of his time, Fred Licht wrote: ‘Even his most patent exaggerations are never glib condemnations. […] Glancing through Goya’s Caprichos, we find it extremely difficult to know on whose side we are or whether indeed there are always sides in the human drama. […] We are made to feel the tremendous burden of being on guard against ourselves as well as against possible contamination by mankind’s general folly’ (F. Licht, Enlightenment, p. lxxxi).
EDVARD MUNCH (1863-1945)
Self-Portrait
lithograph
1895 on greenish-grey wove paper signed in pencil a fine impression of the second state (of four) with wide margins, the sheet backed some minor defects
Image 45,5 x 32,2 cm. (18 x 12√ in.)
Sheet 65,3 x 47,7 cm. (25æ x 18æ in.)
£40,000-60,000
US$54,000-81,000
€47,000-69,000
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Switzerland; Christie's, London, 30 November 1999, lot 267. Acquired from the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mit dem inneren Auge sehen –Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, September 2016 – January 2017, no. 18, p. 50 (ill.) & p. 76.
LITERATURE:
G. Schiefler, Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks Edvard Munchs bis 1906, Berlin, 1907, no. 31, pp. 48-49 (another impression ill.).
G. Woll, The Complete Graphic Works, Oslo & London, 2012, no. 37, p. 62 (another impression ill.).
In his best prints – and arguably more so than in his paintings – Munch perfectly matched medium and content and created highly condensed images, which are visually as succinct as they are complex. Self-Portrait is reduced to four elements charged with meaning: the right skeleton arm alludes to the hand of the artist, whilst presaging his inevitable death; his pale, disembodied face hovers on a dark surface, calling to mind a death mask, as well as that first of all prints, the veil of Veronica with the face of Christ; the inscription of the artist’s name and the date of the print at the top mimics the entablature of a tombstone, a reference also to the lithographic stone; and finally the intense, velvety black of the background, the colour of mourning, signifying eternal night.
The present second state is the definitive version of Edvard Munch’s Self-Portrait. In the first, unfinished state the background is still patchy, without the impenetrable blackness. In the third and fourth states, the skeleton arm and the inscription at the top are obliterated, thus losing all the memento mori connotations, which make this image one of the most chilling yet touching self-portraits of modern art – reminiscent in essence, if not in spirit or style, to James Ensor’s Mon portrait en 1960 (also in the Hegewisch Collection).
The present impression is printed on a greyish card, which over time always takes on a greenish hue. It is a particularly effective support for this subject, compared to the European white or yellowish Japan papers Munch sometimes used for this print, as it adds to the 'unhealthy' and doomed aspect of the sitter.
JAMES ENSOR (1860-1949)
Les Péchés Capitaux (The Deadly Sins)
the rare complete set of eight etchings with handcolouring in watercolour, goauche and crayon 1888-1904 on simili-Japan paper unsigned the colours fresh and bright printed by Jean-Baptiste van Campenhout, Brussels, 1904 with the original foreword by Eugène Demolder with wide margins some light- and mount staining, otherwise in good condition Plates 9,8 x 15 cm. (3√ x 6 in.) (and similar) Sheets 16 x 25,1 cm. (6º x 9√) (and similar) (8)
£60,000-80,000
US$82,000-110,000
€70,000-92,000
PROVENANCE:
Kurt Sponagel-Hirzel (1887-1961), Zurich (Lugt 2929a) (with his inventory number in pencil verso); Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, 3-7 December 1965, lot 969. Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 15 June 2007, lot 33. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
LITERATURE:
L. Delteil, Le Peintre-Graveur Illustré (XIXe et XXe Siècles) - Tome XIX: Henri Leys - Henri de Braekeleer - James Ensor, Paris, 1925, nos. 59, 119, 121-126 (other impressions ill.).
A. Croquez, L'œuvre gravé de James Ensor, Paris, 1935, nos. 59, 119, 121-126 (other impressions ill.).
A. Taevernier, James Ensor - catalogue illustré de ses gravures, leur description critique et l'inventaire des plaques, Ghent, 1973, nos. 59, 119, 121-126.
J. Elesh, James Ensor - The Complete Graphic Work, The Illustrated Bartsch, New York, 1982, nos. 59, 124, 126-131, Vol. 141 pp.106-107, 231-232, 235-246 (other impressions ill.); Vol. 141 Commentary pp. 157, 238, 240-245.
X. Tricot, James Ensor. The Complete Prints, F. Deceuninck, Roeselare, 2010, nos. 47, 119-125, pp. 20-21, 98-99, 227-235, 287, 296-297 (other impressions ill.).
The subject of the seven deadly sins has long captivated artists, most famously Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel, whose fantastical and grotesque imagery deeply influenced James Ensor. Ensor's Les Péchés Capitaux is a powerful exploration of this theme and a crucial work of his printed oeuvre, which is defined by a savage critique and satire of the immorality and corruption of the society of his time. As the Belgian writer and art critic Eugène Demolder (1862-1919) noted in the preface to the series (included with the present lot), 'James Ensor mixes in the brutality of devilry. Ferociously, he gives us the face of his contemporaries in the merciless mirror of his irony. He has no pity. He makes nothing pretty. With mocking realism he heightens ugliness and hideous features' (quoted in and transl. in: Tricot, 2010, p. 20).
Ensor began the series in 1888 with his etching of Lust, returning over a decade later to complete the remaining six sins and a frontispiece between 1902 and 1904. The full set, published in 1904, comprises: La Luxure ('Lust'), La Paresse ('Sloth'), La Colère ('Anger'), L’Orgueil ('Pride'), L’Avarice ('Avarice'), La Gourmandise ('Gluttony'), L’Envie ('Envy'), and Les Péchés Capitaux dominés par la Mort ('The Deadly Sins dominated by Death'). Each composition is teeming with intricate detail, including grotesque monsters, flying skeletons, and vivid scenes of violence, all brought to life through Ensor’s expressive use of hand-colouring.
Ensor's hand-coloured etchings are rare and were usually created adhoc for select patrons and collectors. The series Les Péchés Capitaux was unusual in that it was made available for purchase upon publication either hand-coloured for 50 francs or uncoloured for 20 francs per set. Although the artist himself noted that he was particularly pleased with the hand-coloured etchings of Les Péchés Capitaux, complete handcoloured sets are exceptionally rare.
Demolder remarked that 'These luscious etchings have a particularly singular brilliance when they are coloured. They acquire warm, gilded tones that make them particularly precious' (ibid.). Tricot further notes that each hand-coloured etching can be considered a unique work, as they are transformed by the extensive reworking and application of colour into paintings akin to medieval miniatures. The hand-colouring of the present set is notably vibrant, featuring luminous applications of yellows, blues, reds, and striking white highlights. In the elaborate frontispiece, the personifications of the seven sins are crowded together beneath the commanding figure of Death, whose gleaming white skull with a triumphant grin and orange wings dominate the scene; here, the application of colour enhances not only the visual impact but also the legibility of the complex composition.
This particular set was once part of the collection of Swiss entrepreneur and collector Kurt Sponagel-Hirzel (1887–1961). While part of his fine graphic collection was gifted to the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich in 1959, a further part, including the present set, was sold in his posthumous sale in 1965. It is very rare for handcoloured sets of Les Péchés Capitaux to survive intact; only two other complete examples have appeared at auction in the past thirty years.
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MAX BECKMANN (1884-1950)
Selbstporträt mit Krankenpflegeruniform und Autobrille
signed, dated and inscribed Beckmann Lille 15 (lower left) reed pen and ink on paper 15 x 12,1 cm. (5√ x 4æ in.)
Executed in Lille on 3 April 1915
£40,000-60,000
US$55,000-81,000
€47,000-69,000
PROVENANCE: Reinhard Piper (1879-1953), Munich; probably acquired directly from the artist.
Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 10 June 2004, lot 36. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Munich, Neue Pinakothek, Max Beckmann - Selbstbildnisse, Zeichnung und Druckgraphik, November 2000 - January 2001, no. 23, pp. 126-127 (ill.; titled 'Selbstbildnis mit Krankenpflegeruniform und Autobrille'); this exhibition later travelled to Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, February - May 2001.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann - Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, Part I, November 2005 - February 2006, no. 10, pp. 34-35 (ill.) & 157 (titled 'Selbstbildnis mit Krankenpflegeruniform und Autobrille').
St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, Max Beckmann – Works from Museum and Private Collections of Hamburg and Lübeck, November 2007 – January 2008, no. 11, p. 62 (ill.).
Berlin, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Kassandra - Visionen des Unheils 1914-1945, November 2008 - February 2009, no. III 3 / 26, pp. 22-23 (ill.) & 184 (titled 'Selbstbildnis mit Krankenpflegeruniform und Autobrille').
LITERATURE:
R. Piper, Nachmittag - Erinnerungen eines Verlegers, Munich, 1950, p. 15 (ill.; titled 'Selbstbildnis').
R. Piper, Mein Leben als Verleger - Vormittag, Nachmittag, Munich, 1964, p. 319 (ill.; titled 'Selbstbildnis').
S. von Wiese, Max Beckmanns zeichnerisches Werk, 1903-1925, Dusseldorf, 1978, no. 258, pp. 201 (ill.) & 203.
F. Erpel, Max Beckmann - Leben im Werk - Die Selbstbildnisse, Berlin, 1985, no. 47 (ill.; titled 'Selbstbildnis, als Krankenpfleger, mit Autobrille').
M. Beckmann, Briefe, vol. 1, 1899-1925, Munich, 1993, no. 107, pp. 113-114.
At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Max Beckmann volunteered to serve in the medical corps for the German army. Executed on 3 April 1915 in Lille, where the artist was stationed, Selbstporträt mit Krankenpflegeruniform und Autobrille is a searing documentation of his experiences. In this striking selfportrait, Beckmann depicts himself in his military uniform: his Red Cross brassard, which identifies him as medical personnel, can be glimpsed around his right arm. Beckmann eschews any sort of hollow glorification of the war, or false sense of heroism. Instead, he remains true to his steadfast, characteristic pursuit of artistic objectivity in depicting the subject represented. Yet, with his dynamic, frenetic strokes and his challenging, jaded expression, the composition seems to betray the deep emotional turmoil he was experiencing less than one year into the war.
Selbstporträt mit Krankenpflegeruniform und Autobrille is directly referenced in a letter Beckmann wrote to his wife, Minna BeckmannTube, the day it was created. In his letter he describes the chaos of the war-torn city, the stench of corpses permeating its ravaged streets, and the sounds of cannon fire thundering overhead – comparing the scene to the Biblical Judgement Day. And yet, amid the calamity of the shouting soldiers and ruined buildings, he was able to consecrate a few moments to art, producing the present work under ‘the harsh glow of an electric light’ (Letter to Minna Beckmann-Tube, 3 April 1915, quoted in Max Beckmann, exh. cat., Hamburg, 2006, p. 34). Pendent above Beckmann’s head, a small lightbulb’s brilliance is rendered through the absence of pigment, as the artist powerfully explores the effects of light and shadow. This charged chiaroscuro endows the composition with striking intensity, speaking to the destabilising reality of war.
This work will be included into the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Max Beckmann's drawings, currently compiled by Hedda Finke and Stephan von Wiese.
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MAX BECKMANN (1884-1950)
Selbstbildnis mit steifem Hut ('Self-Portrait in Bowler Hat')
drypoint
1921 on laid Römerturm Antique paper signed in pencil, inscribed Selbstportrait 1921 (Probedruck) selbst gedruckt
a trial proof of the third state (of four), before the edition of fifty a very fine impression printing with a light tone, inky plate edges and studio traces with wide margins scattered foxing in the margins
Plate 31,5 x 24,5 cm. (13Ω x 9æ in.)
Sheet 51 x 32,8 cm. (20 x 13 in.)
£40,000-60,000
US$55,000-81,000
€47,000-69,000
PROVENANCE:
Reinhard Piper (1879-1953), Munich (see Lugt 5594; without his mark); acquired directly from the artist.
Private Collection; Villa Grisebach, Berlin, Max BeckmannZwanzig Selbstbildnisse - Eine Privatsammlung, 30 November 2007, lot 61.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
LITERATURE:
J. Hofmaier, Max Beckmann - Catalogue raisonnée of his Prints, Bern, 1990, vol. II, no. 180 III A, pp. 470-474 (this impression cited).
Max Beckmann was only seventeen years old when he made his first printed self-portrait, depicting himself as an isolated, screaming head (Hofmaier 2). His last, showing a man in late middle age wearing a beret, came 62 years later. In the intervening 45 years he returned to his own likeness as a subject no fewer than 35 times, rivalling Rembrandt as possibly the greatest self-portraitist in the history of printmaking. Beckmann employed all three techniques - drypoint, lithography and woodcut - at various times, but it was the powerful immediacy of drypoint, whereby the image is scratched directly into the metal plate, that suited his purposes best.
Selbstbildnis mit steifem Hut ('Self-Portrait with Bowler Hat') is arguably his greatest achievement as a printmaker and portraitist. Not unlike Rembrandt, who frequently made sweeping changes to his large drypoints, Beckmann radically revised the plate by adding and burnishing out entire elements of the composition. The result is a dark, heavily worked and powerful image. Superficially Beckmann appears a dandy - urbane and seemingly confident - yet his eyes are full of doubt
and unease. As well as a character study, this self-portrait encapsulates the contradictions and uncertainties of the Weimar Republic, the haunting memories, the sense of foreboding, the decadence, defiance and elegance. In the print medium, Beckmann's Selbstbildnis mit steifem Hut is one of the most poignant images of the inter-war years, and one of the great self-portraits of the 20th century.
The first and second states exist only in four proof impressions in total, all of which are in public collections. In these trial proofs, Beckmann presents himself inside a garret room, perhaps his studio, with a bright, conical lamp behind him and a cat on his arm. In the present third state, he has burnished out most of the surroundings and placed the cat behind him at left. The blank background still shows many faint remnants of the previous composition, which are eradicated in the fourth, final state. Hofmaier records only five trial proofs of the third state, including the present one from the collection of Beckmann's publisher Reinhard Piper, printed by the artist by hand before the first edition. It is thus the earliest iteration of this print still to be obtainable.
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MAX BECKMANN (1884-1950)
Die Hölle
the set of eleven lithographs 1919 on simili-Japan paper each signed and titled in pencil a rare, complete but composite set nine plates numbered 18/75, plate 7 numbered 68/75, plate 10 numbered 69/75 (fifty sets were to be sold as complete portfolios, the remaining 25 sold individually) published by I. B. Neumann, Berlin, 1919 with the original front cover, set into a later grey linen portfolio the full sheets or with wide margins some minor defects, the cover worn, generally in good condition Images 71,5 x 51 cm. (28 x 20 in.) (and smaller) Sheets 87 x 62 cm. (34º x 24Ω in.) (and similar)
Overall 100,5 x 71 cm. (39æ x 28 in.) (portfolio) (11)
£150,000-250,000
US$210,000-340,000
€180,000-290,000
PROVENANCE:
Ten plates acquired circa 1955-59 in Germany; plate 8 acquired from Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, in 1998; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
London, Hayward Gallery, Neue Sachlichkeit and German Realism of the Twenties, December 1978 – January 1979.
Stockholm, Moderna Museet, Wem gehört die Welt - Vems är världen? Kultur och samhälle under Weimarrepubliken, February – April, 1979.
Hamburg, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Der Zeichner und Grafiker Max Beckmann, September – November 1979; this exhibition later travelled to Darmstadt, Kunstverein, January – February 1980.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann - Berliner Reise, February –March 1984 (Pl. 6 only).
Ingelheim, Museum-Altes-Rathaus, Der Traum von einer neuen Welt, Berlin 1910-1933, April – June 1989.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann – Menschenorchester, August – November 1998.
Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus, Max Beckmann, Krieg. Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik 1913-1919, November 2000 – January 2001, nos. 37-48; this exhibition later travelled to Berlin, Kathe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin, January –March 2001.
Frankfurt, Städtische Galerie, Such is Life, Max Beckmann, May – August 2001. Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann - Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, Part II: March - August 2006, no. 20, pp. 70-82, pl. 36-46 (ill.) & pp. 162-163.
St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, Max Beckmann – Works from Museum and Private Collections of Hamburg and Lübeck, November 2007 –January 2008, nos. 45-55, pp. 96-106 (ill.).
LITERATURE:
J. Hofmaier, Max Beckmann - Catalogue raisonnée of his Prints, Bern, 1990, vol. I, no. 139-149, pp. 379-401.
F. Carey & A. Griffiths, The Print in Germany 1880-1933 - The Age of Expressionism, exh. cat., British Museum, London, 1984, no. 149, pp. 174-175 (pl. 2 only; another impression ill.).
N. Nobis, Max Beckmann - Prints - Works from the Collection of the Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover 1999, no. 103-115, pp. 12, 86-95 (other impressions ill.).
Die Hölle ('Hell') is, in the words of Frances Carey and Antony Griffiths, 'Beckmann's most ambitious and sustained achievement in narrative printmaking' (Carey & Griffiths, p. 174). In complete sets, it is also the rarest of his great print series. Begun around 10 May 1919, six months after the end of first World War almost to the day, the set comprises eleven transfer lithographs, including a self-portrait which served as a frontispiece. Given the complexity and almost monumental size of these prints, the largest Beckmann ever created, it is worth describing them briefly one by one:
Plate 1: Self-Portrait shows the artist, possibly at work, looking wideeyed and disturbed, with a furrowed brow and messy cropped hair. The image is also used on the front cover, where it is accompanied by two sarcastic inscriptions by the artist: Hell. A great spectacle in 10 pictures by Beckmann; and below the image: We beg our esteemed public to step forward. You have the pleasant prospect that perhaps for ten minutes you won't be bored. Anyone who is not delighted will get his money back. (quoted and transl. ibid.).
Plate 2: The Way Home includes another portrait of the artist, wearing a bowler hat (see also lot 330). He is seen walking the streets at night, speaking to a beggar with a facial injury, who has lost an eye and his lower arm. In the background, other figures with war injuries and walking on crutches are discernible under the street lamps.
Plate 3: The Street shows a crowded scene with a great variety of people milling about the city in bright sunshine: men wearing bowler hats and suits or overcoats, a man without hands and legs in a wheelchair, a downcast looking man and an elderly woman with glaring eyes, a student playing a flute, a blind man, a young man in a jester-like costume and in the background two women observing the street life from a window.
Plate 4: The Martyrdom is another street scene at night. Here a woman with her arms stretched out to the sides, reminiscent of Christ's descent from the Cross, is assaulted by several men with a shotgun and the butt of a rifle. Her attackers are militia-men, a general with starred epaulettes, and a smiling, bald man wearing a dinner jacket and tartan trousers. In the background, a car is waiting to take her away.
It has been established that the image follows the account of the murder of the socialist theoretician and activist Rosa Luxemburg (18711919), published in Die Rote Fahne on 12 February 1919, a month after she was killed and thrown into the Landwehrkanal in Berlin, and three months before Beckman began working on this series (see Hofmaier, no. 142, p. 386).
Plate 5: Hunger depicts a family, including one child (presumably the artist's son Peter) seated around a dinner table, praying. At the centre of the table is a single bowl of sardines or whitebait and half a bread bun.
Plate 6: The Ideologists is a dense and confusing composition of a number of people, collage-like thrown together in an undefined interior. Each person, both men and women, seem to be thinking or declaring an opinion, but no one is listening to any of the others. Some of the characters have been tentatively identified as known intellectuals of the time (see Hofmaier, no. 144, p. 390).
Plate 7: Night shows a gruesome scene in a garret at night: a man and a woman, in the presence of their child, are hung, tortured and abused by a gang of burglars or political thugs. The print is closely related to a painting, now at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westphalen, Düsseldorf, which Beckmann had painted between August 1918 and March 1919.
Plate 8: Malepartus was the name of a nightclub in Frankfurt. The print depicts a number of couples in glamorous evening dress on the dancefloor, a bottle and some glasses in the foreground, two guitarists and a violin player are seen in an alcove above the dancers.
Plate 9: The Patriotic Song is played on a harmonica and a violin to a small group of people gathered around a table. It is a miserable-looking party, too tired or drunk to pay attention, including two unshaven men still wearing remnants of a soldier's uniform. On the table are two cups decorated with the Prussian armorial eagle.
Plate 10: The Last Ones is a confusing scene of a street combat. A group of men are aiming their rifles and a machine gun out of a garret window, while two lie injured or dead on the floor, one with his bowels exposed. The title suggests that this is the last stand of a revolutionary uprising.
Plate 11: The Family concludes the series with a domestic scene and another self-portrait. Beckmann depicts himself together with his mother-in-law, Minna Tube-Römpler, and his son Peter in a room.
The child wears a tin army helmet and joyously plays with two hand grenades. Beckmann, smartly dressed, glares at the boy and seems to tell him off, while Minna raises her hands in a plea for peace amongst father and son.
The prints are not strictly rectangular, but have slanted or jagged edges, with elements of the composition protruding beyond the borderlines, seemingly bursting out of the picture plane. Within these claustrophobic spaces, the rules of perspective are broken and the spatial relations between figures, buildings and objects undefined. Referring to the painting Die Nacht, which may have given Beckmann the inspiration to the whole series, Olaf Peters described this manner insightfully as 'eine zeitgemäße Kombination aus spätmittelalterlichem Detailfanatismus und kubistischer Raumerfahrung' ('a timely combination of late medieval detail-fanaticism and a cubist perception of space') and summarized the effect as 'schmerzhafte anschauliche Erfahrung' ('a painful visual experience') (O. Peters, 'Auf tönernen Füßen - Max Beckmann und Rudolf Schlichter zwischen den Weltkriegen', in: S. Heckmann & H. Ottomeyer (eds.), Kassandra - Visionen des Unheils 1914-1945, exh. cat., Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, November 2008 - February 2009, p. 89). This defines precisely the formal language Beckmann had developed for his grandiose, inexorable graphic essay on the state of Germany immediately after the war. Die Hölle is indeed, as Carey and Griffiths phrased it, 'an appalling picture of a society in collapse' - a picture which proved no less accurate and timely for many years to come.
λ*332
FERNAND LÉGER (1881-1955)
Le Fumeur
pencil on paper
32 x 24,4 cm. (12¬ x 9¬ in.)
Drawn circa 1921
£180,000-250,000
US$250,000-340,000
€210,000-290,000
PROVENANCE:
Nadia Léger (1904-1982), Vitebsk, Warsaw & Paris; by descent from the artist in 1955, until at least 1972.
Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 4 April 1979, lot 250. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Biot, Musée Fernand Léger, on long term loan from Nadia Léger. Marseille, Musée Cantini, Fernand Léger, June - August 1966, no. 28 (titled 'Étude pour Le fumeur'; with incorrect medium).
Baden-Baden, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Fernand Léger - Peintures, gouaches, dessins, June - September 1967, no. 39 (ill.; titled 'Étude pour Le fumeur').
Dusseldorf, Städtische Kunsthalle, Fernand Léger, December 1969 - February 1970, no. 119, p. 25 (titled 'Étude pour Le fumeur').
Paris, Grand Palais, Fernand Léger, October 1971 - January 1972, no. 295, pp. 166 & 176 (ill.; titled 'Étude pour le fumeur').
Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Fernand Léger, May - September 1997, no. 2, p. 104 (ill.); this exhibition later travelled to Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, October 1997 - January 1998, p. 184 (ill.); and New York, The Museum of Modern Art, February - May 1998, p. 192 (ill.).
LITERATURE:
J. Cassou & J. Leymarie, Fernand Léger - Dessins et gouaches, Paris, 1972, no. 86, pp. 70-71 (ill.).
B. Chaet, The Art of Drawing, New York, 1983, no. 46, pp. 36-37 (ill.; titled 'Study for The Smoker').
P. de Francia, Fernand Léger, London, 1983, fig. 7.26, pp. 146 & 149 (ill.).
Drawn by Fernand Léger circa 1921, Le Fumeur is a striking rendering of a sophisticated seated figure. Positioned in front of a backdrop of crisply interlocking geometric forms, the titular protagonist’s cigar rests in his right hand, its smoke billowing into a plume of amorphic clouds, partially obscuring the man’s face. With his still visible right eye, he stares piercingly out at the viewer. He sports a highly formal style of attire; a waistcoat is glimpsed from beneath a notched lapel dinner jacket, while a top hat is cradled on his lap. Enthroned on a low-backed armchair, with his right leg draped over his left, and his left forearm laying across the armrest, he exudes a suave air of dignity. Yet, Le Fumeur pulsates with a thrumming sense of mystery and anticipation, evoked by the gentleman’s imposing, statuesque form, his direct, unflinching gaze, and the clenched grip of his left hand on the arm of his chair. This feeling of tension is amplified by Léger’s fragmentary, geometric, construction of overall form and figure, through which he imbued the composition with a palpable dynamism. Retained in the artist’s collection throughout his life, Le Fumeur was inherited by Léger’s second wife Nadia. A testament to its importance, it was exhibited on long-term loan to the Musée National Fernand Léger in Biot.
Le Fumeur dates to a key transitional period in Léger’s oeuvre, as the artist’s style evolved through his so-called Mechanical Period, and he began to return to the human form. This transformation was Léger’s response to the rappel à l’ordre – the renaissance of classical ideals and figuration in visual art that sparked in Paris in the wake of the First World War. He remained steadfast to his basic principle of seeking contrasts in forms, but he now pursued these ideas in a different context, in which harmony and order supplanted dissonance. Léger
became increasingly interested in the value of tradition, and he now strove in his art for the permanence of the classical and humanistic ideals that informed the great and enduring art of the past. He was keen on making his own significant statement, a monumental art, in which he would unite the order of classicism with modern life. The present work encapsulates this harmonisation of tradition and modernity; the protagonist’s stately dress reflecting the former, while the machinelike precision of the tubular cylinders and planar geometric forms that constitute his person invoke the latter. The crisp delineation of the backdrop, and the intersecting horizontal and vertical panels are redolent of the De Stijl works of Piet Mondrian, as well as eliciting comparison with blueprints of industrial design.
Over the course of the 1920s, Léger increasingly championed the concept of objecthood, exalting the formal plastic values of each object. His interest was galvanised by the development of cinema and film-making technology, which enabled everyday objects and items to be viewed with a fresh perspective. Léger was particularly struck by the 'close-up', and felt that there was a compelling potency in the individualisation of a fragment of the larger whole. Reflecting on the revelatory capacity of cinema, the artist declared, ‘Before I saw it in film, I did not know what a hand was! The object by itself is capable of becoming something absolute, moving, and dramatic’ (quoted in: Fernand Léger, 1911-1924: The Rhythm of Modern Life, exh. cat., Munich, 1994, p. 165). Le Fumeur heralds the artist’s radical translation of the power of cinema into graphic art, and, as Léger deconstructs the human protagonist into an assembly of unique parts, he unveils the dramatic potential of the object, exploring the relationship between the animate and the inanimate.
signed with the artist's monogram and dated 1933 (centre right) silverpoint on primed paper 52 x 41 cm. (20Ω x 16¿ in.)
Executed in 1933
£60,000-80,000
US$82,000-110,000
€70,000-92,000
PROVENANCE:
Galerie Pels-Leusden, Berlin.
Acquired by 1971; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Otto Dix - Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Graphik, December 1966 - January 1967, no. 162, pl. 72 (ill.; with incorrect dimensions); this exhibition later travelled to Frankfurt, Kunstverein, February - March 1967.
Stuttgart, Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart, Otto Dix zum 80. Geburtstag: Gemälde, Aquarelle, Gouachen, Zeichnungen, Radierfolge 'Der Krieg', OctoberNovember 1971, no. 252, pp. 172 & 180 (ill.; with incorrect dimensions).
Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Otto Dix: Peintures, aquarelles, gouaches, dessins et gravures du cycle de 'La guerre', FebruaryApril 1972, no. 122, pp. 86 & 98 (ill.; with incorrect dimensions).
Hamburg, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Otto Dix - Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Grafiken, Kartons, April - June 1977, no. 166, pp. 20 (ill.) & 134 (titled 'Selbstporträt').
Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Les Réalismes: entre révolution et réaction, 1919-1939, December 1980 - April 1981, p. 6 (ill. in reverse); this exhibition later travelled to Berlin, Staatliche Kunsthalle, May - June 1981, no. 141, p. 116 (ill.). Stuttgart, Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart, Otto Dix - Menschenbilder: Gemälde, Aquarelle, Gouachen und Zeichnungen, December 1981 - January 1982, no. 117, p. 112 (with incorrect dimensions).
Munich, Museum Villa Stuck, Otto Dix, August - October 1985, no. 171, pp. 86 (ill.) & 305 (with incorrect dimensions).
Saint-Paul de Vence, Fondation Maeght, Otto Dix: Metropolis, July - October 1998, no. 155, p. 182 (ill.; titled 'Selbstporträt', with incorrect medium). Paris, Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Otto Dix: Dessins d'une guerre à l'autre, January - March 2003, no. 44, pp. 96 (ill.) & 140. Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, The 1930s: The Making of 'The New Man', June - September 2008, no. 120, pp. 241 (ill.) & 392.
LITERATURE:
D. Schmidt, Otto Dix im Selbstbildnis, Berlin, 1981, no. 90, pp. 130-131 (ill.) & 295 (with incorrect dimensions).
M. Freitag & M. Flügge, 'Kunst und Verkennerschaft - Otto Dix, die Ausstellungen, einige Exegeten', in: Neue bildende Kunst, vols. I & II, Berlin, 1992, p. 4 (ill.; with incorrect dimensions).
U. Lorenz, Otto Dix - Das Werkverzeichnis der Zeichnungen und Pastelle, vol. IV, Bonn, 2002, no. IE 1.1.3, p. 1493 (ill.; with incorrect dimensions).
Selbstbildnis 1933 was executed the same year the artist was dismissed as Professor of Painting at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts - an affront he had anticipated with the rise to power of the Nazis and their condemnation of ‘degenerate’ art.
In this charged self-portrait, Dix portrays his gaze as both defiant and suspicious, knowing yet determined. He includes a scar near the throat, which shows up emphatically against the plainness of his artist’s smock. This is doubtless evidence of the neck wound he received during the First World War, starkly exposed as if in a silent rebuke to those who would doubt his honour, service and personal bravery.
The present work departs from the satirical Neue Sachlichkeit style that had been denounced by the country’s fascist regime, who castigated the movement’s unflinching images of the Weimar Republic’s social realities. Instead, it recalls the realism that inhered in Germany’s artistic heritage, the meticulous anatomical accuracy and craftsmanship of Renaissance masters such as Albrecht Dürer, Matthias Grünewald and Hans Holbein. Dix’s masterful handling as well as his use and placement of the monogram in Selbstbildnis 1933 evokes an homage to these great virtuosi.
Like Dürer before him, Dix uses silverpoint, an uncommon and unforgiving medium for the period, where the resulting mark-making must be confident and, as a result, scrupulously painstaking. This is evident in the forward-combed hair, the individual straggling hairs on the eyebrows and at the base of the neck, as well as in the wrinkles of the forehead and the incipient chin bristles, while the exuberant crosshatching of the cheekbone adds a sharpness and a bruised nobility to the profile. These initially silver-coloured marks oxidise with exposure to air to become warmer in tone, so that the artist would have been fully conscious of the portrait’s maturation over time. No doubt Dix believed that like this image, like his reputation would strengthen as history unfurled.
Melancholy
ALBRECHT DÜRER (1471-1528)
Melencolia I
engraving 1514
on laid paper, without watermark a fine, tonal impression, Meder II b-c printing sharply and clearly, with good contrasts and depth a narrow margin above, trimmed to or outside the borderline elsewhere generally in good condition
Sheet 24,1 x 18,8 cm. (9Ω x 7¡ in.)
£100,000-150,000
US$140,000-200,000
€120,000-170,000
PROVENANCE:
Francis Calley Gray (1790-1856), Cambridge, Massachusetts (Lugt 4836; inscribed 1097).
Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; with their duplicate stamp verso (Lugt 4835); by bequest from the above, inscribed by the conservator of the museum Edward Hale Greenleaf in pencil verso (see Lugt 5207); their sale, Christie's, London, 1 December 1987, lot 9.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Verhext – Phantastische Graphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, November 1997 – March 1998. Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mit dem inneren Auge sehen –Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, September 2016 – January 2017, no. 8, pp. 34 (ill.) & 75.
LITERATURE:
A. von Bartsch, Le Peintre Graveur, Vienna, vol. VII, 1808, no. 74, pp. 42-43.
J. Meder, Dürer-Katalog, Vienna, 1932, no. 75, pp.100-101.
F. W. H. Hollstein, German Engravings Etchings and Woodcuts, CA. 14001700, Albrecht and Hans Dürer, Amsterdam, 1962, no. 75, pp. 70-71 (another impression ill.).
W. L. Strauss (ed.), The Illustrated Bartsch, Vol. 10, New York, 1980, no. 74, p. 66 (another impression ill.).
R. Schoch, M. Mende & A. Scherbaum, Albrecht Dürer, Das druckgraphische Werk, Munich, vol. I, 2001, (Kupferstiche, Eisenradierungen und Kaltnadelblätter), no. 71, pp. 179-185 (another impression ill.).
A bat hovers in the night sky above a coastal landscape, strangely illuminated by a comet and a rainbow, with the title of the print written across the spread wings of the creature: MELENCOLIA I. Below, in a mysterious and cluttered place, sits a female winged figure, holding a pair of compasses and a closed book. Perched next to her on a millstone is a winged putto, scribbling on a tablet. Before them lies a sleeping dog. Scattered around the figure is a variety of tools and mysterious objects, including a syringe, an oil lamp, a melting pot, scales, an hour glass, a bell, a numerical table and two geometrical shapes, a sphere and a large multi-faceted rock. On one side of this rock, like a slightly distorted reflection, we faintly see the image of a human skull. A ladder is leaning against the building which, together with the carpenter's tools, a saw, a plane, some nails, a ruler, gives the scene the appearance of a building site. Some of these objects are familiar symbols, which recur in other prints by Dürer: the sphere as a symbol of chance or fate; the scales a symbol of justice; and the skull and hour-glass, which appear as memento mori also in Knight, Death and the Devil (lot 341). The meaning of many of the other objects however is less evident, and attempts to 'solve the riddle' of this labyrinthine composition by offering one unified interpretation remain unconvincing.
The print is one of the artist’s three so-called Meisterstiche (‘master engravings’), created between 1513-1514, which are widely considered the pinnacle of the artist’s mastery of the graphic medium. It is thought that the three engravings, Melencolia I, Death, Knight and the Devil and Saint Jerome in his Study each represent one of three forms of virtuous living - intellectual, moral and theological - as outlined in Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae (written circa 1265–1274 but published in 1485). In Dürer's time, the nature of a virtuous life, and by extension of the ideal ‘Renaissance man’, was a popular topic of conversation in literary and artistic circles. Dürer himself was surrounded and no doubt inspired by the Nuremberg humanists, above all by his friend Willibald Pirckheimer. Treatises such as Machiavelli’s The Prince (1513) and Castiglione’s The Courtier (1528) give testimony of the intellectual culture and the moral questions of the time. The rich symbolism of Dürer's engraving embodies the complexity of humanist thought in the Renaissance period, and therein may lie the true purpose of the print: it is open to interpretation, deliberately inviting speculation and debate.
Although Dürer gave his most famous engraving a rather unambiguous title, it has become the most extensively interpreted work in the history of western art. An allegory of melancholy, the details of its iconography have intrigued and inspired countless art historians and other scholars of all fields, including mathematicians, theologians and astronomers. In Dürer's time, the melancholic temperament was associated with genius and the pursuit of knowledge. If Saint Jerome in his Study and Melencolia I are indeed companion pieces, and Saint Jerome represents the knowledge of ancient texts, then Melencolia I stands for a new and different kind of knowledge - that of empirical, applied science. The ruler, the scale and the pair of compasses are all measuring devices, instruments for the examination of nature. The building tools and the melting pot on the other hand are symbols of human creativity. In this interpretation, the comet represents the limits of human understanding of the world, and hence a cause of melancholy and despair for a speculative mind. For the artists of the Renaissance, with Leonardo and Dürer as prime examples, the observation and comprehension of the natural world was the foundation of their art. They saw themselves as artists as well as scientists, and in this sense Melencolia I could be described as an allegorical portrait of the artist.
ODILON REDON (1840-1916)
Penseur (Homme nu dans un paysage)
signed and dated ODILON REDON 1874 (lower right) charcoal and pen and India ink on buff paper 34,1 x 28,3 cm. (13¡ x 11¿ in.)
Executed in 1874
£40,000-60,000
US$55,000-81,000
€47,000-69,000
PROVENANCE:
Jules Tannery (1848-1919), Paris; probably a gift from the artist in 1874; then by descent until 1986.
Christie’s, London, 25 March 1986, lot 204.
Galerie Jan Krugier & Cie., Geneva; acquired at the above sale.
Private collection; acquired from the above in 1991; Christie’s, New York, 15 May 1997, lot 220.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mit dem inneren Auge sehen –Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, September 2016 – January 2017, no. 36, pp. 46 (ill.) & 77 (titled ‘Der Denker - Mann in einer Landschaft’, and with incorrect medium).
LITERATURE:
Odilon Redon, exh. cat., National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1989, fig. 1, p. 41 (ill.; titled 'Man in a Landscape' and with incorrect medium).
D. Druick (ed.), Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams, exh. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1994, fig. 22, p. 84 (ill.; titled 'Pensaroso' and with incorrect medium).
A. Wildenstein, Odilon Redon - Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint et dessiné, vol. II, Mythes et légendes, Paris, 1994, no. 837, p. 47 (ill.; with incorrect medium).
In Odilon Redon’s Penseur (Homme nu dans un paysage), an unclothed figure sits alone with his thoughts in the shade of a tree, possibly acting as a projection of the artist’s own tendency towards conflicted introspection. Such deeply felt sentiments arose from his experiences serving in the army during the Franco-Prussian war. The present work was executed just a few years after his discharge, while he was staying on his beloved family estate at Perylebade in the Gironde. It prefigures Rodin’s now famous sculpture, Le Penseur, by a few decades, and the pose presented may have been inspired by Michelangelo’s sculptures for the tomb of Lorenzo de Medici in Florence, or the imagined figure of Orpheus, treated several times by Redon, notably in his later drawing Le désespoir d’Orphée (Wildenstein, no. 880; Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt).
With his legs crossed, and his head in his hand, the figure appears metaphorically darkened by his emotions of fretfulness and selfreproof. His nakedness suggests both his consonance with nature but also his vulnerability within it. He rests in front of a flat-topped rock, reminiscent of an overturned and overgrown tombstone. And yet, the setting is Arcadian, one in which wildflowers bloom, and the sun, ever the symbol of the glory of France, blazes with brilliance behind the tree in the background, suggesting that consolation and hope are at hand with the promise of a new day.
Redon was considered the preeminent artist of the inner world of the imagination, a Symbolist for whom fantasy, dream, myth and legend were fuelled by self-scrutiny and the ferment of the subconscious. This preoccupation finds its perfect expression in the ink and charcoal medium, learned from his friend and teacher, the printmaker Rodolphe Bresdin. Thus the vaporous haziness and textural quality of the markmaking in Penseur powerfully accentuate the portrayal of the subject’s psychological unrest.
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
Le repas frugal etching
1904 on wove paper
unsigned a very fine, rich and dark impression one of a few impressions printed before the plate was steel-faced some staining, discolouration and two tears in the margins
Plate 46 x 37,8 cm. (18¿ x 14√ in.)
Sheet 58,3 x 43,9 cm. (23 x 17º in.)
£1,500,000-2,500,000
US$2,100,000-3,400,000
€1,800,000-2,900,000
PROVENANCE:
Private European collection; Christie's, New York, 11 May 1982, lot 419. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Picasso - Der Blinde Minotaurus - Die Sammlung Hegewisch in der Hamburger Kunsthalle, p. 17 (ill.) & pp. 75-76. Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des KünstlersDruckgraphik und vorbereitende Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, March – October 1999 and March – October 2000, p. 73 (ill.) & p.106. Oslo, Munchmuseet, Pablo Picasso - Den blinde Minotaurus - grafikk og tegning, November 2002 - February 2003 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus, Pablo Picasso - Der Stier und das MädchenMeisterblätter aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, June - October 2010, no. 2 (ill.), p. 110.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mit dem inneren Auge sehen - Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, September 2016 - January 2017, no. 25, p. 59 (ill.) & p. 76.
LITERATURE:
G. Bloch, Catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé et lithographé 1904-1967, Bern, 1968, vol. I, no. 1, p. 20 (another impression ill.).
B. Baer & B. Geiser, Picasso – Peintre-Graveur, Bern, 1990, no. 2 II a, pp. 18-20 (another impression ill.).
‘The allegory of the blinded man has pursued Picasso throughout his life like a shadow as though reproaching him for his unique gift of vision’
ROLAND PENROSE
Le repas frugal is Picasso’s second etching, created when the artist was only 23 years old, yet it is one of the greatest in the history of printmaking and a key work of his early career, perhaps the quintessential and final Blue Period icon.
‘Picasso was working at the time on an etching, which has become famous since: it is of a man and a woman sitting at a table in a wineshop. There is the most intense feeling of poverty and alcoholism and a startling realism in the figures of this wretched, starving couple’ (F. Olivier, Picasso and his friends, London, 1964, pp. 27-28).
In this way Fernande Olivier describes Le repas frugal, which she saw on her first visit to Picasso’s studio at the Bateau Lavoir in August 1904. What she probably did not know was that the woman in the print is a portrait of Madeleine, Picasso’s lover at the time. As it turned out, Picasso would divide his attentions between Madeleine and Fernande for quite some time before Fernande ultimately became the artist’s first great love and muse. In the summer of 1904 Madeleine however still played an important role in Picasso’s life in Paris. The man seated next to her is a figure from the artist’s past in Barcelona, from where he had moved only four months earlier. The figure first appears in several sketches and a gouache from 1903 and then in a large painting, Le repas de l’aveugle (Zervos, vol. 1, no. 168; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), of the same year. The print thus ‘links Picasso’s Spanish past with his French future’ (J. Richardson, A Life of Picasso, vol. I, London, 1991, p. 300) and bridges the Blue and Rose Periods. Both the blind man from Barcelona and Madeleine from Paris would continue to haunt Picasso’s imagination and their chiseled features and gaunt bodies re-appear in different guises until 1905, in particular in an oil sketch and a charcoal drawing of 1904, in which the artist developed the composition of the couple sitting together in an embrace (see lot 337). Le repas frugal is the definitive, most elaborate iteration of this motif.
Pablo Picasso, Femme à la chemise, 1905. Tate, London.
Whereas Madeleine would eventually be superseded in Picasso’s life and work by Fernande, the blind man would, as Roland Penrose observed, remain a central figure in the artist’s personal mythology: ‘The allegory of the blinded man has pursued Picasso throughout his life like a shadow as though reproaching him for his unique gift of vision’ (Picasso: His Life and Work, London, 1981, p. 89). Thirty years later, in a series of etchings, such as Minotaure aveugle guidé par une fillette dans la nuit, Picasso would recast this figure of self-reflection as a truly mythical creature, a blind minotaur. Just like the blind man in Le repas frugal, the minotaur is depicted as dependent on a young woman or girl for help and support (see also lot 323).
For Picasso, the years up to 1904 had been overshadowed by the suicide of Carles Casagemas in February 1901. With his final move to Paris in April 1904, he slowly began to shake off the gloom the death of his best friend had cast over him. The style and mood of his work gradually changed. Simultaneously, Picasso’s interest shifted from the urban poor to the saltimbanques, the strolling acrobat street performers of Paris. This is best illustrated by comparing Le repas de l’aveugle with the gouache Acrobate et jeune arlequin of 1905: there is an earthy weight and sense of deep sorrow about the former paintings, whilst the latter is imbued with an ethereal elegance not found in the earlier pictures. Melancholy rather than intense grief became the prevailing sentiment. This transition towards a less sombre atmosphere is also manifest in Le repas frugal: the misery of the scene is alleviated by the couple’s tender embrace and the woman’s knowing smile. The stylistic shift towards more refined, elegant figures is particularly pronounced in the print: the bodies are emaciated and their limbs elongated to the extreme – an effect that is perhaps intensified by the linear quality of the etching technique. Not without reason has it been described as a mannerist print.
Picasso’s first print, El Zurdo, was created in 1899 in Barcelona. It is a rather awkward work and the young artist presumably printed just a few impressions, of which only a single example survives. Four years later, probably prompted by his friend and neighbour Ricard Canals, Picasso
tackled the medium once more and, apparently without further practice or experiments, created Le repas frugal. That a work of such technical mastery and haunting beauty was only his second attempt in the medium is testament to the artist’s extraordinary innate talent. Le repas frugal in that sense marks another departure: the beginning of Picasso’s life-long exploration of printmaking.
The earliest impressions of Le repas frugal were printed in small numbers by the master printer Auguste Delâtre (1822-1907), probably on demand, whenever Picasso requested one. It is not clear how many impressions were taken at the time, between September 1904 and March 1905. Bernhard Geiser and Brigitte Baer record one impression of the first state (Musée Picasso, Paris); and approximately 35 impressions of the second state.
Picasso was clearly proud of his print and had high hopes of making money from it. He sent two impressions to his friend Sebastiá Junyent in Barcelona, one to be passed on to Picasso’s father, the other to show to prospective purchasers. The etching was first exhibited in early 1905 at the Galeries Serrurier in Paris, together with some of his subsequent etchings of street performers. The proceeds from the exhibition hardly covered Picasso’s costs. Together with Le repas frugal, this group of early etchings later came to be known as La suite des saltimbanques They were never properly published until 1913, when the plates were purchased by the publisher Ambroise Vollard and printed in an edition of 250. Vollard had the plates steel-faced, a process in which the copper plates were electroplated with a thin layer of steel so they could stand being printed in larger numbers. In the process, the etched lines lose depth and definition and print much less strongly. It is therefore only in the impressions made by Delâtre before steel-facing that the beauty and atmosphere can be fully appreciated. These early examples display intense contrasts and convey a strong sense of three-dimensionality. The present sheet appears to be one of the very first, before the plate began to show spots of corrosion at the upper left, and is remarkable for its modulated plate tone and rich blacks.
Present lot illustrated (detail).
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
Le Couple (Les Misérables)
signed Picasso (lower left)
charcoal on paper
34,6 x 25,8 cm. (13¬ x 10¿ in.)
Executed in 1904
£70,000-100,000
US$95,000-140,000
€81,000-120,000
PROVENANCE:
Leo Stein (1872-1947) & Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), United States & Paris; probably acquired directly from the artist.
Alice B. Toklas (1877-1967), United States & Paris; by descent from the above in 1946.
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1884-1979), for Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris; acquired from the above.
Private collection, Switzerland; Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 17 June 1987, lot 135. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Paris, Galerie Berggruen & Cie., Picasso: Dessins 1903-1907, May - July 1954, no. 10 (ill.).
Karlsruhe, Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg, Picasso - Zeichner des Menschen, October - December 1996, no. 13 (ill.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Pablo Picasso - Der blinde Minotaurus - Die Sammlung Hegewisch in der Hamburger Kunsthalle, February 1997, pp. 14-15 (ill.) & 75.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des Künstlers: Druckgraphik und vorbereitende Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, March - October 2000, pp. 72 (ill.) & 106. Hanover, Kestnergesellschaft, Spanische Pavillons der Expo 2000, Picasso: Die Umarmung, August - September 2000, no. 55, pp. 146-147 (ill.) & 301; this exhibition later travelled to Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, October - December 2000.
Oslo, Munchmuseet, Pablo Picasso - Den blinde Minotaurus - grafikk og tegning, November 2002 - February 2003 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus - Stiftung Hermann F. Reemtsma, Pablo Picasso - Der Stier und das Mädchen - Meisterblätter aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, June - October 2010, no. 1, p. 110 (ill.). Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mit dem inneren Auge sehen - Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, September 2016 - January 2017, no. 24, pp. 58 (ill.) & 76.
LITERATURE:
C. Zervos, Pablo Picasso, vol. 6, Supplément aux volumes 1 à 5, Paris, 1954, no. 661 (ill. pl. 80).
E. Hoffmann, 'Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions', in: The Burlington Magazine, vol. 96, no. 618, London, September 1954, pp. 296 (ill.) & 298.
Executed in the months following Pablo Picasso’s relocation to Paris in 1904, Le Couple (Les Misérables) is an evocative rendering of two seated figures intertwined at a table. Shrouded in charcoal shadows, the couple lean against each other, their forms coalescing in the soft lines of pigment. A poetic feeling of unity emanates from their adjoined forms, amplified in the analogous positioning of their elongated right arms. Yet, the left figure’s haunting stare, as he gazes away from his partner, intensifies the poignancy of the composition.
Le Couple dates to Picasso’s late Blue Period, throughout which the artist had recurrently depicted melancholic scenes, pre-occupied with themes of isolation, poverty, and despondency. The motif of the couple sitting together at a table was one that he had treated with particular prominence, and Le Couple relates closely to an oil painting of the same name, also from 1904 (Zervos, vol. 1, no. 224; Werner and Gabriele Merzbacher Collection, on permanent loan to the Kunsthaus Zurich). The subject also featured in his etching Le repas frugal, the artist’s largest and best-known Blue Period print and the definitive iteration of this subject (see lot 336 in this sale).
Picasso had moved to Paris in April 1904 from Barcelona, determined to establish a foothold for himself in the French capital, and Le Couple elucidates the aesthetic shift in style that followed this geographical transition. While the same tragic themes of poverty and loneliness had permeated his recent output in Barcelona, in Paris his figures became lithe and wraith-like, their elongated limbs emphasised by the figures’ skeletal, waifish appearance. Their angular, architectonic postures perhaps prefigure the artist’s later development of Cubism, though they are also redolent of the Mannerist style, as seen in the corpus of El Greco, whose works had captivated Picasso since he first saw them in the Prado in Madrid in 1897. Le Couple was acquired by the influential collecting duo Leo and Gertrude Stein, and the work remained with Gertrude throughout her life.
1896 on heavy, ivory-coloured Japan paper signed in red crayon, inscribed N. 1 in blue crayon a fine impression of this important, early lithograph printed by Auguste Clot, Paris, from four stones in black, grey, lemon yellow and oxblood red
Woll's variant X.c, with the printed signature at lower right with wide margins, generally in good condition
Image 42,1 x 57 cm. (16Ω in. x 22Ω in.)
Sheet 56 x 68,8 cm. (22 x 27 in.)
£120,000-180,000
US$170,000-240,000
€140,000-210,000
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Norway.
Christie's, London, 2 July 1987, lot 574. Acquired after the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des Künstlers –Druckgraphik und vorbereitende Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, March - October 1999, p. 45 (ill.), pp. 68-98.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Edvard Munch: Das kranke Kind – Die graphischen Fassungen, March - June 2002, no. 15, p. 40.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Edvard Munch: '... aus dem modernen Seelenleben', March - May 2006, no. 214, pp. 114 (ill.; pl. 69) & 180.
LITERATURE:
G. Schiefler, Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks Edvard Munchs bis 1906, published by the author, Berlin, 1907, no. 59, p. 63.
G. Woll, The Complete Graphic Works, Oslo and London, 2012, no. 72, pp. 101-103 (this impression cited; other impressions illustrated).
Edvard Munch wrote about his childhood: 'Nothing but illness and death in our family. We were simply born to it.' At a young age, the artist lost both his mother and beloved sister Sophie to tuberculosis. These devastating events influenced Munch throughout his life and became the subjects of many of his most famous prints, drawings, and paintings. In 1885-86, he created his first painting of The Sick Child (National Gallery, Oslo, inv. no. NG.M.00839). A few years later, he executed the subject for the first time as a print, in a small etching of 1894. Over the years, he would rework the subject in numerous media, each time seeking new ways to depict this experience of suffering and loss. The present colour lithograph is the largest and arguably most haunting evocation of his dying sister. The fleeting, soft lines of the lithographic crayon convey a sense of the fragility of the girl and of the great tenderness her younger brother felt for her, while the red and yellow colours are evocative of blood, fever and sickness.
The Sick Child as a subject seems to have been particularly close to Klaus Hegewisch's heart: apart from the present lithograph, he had an impression of the etching of 1894, which is still in the collection. Astonishingly, in 1970 he was also able to acquire the only drawing of this subject. The dating of the sheet is uncertain, but it seems likely that Munch drew it in 1885, which would make it the earliest iteration of this crucial subject in the artist's oeuvre. The drawing is executed in pencil and crayon and, measuring 42,4 x 40,9 cm., focuses in lifesize on the head of the girl only. Until he donated it in 1999 to the Hamburger Kunsthalle (inv. no. 1999-44) to mark the 60th birthday of the director, Uwe M. Schneede, it was one of Klaus Hegewisch's most loved treasures.
Edvard Munch, Das kranke Kind, 1885, Hamburger Kunsthalle. Digital image: Bridgeman Images. (donation Klaus Hegewisch, 1999).
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EDVARD MUNCH (1863-1945)
Melancholy III
woodcut printed in colours 1902 on tissue-thin Japan paper signed in pencil a very fine, dark, rich and clear impression of the third, final state printed from two blocks in grey, light orange, sea green and black with margins in very good condition
Block 37,5 x 47 cm. (14√ x 18.1/5 in.)
Sheet 44,3 x 53,8 cm. (17º x 21¿ in.)
£120,000-180,000
US$170,000-240,000
€140,000-210,000
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Sweden; Christie's, London, 4 December 1986, lot 189. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
LITERATURE:
G. Schiefler, Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks Edvard Munchs bis 1906, Berlin, 1907, no. 144, pp. 110-111 (another impression ill.).
E. Prelinger & M. Parke-Taylor, The Symbolist Prints of Edvard Munch - The Vivian and David Campbell Collection, exh. cat. Yale University, New Haven, 1996 & Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1997, no. 46, pp. 192-195. G. Woll, The Complete Graphic Works, Oslo & London, 2012, no. 203, pp. 1989 (another impression ill.).
Melancholy III is the quintessential Munch image, powerfully and profoundly expressing a sentiment which haunted and inspired the artist throughout his life. The sitting figure with the head resting on one hand repeats the classical ‘thinker’ pose and calls to mind Albrecht Dürer’s famous engraving Melencolia I of 1514 (see lot 334), which perhaps for the first time explicitly connected this pose with the melancholic temperament. It is worth noting that both figures, Dürer’s allegorical figure and Munch’s young man, sit by the sea shore - another classical topos of forlornness and longing.
Munch’s present colour woodcut is - as his most evocative prints areuniversal and personal at the same time. Elizabeth Prelinger perfectly summarises the scene and the events: ‘On the shore at Åsgårdstrand, a village on the Oslo Fjord where Munch had a house, sits a despondent man, whom Munch modelled on his friend Jappe Nilssen, the Danish art critic. In the distance, on the dock, are three figures. One is a man carrying oars, and with him are another man and a woman in a white dress who plan to row over to a small island to have a romantic tryst. In reality Nilssen was involved in a lovers’ triangle with the painter Christian Krohg and Oda Lasson, the woman who would become Krogh’s wife. The situation ended badly for Nilssen, and Munch took advantage of it to make a universal image about the pain caused by love.’ (Prelinger, pp. 193-194).
Jealousy and heartbreak were feelings Munch knew well. His relationships with women were always fraught and usually ended in anger and sorrow – emotions he frequently depicted in his printed oeuvre. Emotionally charged as many of his prints are, few of themsuch as The Kiss (lot 315), his Self-Portrait (lot 327) and Girls on the Bridge (lot 352) - have a similar visual clarity and depth of feeling as Melancholy III
It is a deceptively simple image, yet Munch’s method is remarkably complex: it is printed from two woodblocks, the key block and the colour block, which Munch cut with the fretsaw into three separate pieces, allowing him to vary the colours and print them in a different order. As a result, no two impressions are alike, and some differ radically in effect and mood. While some are printed with a layering of several brighter colours or with a stark contrast between the water and the beach, the present example is dominated by black, with only some orange highlights to pick out his face and hands, the rocks and the boat in the background. The sky is a pale grey streaked with black clouds, evoking the pale twilight of a Nordic Summer. The little wooden house in the distance glows white, as if reflecting the lingering light, and an underlying bluish-green glitters below the black surface of the sea at left.
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
Buste de jeune femme de trois quarts
woodcut
1906 on INGRES D'ARCHES laid paper signed in ink, numbered 2/15 dated 5 janvier XXXIII in pencil (upper right) a superb, strong and richly textured impression printed by the artist in 1933 with wide margins, in very good condition
Block 55,8 x 38,4 cm. (22 x 15¿ in.)
Sheet 63,2 x 48,2 cm. (24√ x 19 in.)
£50,000-70,000
US$68,000-95,000
€58,000-81,000
PROVENANCE:
Georges Bloch (1901-1984), Zürich (his stamp verso; not in Lugt); his sale, Kornfeld & Klipstein, Bern, 21 June 1973, lot 131 (CHF 40,000).
Wolfgang Fischer Fine Art Ltd., London; acquired at the above sale.
Sotheby's, New York, 6 May 1976, lot 296A. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Bern, Galerie Kornfeld, Pablo Picasso: Graphische Werke 1904-1972, Oktober - December 1982, no. 22 (ill.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Pablo Picasso – Der Blinde Minotaurus, February 1997, pp. 20-21 (ill.) & p. 77.
Oslo, Munchmuseet, Den Blinde Minotaurus - grafikk og tegning, November 2002 - February 2003 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Ernst Barlach Haus, Pablo Picasso – Der Stier und das Mädchen –Meisterblätter aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, June – October 2010, no. 6 (ill.), p. 111.
LITERATURE:
G. Bloch, Catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé et lithographé 1904-1967, Bern, 1968, vol. I, no. 16, p. 22 (another impression ill.).
B. Baer & B. Geiser, Picasso – Peintre-Graveur, Bern, 1990, no. 212, pp. 349351 B b (this impression cited; another ill.).
’Most Gauguin-esque of all is the imposing woodcut of her [Fernande]. Picasso hacked away at a plank to produce a rough and ready print as primitive and expressive as anything in Noa-Noa... Picasso has devised a paradoxical image that is of its time yet timeless, primitive yet classical, Spanish yet French, utterly original for all its derivations' (J. Richardson, A Life of Picasso - Volume 1: 1881-1906, London, 1992, p. 445).
In May 1906, occasioned by the sale of twenty paintings to the art dealer Ambroise Vollard, Picasso returned to Spain for the first time since his move to France two years earlier. He was accompanied by his lover Fernande Olivier. After a brief sojourn in Barcelona to visit family and friends, the couple retreated to the remote village of Gosól in the Pyrenees mountains. Energised by his new surroundings and free from the distractions of their bohemian life in Paris, Picasso embarked on an intensely creative summer. The nine or ten weeks in Gosól would prove to be a turning point in his evolution as an artist. This rare woodcut, a portrait of Fernande, reflects Picasso's stylistic shift at Gosól away from the delicate stylisation of the Rose Period towards a new 'primitivism', inspired by his study of Iberian and African sculpture at the Louvre and the Museé du Trocadero (see also lots 310 and 311). Although this is the only documented woodcut from the period, three carved wooden portraits of Fernande also survive. Their execution is similarly rough-hewn, recalling the woodcuts and carvings of Paul Gauguin, whom Picasso greatly admired. The turn towards wood as a medium and a printing technique, one Picasso rarely used in the course of his career as a printmaker, may have been prompted by a dearth of material and equipment in the mountains - but also reflects the artist's search at Gosól for a new pictorial language, both raw and monumental. Fernande's features have been distilled to their essence and expressively cut into the unprepared, coarsely grained surface of the block. This process of simplification and reduction (see also lot 305) harks back to Gauguin, and heralds the radical experimentation of the ensuing months following their return to Paris in August, which would culminate in the revolutionary painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon of 1907 (MoMA, New York), described by John Richardson as 'the most innovative painting since Giotto' and a pre-cursor of Cubism (J. Richardson, 1992, p. 475).
‘… a paradoxical image that is of its time yet timeless, primitive yet classical, Spanish yet French, utterly original for all its derivations.”
JOHN RICHARDSON
Picasso printed a very small number of impressions of Buste de jeune femme de trois quarts in 1906 but returned to block in 1933 to personally hand-print two proofs followed by an edition of 15. His approach to printing this edition was experimental, with each variably inked in an almost painterly fashion, producing such radically different results that each impression can be regarded as unique. Some examples are selectively inked, highlighting Fernande's aquiline profile but not the surface of the block. Others are inked lightly, but more consistently, revealing the character of the wood surface but lacking clarity. One impression is printed on a sheet smaller than the block. The present superb example, with wide margins, is richly inked, fully revealing Picasso's expressive cutting and the pitted, grainy materiality of the woodblock.
The hand-printing of his own edition is an anomaly for Picasso, whose customary practice was to delegate the editioning of his prints to professional printers. His creative re-engagement with Buste de jeune femme de trois quarts after almost thirty years suggests that the subject was important to him, a relic perhaps of that momentous summer in Gosól with Fernande.
War & Death
ALBRECHT DÜRER (1471-1528)
Knight, Death and the Devil engraving 1513
on laid paper, without watermark a fine, bright and silvery impression, Meder a-b printing sharply, with great clarity, luminous contrasts and depth trimmed to or just outside the subject the left sheet edge very skillfully made up, a few other minor repairs generally in good condition
Sheet 24,5 x 18,7 cm. (9æ x 7º in.)
£80,000-120,000
US$110,000-160,000
€93,000-140,000
PROVENANCE:
Unidentified, initials GE (...) in pencil verso (not in Lugt).
Georg Rath (1828-1904), Budapest (Lugt 1206); his sale, A. Posonyi, Vienna, 11 January 1869, lot 371 ('Ein Chef d'Oeuvre in sehr schönem Abdr.') (Fl. 60).
P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London (their stocknumber C. 30992 in pencil verso).
Karl & Faber, Munich, 29 May 1991, lot 45. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Verhext – Phantastische Graphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, November 1997 – March 1998.
LITERATURE:
A. von Bartsch, Le Peintre Graveur, Vienna, vol. VII, 1808, no. 98, p. 52.
J. Meder, Dürer-Katalog, Vienna, 1932, no. 74, p. 100.
F. W. H. Hollstein, German Engravings Etchings and Woodcuts, CA. 14001700, Albrecht and Hans Dürer, Amsterdam, 1962, no. 74, p. 68-69 (another impression ill.).
W. L. Strauss (ed.), The Illustrated Bartsch, Vol. 10, New York, 1980, no. 98, p. 85 (another impression ill.).
R. Schoch, M. Mende & A. Scherbaum, Albrecht Dürer, Das druckgraphische Werk, Munich, vol. I, 2001, (Kupferstiche, Eisenradierungen und Kaltnadelblätter), no. 69, pp. 169-173 (another impression ill.).
A knight in armour on his magnificent charger makes his way through a rocky gorge. It is a hostile place with barren, broken trees, thorny shrubs and a human skull placed on a tree stump, as if in warning. Two figures stand by the wayside, emerging from the rocks behind; King Death with snakes winding through his crown, astride an old mare, holding an hourglass; and a monstrous devil standing on his hoofs, holding a pike.
Countless attempts have been made to identify the central figure, which Dürer simply referred to as der Reuther ('the rider'). Suggestions have included emperor, pope, heretic, Germanic hero and local patrician. None of the potential candidates, either historical or mythological, have been substantiated. The knight as robber baron - a genuine threat in the days of Dürer - is also lacking visual evidence. The precursors of Dürer's rider are the two great equestrian statues of the Italian 15th century, Donatello's Gattamelata in Padua and Verrocchio's Colleoni in Venice, both of which Dürer had seen, and - much closer to home - the Rider of Bamberg Cathedral. Whatever his true identity, Dürer's rider is clearly cast in the heroic mould, a model of courage and moral strength, the Christian Knight, who does not fear Death or the Devil.
Impressions of this print can vary greatly, not just in quality, but also in character. Fine, early impressions can be dark and brooding, almost nocturnal, or luminous and silvery, suggestive of a cold winter day, such as the present example, which adds to the desolation of the scene.
With this print of 1513, one of the three engravings that later came to be known as the Meisterstiche (see also lot 334), Dürer had reached the height of his virtuosity as a printmaker. The variety of marks he employed to describe a multitude of different textures and surfacesfrom the hard, cold metal of the helmet, to the sheen of the horse's coat, the coarser fur of the dog, the splintered wood of the tree stump, the roots and grass on the crumbly rock, and so much more - is a delight to observe; despite or perhaps because of the ghastly subject.
Andrea del Verrocchio, Monument of Bartolomeo Colleoni, 1481. Campo San Giovanni e Paolo, Venice. Digital image: Cameraphoto Arte Venezia / Bridgeman Images.
FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)
Los Desastres de la Guerra
the complete set of eighty etchings with burnished aquatint, drypoint and engraving 1810-20
on firm wove paper, some sheets with watermarks J.G.O or Palmette with title-page and biographical essay a fine, uniform set printed in dark sepia, from the First Edition of five hundred copies
published by the Real Academia de Nobles Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, 1863 very good to fine impressions, printing darkly and with good contrasts the sheets loose, with wide margins generally in very good condition
Plates 17,4 x 22 cm. (6¿ x 8æ in.) (and similar)
Sheets 23,9 x 33 cm. (9ƒ x 13 in.) (and similar)
Overall 55,2 x 43,1 x 7,5 cm. (21√ x 17 x 3 in.) (each box)
£50,000-70,000
US$68,000-95,000
€58,000-81,000
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Luther and the Consequences of Art, November - December 1984.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Goya - Los Desastres de la Guerra, November 1992 - January 1993.
Trento, Fondazione Antonio Mazotta - Castel Ivano, Francisco Goya - Otto Dix: Sulla Guerra, July - August 1996.
LITERATURE:
L. Delteil, Le peintre graveur illustré: Francisco Goya, Paris, 1922, nos. 120-199. E. Lafuente Ferrari, Goya: Complete Etchings, Aquatints, and Lithographs, London, 1962 (transl. from Spanish by R. Rudorff).
T. Harris, Goya - Engravings and Lithographs - Catalogue raisonné, Oxford, 1964, nos. 121-200, pp. 172-292.
W. Hofmann (ed.), Goya – Das Zeitalter der Revolutionen, exh. cat., Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1980.
A. E. Pérez Sánchez & E. A. Sayre (eds.), Goya and the Spirit of Enlightenment, exh. cat., Museo del Prado, Madrid; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989.
A. E. Pérez Sánchez & J. Gállego, Goya – The Complete Etchings and Lithographs, Munich & New York, 1995.
M. P. McDonald, Renaissance to Goya – Prints and Drawings from Spain, exh. cat., The British Museum, London, 2012, pp. 245-255.
S. Loeb Stepanek, F. Ilchmann, J. A. Tomlinson (eds.), Goya - Order & Disorder, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2014.
M. P. McDonald, Goya's Graphic Imagination, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, February - May 2021, pp. 136-161.
When in 1807 French troops started to flood into Spain and the country quickly descended into a chaotic and bloodthirsty war, Goya’s highly ambiguous dictum El sueño de la razon produce monstruos must have felt like a prophesy. The phrase, published in Los Caprichos in 1799 (see lot 321), seemed to describe the aftermath of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon perfectly: the dream of reason had indeed produced monsters.
For proponents of the Enlightenment in Spain, France had always been the model and a source for inspiration and guidance. It was therefore not surprising that eventually Spain aligned itself with revolutionary France and in 1804 found itself in an alliance against England and Portugal. Under Carlos IV’s government, led by his ambitious and corrupt First Minister Manuel Godoy, the French Army was invited into the country to fight the Portuguese and English on the ground, effectively leading to an occupation of Spain. Greeted at first with enthusiasm as the harbingers of a new era, resistance quickly arose both against the French troops and against Carlos IV, Queen Maria Luisa and Godoy, who were seen as traitors.
In 1808, a public mutiny at the King’s residence of Aranjuez – probably a coup d’état initiated by the Royal Guards – disposed of Godoy, and Carlos IV was forced to abdicate in favor of his son Fernando VII. As Napoleon felt his influence waning, he without delay forced Ferdinand VII to cede the Spanish Crown to his brother, Joseph Bonaparte. ‘Moved by an ancient loyalty’ and ‘a vague and confused sense of freedom’, the Spanish people rose across the county to fight ‘at the same time for their independence, their religion, and their monarchy.’
(Gonzalo Anes, Enlightenment, p. xxxvi-xxxv) What ensued was a brutal war of a highly trained professional army against an uncoordinated, but infuriated and determined populace, which would last for six years.
Whether Goya was too disillusioned or just too pragmatic to openly take sides is impossible to tell. In the course of the Peninsular War, he painted a portrait of the French General Guye, received commissions and the Royal Order from Joseph Bonaparte and, when all was over, portrayed the victorious Duke of Wellington. In 1808, right at the beginning of the conflict, the Spanish General Palafox invited the artist to travel to Saragossa to depict the ruined city and immortalize the people, who had so courageously defended it during the siege by the French. It may have been during this journey across the war-torn country that Goya first thought of creating a series of prints about the war.
Los Desastres de la Guerra, as we know the series today and as it is offered here in its first edition, consists of eighty etchings with aquatint, created presumably over the course of ten years and in three distinct
phases. The earliest plates, some of which bear the date 1810, depict scenes from the actual war, the battles and skirmishes, the executions, rapes and mutilations, the wounded and the dead. The second group concentrates on the famine caused by the war in 1811-12, which left tens of thousands of Madrileños dead. The third and final part consists of a group of grotesques, satires and allegories reminiscent of Los Caprichos, expressing Goya’s disdain for Fernando VII’s reactionary and vengeful rule after he had regained power following Napoleon’s defeat in 1814. It seems likely that Goya had wanted to publish the first two groups of etchings in 1814, but was prevented to do so by Fernando’s post-war tyranny. In 1820, the revolt of Rafael del Riego and the restoration of the liberal Constitution promised liberty at last. It may have been then that Goya once again thought of publishing the series and complemented it with the caprichos enfaticos, as he called them. Yet three years later, Fernando’s absolute rule was re-established, General Riego executed and Goya soon emigrated to France. Los Desastres de la Guerra were never published in his lifetime.
In particular the first part of the series, some of which are probably based on scenes he witnessed on his way to and from Saragossa, is an ‘almost unbearably explicit’ account of human suffering and cruelty (Benjamin Weiss, in: Order & Disorder, p. 277). In contrast to traditional depictions of war, Goya chose a mid-distance viewpoint; not the great panoramas of the battlefield, which turn war into a spectacle; nor closeups of the dying, which turn each death into a heroic tragedy. Goya’s horrific scenes are specific and general at once, each plate a short essay about the systematic barbarity of war, still as valid today as it was then. The soldiers who shoot at unarmed civilians or methodically execute rows of captives are seen from behind or disappear inside their uniforms. On some plates, only their gun barrels reach into the image. The perpetrators have no identity or humanity, they are part of an anonymous war machine. Strangely it is the victims who, stripped naked, castrated and impaled, retain their human dignity. Tenderly, with tiny stipples, Goya describes their nude bodies. In their fragmented beauty and their classic poses, they remind us of ancient sculptures. But Goya’s dead are no martyrs and the sky above them is empty. ‘Comparison […] with Ribera’s tortured saints underscores a crucial difference […] for the excruciating pain suffered by Goya’s victims is unmitigated by the comfort of their faith. (Janis Tomlinson, in: Order & Disorder, p. 287).
When the fight for freedom was over and won, and victory had brought nothing but Fernando’s vindictive restoration, Goya certainly seemed to have lost all faith. One of the caprichos enfaticos at the end of the series (plate 69) shows a skeleton scribbling one single word as it sinks into the grave: Nada (‘Nothing’).
JAMES ENSOR (1860-1949)
La Vengeance de Hop-Frog (Hop-Frog's Revenge)
drypoint and etching with extensive hand-colouring in watercolour 1898 on simili-Japan paper
a fine impression of the second, final state printed with a light plate tone, the colours bright and strong signed, dated and titled in pencil, countersigned and titled in pencil verso with margins, in good condition
Plate 36,2 x 25,1 cm. (14º x 10 in.)
Sheet 46 x 34 cm. (18¿ x 13º in.)
£25,000-35,000
US$34,000-47,000
€29,000-40,000
LITERATURE:
L. Delteil, Le Peintre-Graveur Illustré (XIXe et XXe Siècles) - Tome XIX: Henri Leys - Henri de Braekeleer - James Ensor, Paris, 1925, no. 112 (another impression ill.).
A. Croquez, L'œuvre gravé de James Ensor, Paris, 1935, no. 111 (another impression ill.).
A. Taevernier, James Ensor - catalogue illustré de ses gravures, leur description critique et l'inventaire des plaques, Ghent, 1973, no. 112.
J. Elesh, James Ensor - The Complete Graphic Work, The Illustrated Bartsch, New York, 1982, no. 115, Vol. 141, pp. 209-211 (another impression ill.); Vol. 141 Commentary p. 225.
P. Haesaerts, Ensor, London, 1957, see p. 224.
X. Tricot, James Ensor - The Complete Prints, Roeselare, 2010, no. 112, pp. 210-212, 295-296 (another impression ill.).
Ensor’s La Vengeance de Hop-Frog (Hop-Frog’s Revenge) illustrates the climactic final scene from Edgar Allan Poe’s gruesome tale of the same title. Hop-Frog is a court jester so named for his limp and dwarfism, who takes revenge on a cruel king and his advisors for humiliating both himself and his friend, the female dwarf Tripetta. In Poe’s story, Hop-Frog persuades the king and his ministers to attend a masquerade dressed as 'Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs' with costumes made of flax and soaked in tar. During the ball, Hop-Frog chains them to a lowered chandelier, hoists them into the air, and sets them ablaze: 'pretending to scrutinize the king more closely, he held the flambeau to the flaxen coat…which instantly burst into a sheet of vivid flame. In less than half a minute the whole eight ourang-outangs were blazing fiercely, amid the shrieks of the multitude who gazed at them from below, horror-stricken, and without the power to render them the slightest assistance' (quoted from: J. G. Kennedy (ed.), The Portable Edgar Allan Poe, London, 2006, p. 223).
Ensor captures this horrific moment in his etching, showing HopFrog clinging to the chandelier, torch extended toward the burning figures below. In the present second, final state of the print, a scorched skeleton lies on the floor - a grisly detail absent in the first state.
Ensor’s lively hand-colouring is a distinctive aspect of his printmaking practice; in the present impression the vivid red of the charred bodies surrounded by billowing yellow flames heighten the sense of horror, while the variety of colours in the costumes of the spectators in the foreground brings a jewel-like intensity to the work. Ensor reserved this work-intensive technique for prints he considered his finest works - La Vengeance de Hop-Frog and Les Péchés Capitaux ('The Seven Deadly Sins'; see lot 328) being key examples - and his hand-coloured etchings are hence quite rare.
Ensor was deeply drawn to Poe's tale, first depicting it in a rare lithograph dated circa 1888-1891, where the image is in reverse to the etched version of 1896. He revisited the composition in an oil painting (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo) in the same direction as the lithograph dated 1896, although Paul Haesaerts believed this to be back-dated and more likely to have been painted around 1910 (Haesaerts, 1957, p. 224). Ensor frequently back-dated works and always inscribed his prints with the date of the plate’s creation rather than the date the print was pulled. This method allowed him to revisit his favourite etchings across several decades and to print them on demand over the course of his career.
As Elesh insightfully observed, 'It is a story that deals with an affront to human dignity, of outrage and revenge… Ensor, continually attacked by his critics, isolated by his own genius, must have felt great sympathy for the Hop Frog character' (Elesh, 1982, p. 66). Indeed, themes of resentment, injustice, abuse of power, and the grotesque permeate Ensor’s art. His inspirations came from literary sources but also from the visual arts of different periods, including Jacques Callot, Pieter Bruegel, Francisco de Goya, and English satirists like George ‘Moutard’ Woodward and Thomas Rowlandson.
Poe’s tale itself may have been drawn from an historical event: at court festivities held at the French royal palace of Saint-Pol in 1393 , which became infamous as the Bal des Ardents ('Ball of the Burning Men'), King Charles VI and his courtiers were accidentally set alight in flammable costumes by the King’s brother. In the real-life event, however, the King survived unscathed. Both Poe and Ensor would have been fascinated by how the event exposed royal decadence and eroded public confidence in the monarchy. In Hop-Frog’s Revenge, Ensor channels this historic outrage into a nightmarish spectacle of justice served, aligning his own artistic subversion with the defiant act of the vengeful jester.
λ*344
LUDWIG MEIDNER (1884-1966)
Apokalyptische Vision
signed and dated Ludwig Meidner 1914 (lower left) reed pen and pen and India ink and pencil on paper
50,4 x 46,4 cm. (19√ x 18º in.)
Executed in 1914
£40,000-60,000
US$54,000-81,000
€47,000-69,000
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Baden-Württemberg; Kornfeld & Klipstein, Bern, 12 June 1969, lot 913.
Private collection, Bavaria; acquired at the above sale; Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 22 June 2001, lot 98.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
Among the most haunting expressions of his career, Ludwig Meidner’s Apokalyptische Vision fervently captures the sentiment in the early 20th century, as political and social tensions rose and Europe’s state of upheaval intensified. Between 1912 and 1916, Meidner created a series of apocalyptic landscapes, fevered visions of convulsing cities and riotous skies. These prophetic drawings are now considered to be among Meidner’s most powerful imagery, capturing with startling urgency the unrest shadowing Europe in the run up to, and in the early years of, the First World War.
While apocalyptic themes have a long lineage in Western art history, dating back to medieval manuscripts, Meidner revitalised them in fierce and modern terms. For the artist, the apocalypse was not an abstract or allegorical prospect – it was imminent and real, a reflection of the disintegrating social and political order. At the centre of Apokalyptische Vision, two lovers lock in a passionate kiss, seemingly unaware of the crumbling buildings, writhing figures and fractured earth surrounding them. Their embrace – perhaps representing the Kuss des Todes, or ‘Kiss of Death’ – can be read as an underscore of the futility of love in the face of overwhelming destruction. The sky churns violently above them, reflecting the age's spiritual and existential crisis.
Meidner’s heavy use of medium slashes across the surface with raw intensity. His frenetic, electric linework mirrors the psychological upheaval of the age. Just as war would scar Europe’s body and soul, so too do his marks etch fear, chaos, and revelation. Yet within this tumult, Meidner crafts an almost organic rhythm – an Expressionist symphony of chaos that reverberates through the ages.
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λ*345
OTTO DIX (1891-1969)
Hexensabbat
signed and dated DIX 1918. (lower right) charcoal on buff paper
39,6 x 39,3 cm. (15¬ x 15Ω in.)
Executed in 1918
£25,000-35,000
US$34,000-47,000
€29,000-40,000
PROVENANCE:
Kunstkabinett Klihm, Munich; probably acquired directly from the artist, by November 1962.
Private collection, Germany; probably acquired from the above; then by descent; Villa Grisebach, Berlin, 28 November 1997, lot 44.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Munich, Kunstkabinett Klihm, Otto Dix: Zeichnungen und Gouachen, 19111918, November - December 1962, no. 33 (ill.).
Dortmund, Museum am Ostwall, Otto Dix: Zeichnungen, Gouaches, 19111918, January - March 1963, no. 37. Stuttgart, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Otto Dix - Handzeichnungen, Gouachen, Radierungen von 1911 - 1928, March - April 1963, no. 36. Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Weibsbilder, September 2000 - March 2001 (no cat.).
LITERATURE:
B.S. Barton, Otto Dix and Die neue Sachlichkeit, 1918-1925, Ann Arbor, 1981, no. I.C.16, p. 132.
K. van Lil, Otto Dix und der Erste Weltkrieg: Die Natur des Menschen in der Ausnahmesituation, Munich, 1999, no. 469, p. 348 (ill.).
U. Lorenz, Otto Dix - Das Werkverzeichnis der Zeichnungen und Pastelle, vol. I, Weimar, 2003, no. WK 6.3.17, p. 445 (ill.).
A vortex of shifting, triangular forms and fiercely drawn intersecting charcoal lines, Otto Dix’s Hexensabbat of 1918 is a tour de force produced at the height of his artistic powers. Representative of the tumultuous socio-political climate of the early 20th century and executed towards the end of the First World War, it alludes to the distressing landscape of warfare and the fracturing of Germany. As suggested in the title of the work, sorcerous imagery is ubiquitous in the explosion of shard-like elements, glimpsed limbs and razor-sharp forks, drawing on the iconography of Walpurgis Night and the Witches’ Sabbath. From the late Middle Ages, the use of dark magic and the conjuring of demonic spirits by witchcraft in the Witches’ Sabbath was condemned and violently feared by society, and by 1918, so too had the use of modern warfare, felt en masse for the first time during this war. The kinetic energy of Dix’s dynamic hand is palpable in the diagonal motion of the violently cascading witches, combining this Dionysian imagery with that of the trenches and physical violence.
Radically different from the artist’s approach to the set of prints he produced a few years later such as Der Kreig (lot 347), the visceral depth of the charcoal in Hexensabbat is simultaneously terrifying and enthralling, drawing the viewer further into the tectonic mass like a magnetic pull, ever closer to the petrifying, earth-shattering reality of conflict and the nebulous sphere of nightmares. Towards the centre of the work, a dark oval form invokes images of the female sexual organ, which are echoed throughout the composition. Recalling the vociferous imagery of Ludwig Meidner’s Apokalyptische Vision (lot 344), produced just four years prior on the eve of the war, Hexensabbat presents a powerful combination of the themes of sex and death that fascinated Dix.
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KÄTHE KOLLWITZ (1867-1945)
Stehende Frau, nach links signed Käthe Kollwitz (lower right) charcoal on buff paper
55,3 x 44,1 cm. (21æ x 17¡ in.)
Executed in 1888
£35,000-55,000
US$48,000-74,000
€41,000-63,000
PROVENANCE:
Salman Schocken (1877-1959), Germany, Israel & United States; then by descent; Dr. Ernst Hauswedell, Hamburg, 5 June 1967, lot 663. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Käthe Kollwitz: Die Zeichnerin, November - December 1980, no. 3, pp. 16 (ill.) & 183; this exhibition later travelled to Zurich, Kunsthaus Zurich, January - March 1981.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des KünstlersDruckgraphik und vorbereitende Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, March - October 1999, pp. 48 (ill.) & 99.
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Weibsbilder, September 2000 - March 2001 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mit dem inneren Auge sehen - Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, September 2016 - January 2017, no. 16, pp. 49 (ill.) & 76.
Zurich, Kunsthaus Zurich, Taking a Stand: Käthe Kollwitz with Interventions by Mona Hatoum, August - November 2023, no. 9, pp. 83 (ill.) & 230; this exhibition later travelled to Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, March - June 2024.
LITERATURE:
O. Nagel (ed.), Käthe Kollwitz - Die Handzeichnungen, Berlin, 1980, no. 10, pp. 178-179 (ill.).
U.M. Schneede, Käthe Kollwitz: das zeichnerische Werk, Munich, 1981, no. 4, p. 14 (ill.; with incorrect dimensions).
Dating from 1888, Stehende Frau, nach links is an important early charcoal drawing by Käthe Kollwitz, executed at a key moment in her artistic evolution. Focusing on a young woman in distress, the subject's entire body is taut with anxiety and despair as she clutches the wall behind her for support. The drawing forms part of an extensive series of preparatory works Kollwitz created for a painting inspired by Emile Zola’s celebrated novel, Germinal. A masterpiece of social realism, Germinal explores the tangled lives of a group of coalminers in northern France who, driven by severe poverty and oppression, begin an uprising which is violently quashed by the authorities. This project, although never realised, would occupy the artist for almost five years, allowed Kollwitz to explore the lives of ordinary people, a rich subject that would become a primary focus throughout her career.
Though Kollwitz had been interested in naturalist literature since her youth - driven by the publications of French, German and English authors she discovered in her father’s library - it was while studying painting in her early twenties at the Künstlerinnen-Verein München (Association of Women Artists in Munich) that the idea for a project focusing on Zola’s novel first came to mind. Kollwitz attended an informal artistic gathering known as a 'composition evening' alongside several of her fellow students, where each of the participants were challenged to create a drawing on a specific theme before the night’s end—on this occasion, the group were tasked with illustrating a fight. Kollwitz chose a scene of intense jealousy from Zola’s novel that, though not central to the plot, was filled with drama: 'in a smoky tavern, the young Catherine is being fought over by two men' Kollwitz explained (quoted in E. Prelinger, Käthe Kollwitz, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1992, p. 19). The resulting drawing won Kollwitz high praise, and cemented in her mind the future direction of her art. 'For the first time I felt established in my path,' she later wrote; 'great perspectives opened themselves to my fantasies and the night was sleepless with happy expectation' (ibid.).
In Stehende Frau, nach links Kollwitz trains her attention on the female protagonist, Catherine, as she watches the fight unfold. With one hand clasped to her mouth and her entire upper body tipped slightly forward, Kollwitz powerfully conveys the woman’s intense anxiety and fear, the subtle cues of her body language providing a window into her inner turmoil. Using richly variegated passages of soft charcoal, Kollwitz achieves an almost painterly quality in her depiction of light and shadow, while to the right of the sheet, the outline of another partial figure is visible, a study perhaps of the architecture of Catherine’s form beneath her simple dress.
Kollwitz had originally planned for these drawings to form the basis of a large oil painting dedicated to Zola’s novel. However, following her marriage and subsequent move to a small apartment in Berlin with little room for painting, the artist changed direction and embarked upon a series of etchings illustrating the narrative instead, marking her first experiments in printmaking. The dating of Stehende Frau, nach links to 1888 demonstrates that Kollwitz decided upon certain elements of the composition quickly, with the pose and form of the female protagonist translated almost exactly into the final print dedicated to Zola’s fight scene.
We thank Hannelore Fischer for her help in researching and cataloguing this work.
OTTO DIX (1891-1969)
Der Krieg
the complete set of fifty etchings with drypoint and aquatint 1924 on BSB laid paper in five volumes, each with title page, the signed and numbered justification, and table of contents copy number 66 from the edition of 70 published by Karl Nierendorf, Berlin,1924, printed by Otto Felsing, Berlin each plate signed in pencil, numbered 66/70, and inscribed with the plate number in Roman numerals the full sheets, in five folders in very good condition
Plates 29,5 x 25,7 cm. (11¬ x 10¿ in.) (and smaller)
Sheets 35 x 47,5 cm. (13√ x 18√ in.) (and similar)
Overall 50,5 x 40,5 cm. (19√ x 16 in.) (each folder) (50)
£180,000-250,000
US$250,000-340,000
€210,000-290,000
PROVENANCE:
Acquired in the 1960s on the German art market; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Callot, Goya, Dix - Krieg, December 2002 –March 2003 (no cat.).
Berlin, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Kassandra - Visionen des Unheils 1914-1945, November 2008-February 2009, no. III 3/51-59, pp. 195-197 (ill.) (plates 5, 7, 12, 13, 31, 33, 39, 40 & 42 only).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Otto Dix – Der Krieg, April – August 2011 (no cat.).
LITERATURE:
F. Karsch (ed.), Otto Dix - Das graphische Werk, Hannover, 1970, nos. 70-120, pp. 151-163.
Otto Dix's Der Krieg is one of the finest and most unflinching depictions of war in western art. His early 20th century vision of the horrors of the battlefield ranks alongside those of Jacques Callot's Les Grandes Misères de la Guerre (also in the Hegewisch Collection) and Francisco de Goya's Los Desastres de la Guerra (see lot 342).
Dix enlisted in the army soon after hostilities began and took part in some of the deadliest engagements of the entire conflict, including the Battle of the Somme, the Russian front, Verdun and Ypres. His work before and in the early stages of the war echoed the dynamism of the Italian Futurists, whose works had been exhibited in Germany in 1913. Whilst Dix avoided the nervous collapse experienced by many other artists, including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Max Beckmann, he was nonetheless radically transformed by what he saw. The excitement and fascination with industrial warfare gave way to an intensely critical attitude towards the German social and military establishment once the war was over. Back in Dresden he became involved with a small Dadaist group, and through them exhibited at the First International Dada Fair in 1920. He adopted a collage technique, which had its roots in Dada as well as in Cubism and proofed perfectly suited to depicting the grotesque effects of war and its corrupting influence on society.
His horrific and grotesque, at times darkly funny, depictions of the war - the battlefields, the trenches, shell craters, soldiers in close combat, dismembered bodies and rotting corpses left behind in the mud - were the result of a desire, a need almost, to exorcise the ghosts that haunted him. 'My dreams were full of debris' he said many years later (quoted in: J. Willett, 'Dix: War', Disasters of War - Callot Goya Dix, Arts Council Touring Exhibition, South Bank Centre, London, 1998, p. 65).
This exorcism found its first expression in a large, gruesome painting entitled The Trench (1920-23), which was sold initially to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne. After much controversy it was given back to Dix before at last finding a home in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden. In between it was sent on tour as part of a pacifist exhibition called Nie wieder Krieg! ('Never another War!'), the popularity of which prompted Dix's dealer Karl Nierendorf to commission a series of fifty prints on the same theme, to be published in Berlin in 1924. The painting was to slumber in a Dresden storeroom until it was seized by Nazis officials and shown in the notorious Entartete Kunst exhibition in 1937, where it hung near a complete set of Der Krieg. The painting subsequently disappeared, and was presumably destroyed. The prints, however, have survived - Dix's most famous, passionate and shocking work in the print medium.
A furious and bitter depiction of the realities of war, this set of prints is also an astonishing display of the artist's technical command of the medium. Depending on the subject of each plate, Dix alternated his methods, from pure line etching to darkest aquatints, to almost uncontrollable open-bite, which best reflected the decaying bodies and disintegrating landscapes. Trained as an artist in a very traditional manner (see also lot 333), he even referenced the art of the Northern Renaissance: one white-line etching of a rural landscape with broken trees, a skeleton and a corpse in the midst of it, recalls the exquisite drawings on prepared paper by Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538) or the white-line woodcuts of Urs Graf (1485-1529).
In the winter of 2002, as a war in Iraq became increasingly certain, Klaus Hegewisch initiated an exhibition of the war series by Callot, Goya and Dix from his collection at the Hamburger Kunsthalle. Having lived through World War II, he was particularly pleased by the many school classes and students who came to see it.
Landscapes of the Mind
REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN (1606-1669)
The Three Trees
etching with engraving and drypoint 1643
on laid paper, watermark Strasbourg Lily with countermark WK (Hinterding Ea) a fine, tonal and atmospheric impression printing richly and darkly, with intense contrasts the sulphur tinting in the sky and by the tree very pronounced just beginning to show a little wear in the densely hatched areas with thread to narrow margins almost all around generally in very good condition
Plate 21,3 x 28 cm. (8Ω x 11 in.)
Sheet 21,4 x 28,2 cm. (8Ω x 11 in.)
£200,000-300,000
US$280,000-410,000
€240,000-350,000
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, USA.
Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 2 June 2007, lot 823. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
LITERATURE:
A. von Bartsch, Catalogue raisonné de toutes les Estampes qui forment l'Œuvre de Rembrandt..., Vienna, 1797, no. 212, pp. 180-181.
A.M. Hind, A Catalogue of Rembrandt's Etchings; chronologically arranged and completely illustrated, London, 1923, no. 205, p. 95.
C. White & K.G. Boon, Hollstein's Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts: Rembrandt van Rijn (vol. XVIII), Amsterdam, 1969, no. 212, p.103.
E. Hinterding, J. Rutgers & G. Luijten, eds., The New Hollstein - Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700: Rembrandt, Amsterdam, 2013, no. 214, pp. 110-111 (another impression ill.).
C. S. Ackley et al., Rembrandt’s Journey – Painter, Draftsman, Etcher, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 2003, pp. 190-192 (another impression ill.).
K. Clark, Landscape into Art, London, 1976, pp. 60-61.
E. Hinterding, G. Luijten, M. Royalton-Kisch, Rembrandt the Printmaker, exh. cat., British Museum, London, 2000, no. 48, pp. 207-209 (another impression ill.).
E. Hinterding, Rembrandt Etchings from the Frits Lugt Collection, Bussum & Paris, 2008, no. 167, vol. I, pp. 390-393, vol. II, p. 187 (another impression ill.).
C. P. Schneider, Rembrandt’s Landscapes – Drawings and Prints, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1990, no. 75, pp. 240-242 (another impression ill.).
C. White, Rembrandt as an Etcher: A Study of the Artist at Work, New Haven and London, 1999, second edition, pp. 219-221 (another impression ill.).
Although the view depicted in Rembrandt's The Three Trees evokes the countryside around Amsterdam, Rembrandt’s interest here was not topographical, and the print is a work of the imagination rather than a depiction of a real place. The characteristically domestic Dutch landscape, with its orderly patchwork of fields and meadows with grazing cattle, canals and windmills, and a filigree of cityscape on the horizon, is interspersed with delightful incidental details of rural life: a couple fishing in the foreground, lovers concealed in a thicket, a heavily loaded horse cart on the crest of the hill, a man sketching. Absorbed in their everyday activities of work and play, all seem unaware of the dark, ominous clouds gathering above their heads: a drama is unfolding in the sky, providing a sublime vista of storm-torn clouds, sheets of rain and brilliant rays of sunlight. The copse of trees, after which the print derives its name, stand portentously on the hill, perhaps a reference to the Three Crosses of Golgotha. Certainly at first glance, however, it is the weather which is the real protagonist of Rembrandt's print. As a portrayal of meteorological phenomena, it prompts comparisons with Giorgione's Tempesta, circa 1508, or even with the rain and snow images of the Japanese ukiyo-e-masters.
Rembrandt employed every printmaking technique available to himetching, engraving, drypoint and sulphur tinting - on this plate to create the most complex and painterly of all his landscape prints. Landscape, as a subject in its own right, forms only a small part of Rembrandt’s printed oeuvre, comprising 25 etchings and drypoints created over a period of twelve years, between 1640 and 1652. In these prints Rembrandt largely eschewed the dramatic chiaroscuro seen in his paintings of the previous decade in favour of a more fluid, spontaneous execution - an approach to landscape also very much in evidence in his drawings at the time. The exception is The Three Trees, which is the largest and most ambitious landscape composition and a tour-de-force of the effects of light and shade. More than any of his landscape prints, it is reminiscent of his paintings and, with its dramatic description of the sunlight breaking through after a storm, closely related to his painting Landscape with a Stone Bridge of 1637.
The scene is a virtuoso depiction of the natural world, exquisitely rendered in all its atmosphere and detail - and yet, The Three Trees seems laden with an inexplicable metaphysical significance. Kenneth Clark described this tension eloquently: 'Rembrandt was one of the most sensitive and accurate observers of fact who has ever lived.…In his landscape drawings of the 1650’s, every dot and scribble contributes to an effect of space and light…the white paper between three strokes of the pen seem full of air. Yet when he came to paint he felt that all these observations were not more than the raw material of art. For him, as for Rubens, landscape painting meant the creation of an imaginary world, vaster, more dramatic and fraught with associations than that which we can perceive for ourselves’. (K. Clark, 1976, p. 60-61). What Clark ascribed to the artist's paintings is uniquely true also for this etching: it presents an eternal dialogue between earth and sky, the human and the elemental, the everyday and the sublime, evoking a sense of the diminutive scale of man, of awe in the face of creation, and of intimations of a wider, more expansive reality.
The Three Trees is one of the most celebrated and memorable landscapes in the history of art. As early as 1751, Edmé-François Gersaint compiled the first catalogue - in effect the first catalogue raisonné in the history of Western art - of Rembrandt’s graphic works. He described this print as 'one of the finest and most finished that Rembrandt made… engraved with great taste and effect’ (quoted in: Hinterding, 2008, p. 391).
Rembrandt van Rijin, Landscape with a Stone Bridge, circa 1638. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Digital image: Rijksmuseum.
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GIOVANNI BATTISTA TIEPOLO (VENICE 1696-1770 MADRID)
Two monks reading by a cross in a landscape with illegible inscription (lower right) black and red chalk, red wash on paper 21,2 x 26,9 cm. (8¡ x 10Ω in.)
£12,000-18,000
US$17,000-24,000
€14,000-21,000
PROVENANCE: Christopher Head (1869-1912), London; then by descent. Christie's, London, 4 July 1984, lot 81. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
The drawing belongs to Tiepolo’s early career, when the artist experimented with this painterly monochromatic technique. Tiepolo employed red chalk wash, applying it with the brush. Over lighter layers of diluted wash he then added vigorous strokes of more dense colour to delineate the contours. The white of the paper was intentionally used to render the areas of brightness. Other sheets in the same technique are a Standing Soldier at the Princeton University Art Museum (inv. no. x1948-842; see C. van Cleve and L.M. Giles, Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, 2014, no. 76, ill.) and the Seated Roman Soldier at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (inv. no. D.1825:10-1885).
ODILON REDON (1840-1916)
Hommage à Goya
the complete set of six lithographs 1885 on Chine collé paper from the first edition of fifty impressions (there was also a slightly later edition of 25)
printed by Lemercier & Cie, Paris the full sheets, in very good condition, lacking the original paper folder and table of contents
Images 29,2 x 24,1 cm. (11Ω x (Ω in.) (and smaller) Sheets 45,3 x 31,6 cm. (17√ x 12Ω in.) (and similar) (6)
£20,000-30,000
US$28,000-41,000
€24,000-35,000
PROVENANCE:
Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 9-10 June 1994, lot 732. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Verhext – Phantastische Graphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, November 1997 – March 1998 (no cat.) (plates IV & V only).
Munich, Haus der Kunst, Die Nacht, November 1998 - February 1999, no. 149, p. 347 (ill.) & 601 (plate II only).
LITERATURE:
A. Mellerio, Odilon Redon, New York, 1968, nos. 54-59, p. 97.
A. Werner, 'Introduction', in: The Graphic Works of Odilon Redon, Dover Publications, Toronto & London, 1969, pp. V-XIV.
The art critic Emile Hennequin wrote about his friend and contemporary, Odilon Redon: 'He has managed to conquer a lonely region somewhere on the frontier between the real and the imaginary, populating it with frightful ghosts, monsters, monads, composite creatures made of every imaginable human perversity and animal baseness, and of all sorts of terrifying inert and baneful things... His work is bizarre; it attains the grandiose, the delicate, the subtle, the perverse, the seraphic.' (quoted by: A. Werner, p. VII)
Of an artist best known for his dark visions and grotesque creatures, such as those depicted in the present set Hommage à Goya - as well as his earlier prints for the series Dans le rêve (1879), A Edgar Poë (1882), La Tentation de Saint-Antoine (1888), Songes (1891) or individual lithographs and etching, examples of which are also present in the Hegewisch Collection - one would expect an eccentric personality and somewhat odd comportment. Odilon Redon however lead a remarkably uneventful - if mostly impecunious - life and was known for his quiet and courteous manner. 'Of medium height and thin, Redon had an oblong face with a pointed reddish beard. His colour was pale, his expression calm. His speech was slow, yet his words were well chosen. Just as he was a loyal husband and an affectionate father, so he was on the most cordial terms with a few men, chiefly poets, musicians and others not practising his own art.' (Werner, p. VII)
Although well aware of the artistic and literary movements and personally acquainted with many of the leading painters, printmakers and poets of his time, Redon was deeply influenced by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt and Goya. It was Rodolphe Bresdin, an artist also admired and collected by Klaus Hegewisch, who had instructed the younger artist in the techniques of etching and lithography and introduced him to the great printmakers of the past, whom he admired throughout his life. In a few instances Redon made direct references to works by the old masters, for example in his lithograph Le liseur of 1892 (Mellerio 119), which relates closely to Dürer's Saint Jerome in his Study, as well as Rembrandt's Faust. This however is not the case with the present series, with which Redon paid homage to Goya's visions, in particular those depicted in Los Caprichos (see lot 326), without citing any specific prints, motifs or themes of this work or others. Hommage à Goya is thus best understood as an offering to Goya's dark imagination - a tribute that however sprung out of Redon's own grotesque fantasies.
‘His work is bizarre; it attains the grandiose, the delicate, the subtle, the perverse, the seraphic’
EMILE HENNEQUIN
The series includes some of the artist's best-known and most disturbing creations, such as La Fleur du marécage, une tête humaine et triste or Il y eut aussi des êtres embryonnaires. It is worth noting, however, that Redon did not only dwell on the bizarre but also the critical and enlightened aspects of Goya's art, in the last plate of this astonishing series: Au réveil, j'aperçus la déesse de l'intelligible au profil sévère et dur ('Upon Waking, I Saw the Goddess of the Intelligible, with Her Severe and Hard Profile').
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*351
PAUL CEZANNE (1839-1906)
Vue d’un bourg (Émagny) (recto); Verdure (verso)
watercolour and pencil on paper
31,1 x 43,8 cm. (12º x 17º in.)
Executed circa 1890 (recto); executed circa 1885-1890 (verso)
£40,000-60,000
US$55,000-81,000
€47,000-69,000
PROVENANCE:
Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939), Paris.
Marcel Guiot, Paris.
Dr Zdenko Bruck (1903-1979), Djakovo, Bern & Buenos Aires, by 1959; then by descent; Kornfeld & Klipstein, Bern, 23 June 1982, lot 76.
Private collection, Switzerland; acquired at the above sale; Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 16 June 2006, lot 38.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Buenos Aires, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Dibujos, Siglos XIX y XX, October 1959, no. 9 (titled 'Una aldea'; with incorrect dimensions).
LITERATURE:
J. Rewald, Paul Cézanne: The Watercolours - A Catalogue Raisonné, London, 1983, nos. 277a & 344, pp. 150 & 168 (ill.).
W. Feilchenfeldt, J. Warman & D. Nash, The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne - An Online Catalogue Raisonné, nos. FWN 1258 & FWN 1214 (accessed 2025).
Executed on both sides of the same sheet, Vue d’un bourg (Emagny) (recto) and Verdure (verso) showcase the refined delicacy of Paul Cezanne’s watercolour technique, combining fine drawings in pencil with rich, multi-hued washes of diaphanous colour.
Watercolour remained central to Cezanne’s practice throughout his career, offering him a variety of dynamic painterly effects through which to explore his unique vision. 'His method was remarkable,' the artist Emile Bernard wrote in 1904, describing Cezanne’s masterful use of the medium, 'absolutely different from the usual process, and extremely complicated. He began on the shadow with a single patch, which he then overlapped with a second, then a third, until all those tints, hinging one to another like screens, not only coloured the object but modelled its form' (quoted in: J. Rewald, Paul Cezanne: The Watercolours - A Catalogue Raisonné, London, 1983, p. 37).
In both of these evocative works, Cezanne deploys precise touches of semi-translucent pigment - from sage green to petrol blue, mauve to ochre - to capture the quiet beauty of the landscape with an astounding simplicity and economy of means. As John Rewald has noted, there are strong similarities in the array of buildings seen in Vue d’un bourg (Emagny) and another watercolour of the same period, Bourg avec église (Emagny) (FWN no. 1257; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett), suggesting this is a variation on the same view, seen from further away and at a higher vantage point.
Looking through a gap in the curving trees, we catch a glimpse of the rounded cupola of a church tower, indicated in soft strokes of pencil. This is most likely the church in Pin, a small village not far from Emagny, where Cezanne was living in 1890 with his wife Hortense and their son Paul. On the reverse of the sheet, Verdure contains no visible markers of a specific location; rather it depicts a dense copse of trees and foliage, with a variety of plants and bushes layered atop one another and packed tightly together - a celebration of the natural fecundity of the French countryside that so captivated Cezanne.
The woodcut The Girls on the Bridge, executed in 1905, is a variation on a motif that Munch had first explored in 1901 in a painting now held at the National Gallery, Oslo (NG.M.00844). The two figures gazing into the water are depicted on the pier - not a bridge as the title would suggest - at Åsgårdstrand, a village on the shores of the Oslofjord, where Munch owned a small house. This shoreline featured prominently in his early work, including prints such as Attraction I (1896) and Melancholy II (1898). In these, as in the present work, the landscape plays a dynamic role, enhancing the drama of the scene by acting as a foil to the human presence.
In his painted oeuvre, Munch revisited the theme of The Girls on the Bridge seven times, each time modulating the scene, turning the figures to face the viewer, adding further figures in conversational groups, and allowing the girls to age with the passing years. Importantly, Munch stressed that creating variations of a subject did not constitute repetition in his work. He stated, ‘I never make copies of my paintings. And whenever I have used the same motif again, it has been solely… because it allows me to find out so much more about that motif.’
The present woodcut is the second version in the print medium, only preceded by a small etching in landscape format created in 1903 (Woll 232), which focuses on the girls standing on the pier, thereby omitting most of the landscape on the shore. Here, he reverted to the composition of the earliest painted iteration of the subject, but left out the furthermost figure. What was he trying to discover in the scene that he had not explored before? The most manifest difference is that he left out the third, furthermost figure; either to give the scene more space on this modest-sized woodblock or because he wanted to see how
EDVARD MUNCH (1863-1945)
Girls on the Bridge woodcut 1905 on wove paper signed in pencil a fine, richly black and even impression of this very rare woodcut presumably an early impression printed by the artist printing with a fine wood grain relief with wide margins generally in good condition
Block 26,7 x 20,7 cm. (10Ω x 8 in.)
Sheet 37,3 x 29,4 cm. (14¬ x 11Ω in.)
£80,000-120,000
US$110,000-160,000
€93,000-140,000
PROVENANCE: Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 19-20 June 1997, lot 696. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Edvard Munch - '... aus dem modernen Seelenleben', March - May 2006, no. 248, pp. 110 (ill.; pl. 65) & 182.
LITERATURE:
G. Schiefler, Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks Edvard Munchs bis 1906, Berlin, 1907, no. 233, p. 142.
G. Woll, The Complete Graphic Works, Oslo and London, 2012, no. 271, p. 234 (another impression ill.).
the mood changed with only a pair of young women standing beside each other. Stylistically, most noticeable is the shift from the gentle, curvilinear execution of the painting, rooted in Nordic art nouveau, to the boldness of the woodcut’s carved marks, reminiscent of but really anticipating the works of the German Expressionists. There is a new sense of artistic liberation in the raw power of each incision, but this is not merely a formal experiment. Technically, the print could be described as a 'white line woodcut', as the image is constituted by what has been cut and chipped away from the surface of the block and remains white in the printing process. There are no descriptive black outlines to define shapes or objects, only light and darkness. As a result, Munch has turned this originally crepuscular scene into a night-piece, with the mottled sky of a bright, Nordic summer night. As so often in Munch's oeuvre, his turn towards the print medium resulted in a concentration and reduction of the scene, which makes it all the more powerful. By being limited to black ink on white paper, the composition gains in intensity and cohesion. While in the paintings, the women on the pier stand out against the landscape, in the present print they have become one with their surroundings. Most versions of The Girls on the Bridge, both on canvas and on paper, convey a sense of gentle melancholy, boredom and suppressed yearning felt by the young women. This archetypal motif in Munch's imagination found its most radical, somber and romantic expression in the present woodcut - these two girls will never leave, staring forever silently into the water.
According to Gustav Schiefler, the early patron, collector and author of the first catalogue raisonné of the prints of Edvard Munch, the earliest impressions of this print show a weak upper border, a trait that is very noticeable in the present example.
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*353
LYONEL FEININGER (1871-1956)
Railroad Viaduct
woodcut
1919 on thin but firm Japan paper signed and titled in pencil a fine, rich and even impression of this rare and important print with small margins, in very good condition
Block 33,3 x 42,9 cm. (13 x 17 in.)
Sheet 38 x 46,1 cm. (15 x 18¿ in.)
£15,000-25,000
US$21,000-34,000
€18,000-29,000
PROVENANCE:
Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 8 December 2005, lot 900. Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
Sendai, The Miyagi Museum of Art, Lyonel Feininger - Retrospective in Japan, January - March 2009 (no cat.).
LITERATURE:
Leona Prasse, Lyonel Feininger - A Definitive Catalogue of his Graphic Work: Etchings, Lithographs and Woodcuts, Cleveland,1972, no. W 163, p.193 (another impression ill.).
Executed a year after World War I, Railroad Viaduct exemplifies Lyonel Feininger’s mastery of the woodcut technique. At a time when many German artists were looking back to more archaic and immediate forms of expression, Feininger and many of his Expressionist contemporaries - perhaps inspired by the works of Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch (see lot 352) - turned towards the woodcut, the most ancient of all printing techniques, favoured by the anonymous masters of the 15th century as much as by the great masters of the early 16th century, such as Albrecht Dürer and Hans Baldung (see lot 302). For Feininger, the woodcut was simple and direct: all he needed was a pocket knife and a plain wooden board, preferring to hand-print his proofs, with no press required. In applying uneven pressure, variations in tonality and transparency could be achieved, while the choice of support - often different types of Japanese paper - further enhanced the uniqueness of each of Feininger's prints.
The composition of Railroad Viaduct is more expansive, detailed and descriptive than many of his other landscapes, which are pared down to basic geometric shapes and visual structures, often bordering on abstraction. In the present print, we see influences from Feininger's early career as a cartoonist and illustrator. A steam train rolls along the imposing bridge with black smoke billowing out of the locomotive, while the people within this cityscape, dwarfed by the viaduct, are reduced to puppet-like silhouettes consisting of awkward lines and shapes. Stripped of any physical reality, these diminutive or grotesquely enlarged automaton-figures and their shadows seem comical at first, but are imbued with a lingering, haunting quality. In the context of post-war Europe and the rapid growth and industrialisation of the cities, the scene evokes a sense of urban alienation, isolation and loss of individual identity. It is this unique combination of cartoonish boldness and humour paired with subtle atmospheric undercurrents, which make Feininger one of the most idiosyncratic and unforgettable printmakers of the Expressionist period.
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λ*354
FERNAND LÉGER (1881-1955)
Les Maisons
signed with the artist's initials and dated FL. 22 (lower left) pencil on paper
32 x 25,5 cm. (12¬ x 10 in.)
Drawn in 1922
£50,000-80,000
US$68,000-110,000
€58,000-92,000
PROVENANCE:
Saidenberg Gallery, New York, by 1968. Marlborough Fine Art, London, by 1971. The Lord Weidenfeld (1919-2016), Vienna & London; Christie's, London, 4 April 1978, lot 129.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
New York, Saidenberg Gallery, Fernand Léger - Gouaches, Watercolors & Drawings from 1910 to 1953, November - December 1968, no. 18, p. 3 (ill.).
Paris, Galerie Claude Bernard, Fernand Léger - dessins, December 1970, no. 22 (ill.).
London, Marlborough Fine Art, Important Drawings, Watercolours and Graphics of the 19th and 20th Centuries, March - April 1971 (ex. cat.).
Paris, Grand Palais, Fernand Léger, October 1971 - January 1972, no. 298, p. 166.
Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Fernand Léger, May - September 1997, no. 2, p. 148 (ill.); this exhibition later travelled to Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, October 1997 - January 1998, p. 189 (ill.).
LITERATURE:
J. Cassou & J. Leymarie, Fernand Léger, Dessins et gouaches, Paris, 1972, no. 105, p. 81 (ill.).
In Les Maisons, Fernand Léger presents a snapshot of urban life, transposed into a visual idiom of bold, simplified forms. Executed in 1922, the present work is representative of a key moment in the forging of the artist’s radically Modernist, protean style. While the influence of Cubism and its planar, geometric idiom is palpable in Léger’s earlier artistic output, the artist placed a particular emphasis on cylindrical forms, a personal visual syntax that the art critic Louis Vauxcelles coined ‘tubism.’ Léger’s volumetric approach reflected the increasing mechanisation and urbanisation of modern life, in this period of rapid technological advancement.
Léger’s early experience as an apprentice in an architect’s office, prior to moving to Paris in 1900, informed his adept precision at capturing Les Maisons’s networks of streets, passages and tunnels in modern agglomerations. A central tree trunk dominates the composition: a playful serpentine form whose sinuous branches fragment the street scene. Each smaller branch appears to twine towards the open windows, directing the viewer’s gaze towards the shadowy interiors. A figure stands at the balcony in the lower left of the scene, while two walking silhouettes can be glimpsed in the street below. Their tubular, tonally shaded forms contrast with the planar two-dimensionality of the architectural edifices. As Léger focuses on the formal values of his subject matter, he dissolves the expected spatial relationship between the compositional elements, imbuing the work with a surreal and labyrinthine quality.
Reminiscent of the technique of grisaille, Léger’s employment of a monochromatic scheme endows the composition with depth, lending it a sculptural quality - while the iron work of the balconies echoes the metallic infrastructure to be found in the modern metropolis.
Though more abstract in style, Léger’s 1925 painting, L’Arbre (Bauquier, no. 416; Sprengel Museum, Hannover) shares a compositional structure with the present work. Featured in several landmark international exhibitions in New York and Paris, including the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Grand Palais, Les Maisons is a visionary exploration of form and space, its exhibition history a testament to its enduring quality.
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(a) Coloured gemstones (such as rubies, sapphires and emeralds) may have been treated to improve their look, through methods such as heating and oiling. These methods are accepted by the international jewellery trade but may make the gemstone less strong and/or require special care over time.
(b) It will not be apparent to us whether a diamond is naturally or synthetically formed unless it has been tested by a gemmological laboratory. Where the diamond has been tested, a gemmological report will be available.
(c) All types of gemstones may have been improved by some method. You may request a gemmological report for any item which does not have a report if the request is made to us at least three weeks before the date of the auction and you pay the fee for the report.
(d) Certain weights in the catalogue description are provided for guidance purposes only as they have been estimated through measurement and, as such, should not be relied upon as exact.
(e) We do not obtain a gemmological report for every gemstone sold in our auctions. Where we do get gemmological reports from internationally accepted gemmological laboratories, such reports will
be described in the catalogue. Reports from American gemmological laboratories will describe any improvement or treatment to the gemstone. Reports from European gemmological laboratories will describe any improvement or treatment only if we request that they do so, but will confirm when no improvement or treatment has been made. Because of differences in approach and technology, laboratories may not agree whether a particular gemstone has been treated, the amount of treatment or whether treatment is permanent. The gemmological laboratories will only report on the improvements or treatments known to the laboratories at the date of the report. We do not guarantee nor are we responsible for any report or certificate from a gemmological laboratory that may accompany a lot
(f) For jewellery sales, estimates are based on the information in any gemmological report or, if no report is available, assume that the gemstones may have been treated or enhanced.
8 • WATCHES & CLOCKS
(a) Almost all clocks and watches are repaired in their lifetime and may include parts which are not original. We do not give a warranty that any individual component part of any watch or clock is authentic Watchbands described as ‘associated’ are not part of the original watch and may not be authentic. Clocks may be sold without pendulums, weights or keys.
(b) As collectors’ watches and clocks often have very fine and complex mechanisms, a general service, change of battery or further repair work may be necessary, for which you are responsible. We do not give a warranty that any watch or clock is in good working order. Certificates are not available unless described in the catalogue.
(c) Most watches have been opened to find out the type and quality of movement. For that reason, watches with water resistant cases may not be waterproof and we recommend you have them checked by a competent watchmaker before use. Important information about the sale, transport and shipping of watches and watchbands can be found in paragraph H2(g).
B • REGISTERING TO BID
1 • NEW BIDDERS
(a) If this is your first time bidding at Christie’s or you are a returning bidder who has not bought anything from any of our salerooms within the last two years you must register at least 48 hours before an auction to give us enough time to process and approve your registration. We may, at our option, decline to permit you to register as a bidder. You will be asked for the following:
(i) for individuals: Photo identification (driving licence, national identity card or passport) and, if not shown on the ID document, proof of your current address (for example, a current utility bill or bank statement).
(ii) for corporate clients: Your Certificate of Incorporation or equivalent document(s) showing your name and registered address together with documentary proof of directors and beneficial owners; and (iii) for trusts, partnerships, offshore companies and other business structures, please contact us in advance to discuss our requirements.
(b) We may also ask you to give us a financial reference and/or a deposit as a condition of allowing you to bid. For help, please contact our Credit Department on +44 (0)20 7839 9060.
2 • RETURNING BIDDERS
We may at our option ask you for current identification as described in paragraph B1(a) above, a financial reference or a deposit as a condition of allowing you to bid. If you have not bought anything from any of our salerooms in the last two years or if you want to spend more than on previous occasions, please contact our Credit Department on +44 (0)20 7839 9060.
• IF YOU FAIL TO PROVIDE THE RIGHT DOCUMENTS
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If in our opinion you do not satisfy our bidder identification and registration procedures including, but not limited to completing any anti-money laundering and/or anti-terrorism financing checks we may require to our satisfaction, we may refuse to register you to bid, and if you make a successful bid, we may cancel the contract for sale between you and the seller.
• BIDDING ON BEHALF OF ANOTHER PERSON
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(a) As authorised bidder. If you are bidding on behalf of another person who will pay Christie’s directly, that person will need to complete the registration requirements above before you can bid, and supply a signed letter authorising you to bid for them.
(b) As agent for a principal: If you register in your own name but are acting as agent for someone else (the “ultimate buyer(s)”) who will put you in funds before you pay us, you accept personal liability to pay the purchase price and all other sums due. We will require you to disclose the identity of the ultimate buyer(s) and may require you to provide documents to verify their identity in accordance with paragraph E3(b).
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• BIDDING IN PERSON
If you wish to bid in the saleroom you must register for a numbered bidding paddle at least 30 minutes before the auction. You may register online at www.christies.com or in person. For help, please contact the Credit Department on +44 (0)20 7839 9060.
• BIDDING SERVICES
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The bidding services described below are a free service offered as a convenience to our clients and Christie’s is not responsible for any error (human or otherwise), omission or breakdown in providing these services.
(a) Phone Bids
Your request for this service must be made no later than 24 hours prior to the auction. We will accept bids by telephone for lots only if our staff are available to take the bids. If you need to bid in a language other than in English, you must arrange this well before the auction. We may record telephone bids. By bidding on the telephone, you are agreeing to us recording your conversations. You also agree that your telephone bids are governed by these Conditions of Sale.
(b) Internet Bids on Christie’s LIVE™
For certain auctions we will accept bids over the Internet. For more information, please visit www.christies.com/register-and-bid As well as these Conditions of Sale, internet bids are governed by the Christie’s LIVE™ Terms of Use which are available at www.christies.
com/christies-live-terms
c) Written Bids
You can find a Written Bid Form at any Christie’s office or by choosing the sale and viewing the lots online at www.christies.com. We must receive your completed Written Bid at least 24 hours before the auction. Bids must be placed in the currency of the saleroom. The auctioneer will take reasonable steps to carry out written bids at the lowest possible price, taking into account the reserve If you make a written bid on a lot which does not have a reserve and there is no higher bid than yours, we will bid on your behalf at around 50% of the low estimate or, if lower, the amount of your bid. If we receive written bids on a lot for identical amounts, and at the auction these are the highest bids on the lot, we will sell the lot to the bidder whose written bid we received first.
• CONDUCTING THE SALE
C
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• WHO CAN ENTER THE AUCTION
We may, at our option, refuse admission to our premises or decline to permit participation in any auction or to reject any bid.
• RESERVES
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Unless otherwise indicated, all lots are subject to a reserve. We identify lots that are offered without reserve with the symbol • next to the lot number. The reserve cannot be more than the lot’s low estimate, unless the lot is subject to a third party guarantee and the irrevocable bid exceeds the printed low estimate. In that case, the reserve will be set at the amount of the irrevocable bid. Lots which are subject to a third party guarantee arrangement are identified in the catalogue with the symbol º♦
• AUCTIONEER’S DISCRETION
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The auctioneer can at their sole option:
(a) refuse any bid; (b) move the bidding backwards or forwards in any way they may decide, or change the order of the lots; (c) withdraw any lot; (d) divide any lot or combine any two or more lots; (e) reopen or continue the bidding even after the hammer has fallen; and (f) in the case of error or dispute related to bidding and whether during or after the auction, to continue the bidding, determine the successful bidder, cancel the sale of the lot, or reoffer and resell any lot. If you believe that the auctioneer has accepted the successful bid in error, you must provide a written notice detailing your claim within 3 business days of the date of the auction. The auctioneer will consider such claim in good faith. If the auctioneer, in the exercise of their discretion under this paragraph, decides after the auction is complete, to cancel the sale of a lot, or reoffer and resell a lot, they will notify the successful bidder no later than by the end of the 7th calendar day following the date of the auction. The auctioneer’s decision in exercise of this discretion is final. This paragraph does not in any way prejudice Christie’s ability to cancel the sale of a lot under any other applicable provision of these Conditions of Sale, including the rights of cancellation set forth in section B(3), E(2)(i), F(4) and J(1).
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• BIDDING
The auctioneer accepts bids from:
(a) bidders in the saleroom; (b) telephone bidders, and internet bidders through ‘Christie’s LIVE™ (as shown above in Section B6); and (c) written bids (also known as absentee bids or commission bids) left with us by a bidder before the auction.
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• BIDDING ON BEHALF OF THE SELLER
The auctioneer may, at their sole option, bid on behalf of the seller up to but not including the amount of the reserve either by making consecutive bids or by making bids in response to other bidders. The auctioneer will not identify these as bids made on behalf of the seller and will not make any bid on behalf of the seller at or above the reserve. If lots are offered without reserve, the auctioneer will generally decide to open the bidding at 50% of the low estimate for the lot. If no bid is made at that level, the auctioneer may decide to go backwards at their sole option until a bid is made, and then continue up from that amount. In the event that there are no bids on a lot, the auctioneer may deem such lot unsold.
6 • BID INCREMENTS
Bidding generally starts below the low estimate and increases in steps (bid increments). The auctioneer will decide at their sole option where the bidding should start and the bid increments.
• CURRENCY CONVERTER
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The saleroom video screens (and Christies LIVE™) may show bids in some other major currencies as well as sterling. Any conversion is for guidance only and we cannot be bound by any rate of exchange used. Christie’s is not responsible for any error (human or otherwise), omission or breakdown in providing these services.
• SUCCESSFUL BIDS
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Unless the auctioneer decides to use their discretion as set out in paragraph C3 above, when the auctioneer’s hammer strikes, we have accepted the last bid. This means a contract for sale has been formed between the seller and the successful bidder. We will issue an invoice only to the registered bidder who made the successful bid. While we send out invoices by post and/or email after the auction, we do not accept responsibility for telling you whether or not your bid was successful. If you have bid by written bid, you should contact us by telephone or in person as soon as possible after the auction to get details of the outcome of your bid to avoid having to pay unnecessary storage charges.
• LOCAL BIDDING LAWS
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You agree that when bidding in any of our sales that you will strictly comply with all local laws and regulations in force at the time of the sale for the relevant sale site.
D • THE BUYER’S PREMIUM, TAXES AND ARTIST’S RESALE ROYALTY
1 • THE BUYER’S PREMIUM
In addition to the hammer price, the successful bidder agrees to pay us a buyer’s premium on the hammer price of each lot sold. On all lots we charge 27% of the hammer price up to and including £1,000,000, 22% on that part of the hammer price over £1,000,000 and up to and including £6,000,000, and 15% of that part of the hammer price above £6,000,000. VAT will be added to the buyer’s premium and is payable by you. For lots offered under the VAT Margin Scheme or Temporary Admission VAT rules, the VAT may not be shown separately on our invoice because of tax laws. You may be eligible to have a VAT refund in certain circumstances if the lot is exported. Please see the “VAT refunds: what can I reclaim?” section of ‘VAT Symbols and Explanation’ for further information.
2 • TAXES
The successful bidder is responsible for all applicable tax including any VAT, GST, sales or compensating use tax or equivalent tax wherever such taxes may arise on the hammer price and the buyer’s premium VAT charges and refunds depend on the particular circumstances of the buyer. It is the buyer’s responsibility to ascertain and pay all taxes due. VAT is payable on the buyer’s premium and, for some lots, VAT is payable on the hammer price Following the departure of the UK from the EU (Brexit), UK VAT and Customs rules will apply only. For lots Christie’s ships or delivers to the United States, sales or use tax may be due on the hammer price buyer’s premium and/or any other charges related to the lot, regardless of the nationality or citizenship of the purchaser. Christie’s will collect sales tax where legally required. The applicable sales tax rate will be determined based upon the state, county, or locale to which the lot will be shipped or delivered. Successful bidders claiming an exemption from sales tax must provide appropriate documentation to Christie’s prior to the release of the lot. For shipments/deliveries to those states for which Christie’s is not required to collect sales tax, a successful bidder may be required to remit use tax to that state’s taxing authorities. Christie’s recommends you obtain your own independent tax advice with further questions.
For lots Christie’s ships or delivers to Jersey (Channel Islands), GST at a rate of 5% will be due on the hammer price, buyer’s premium, freight charges (as set out on your Shipping Quote Acceptance Form) and any applicable customs duty. Christie’s will collect GST from you, where legally required to do so.
For lots purchased by a successful bidder with a registered address in India and who has bid via Christie’s LIVE™, an Indian Equalisation Levy Tax at a rate of 2% will be due on the hammer price and buyer’s premium (exclusive of any applicable VAT). Christie’s will collect the Indian Equalisation Levy Tax from you, where required to do so.
• ARTIST’S RESALE ROYALTY
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In certain countries, local laws entitle the artist or the artist’s estate to a royalty known as ‘artist’s resale right’ when any lot created by the artist is sold. We identify these lots with the λ symbol next to the lot number. If these laws apply to a lot, you must pay us an extra amount equal to the royalty. We will pay the royalty to the appropriate authority on the seller’s behalf.
The artist’s resale royalty applies if the hammer price of the lot is 1,000 GBP or more if located in the United Kingdom at the time of sale. The total royalty for any lot cannot be more than 12,500 GBP. We work out the amount owed as follows:
Royalty for the portion of the hammer price (in Pounds Sterling)
4% up to 50,000
3% between 50,000.01 and 200,000
1% between 200,000.01 and 350,000
0.50% between 350,000.01 and 500,000 over 500,000, the lower of 0.25% and 12,500 GBP.
• WARRANTIES
E
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• SELLER’S WARRANTIES
For each lot, the seller gives a warranty that the seller:
(a) is the owner of the lot or a joint owner of the lot acting with the permission of the other co-owners or, if the seller is not the owner or a joint owner of the lot, has the permission of the owner to sell the lot or the right to do so in law; and
(b) has the right to transfer ownership of the lot to the buyer without any restrictions or claims by anyone else.
If one or more of the above warranties are incorrect, the seller shall not have to pay more than the purchase price (as defined in paragraph F1(a) below) paid by you to us. The seller will not be responsible to you for any reason for loss of profits or business, expected savings, loss of opportunity or interest, costs, damages, other damages or expenses.
The seller gives no warranty in relation to any lot other than as set out above and, as far as the seller is allowed by law, all warranties from the seller to you, and all other obligations upon the seller which may be added to this agreement by law, are excluded.
• OUR AUTHENTICITY WARRANTY
2
We warrant, subject to the terms below, that the lots in our sales are authentic (our ‘authenticity warranty’). If, within five years of the date of the auction, you give notice to us that your lot is not authentic subject to the terms below, we will refund the purchase price paid by you. The meaning of authentic can be found in the glossary at the end of these Conditions of Sale. The terms of the authenticity warranty are as follows:
(a) It will be honoured for claims notified within a period of five years from the date of the auction. After such time, we will not be obligated to honour the authenticity warranty
(b) It is given only for information shown in UPPERCASE type in the first line of the catalogue description (the ‘Heading’). It does not apply to any information other than in the Heading even if shown in UPPERCASE type
(c) The authenticity warranty does not apply to any Heading or part of a Heading which is qualified Qualified means limited by a clarification in a lot’s catalogue description or by the use in a Heading of one of the terms listed in the section titled Qualified Headings on the page of the catalogue headed ‘Important Notices and Explanation of Cataloguing Practice’. For example, use of the term ‘ATTRIBUTED TO…’ in a Heading means that the lot is in Christie’s opinion probably a work by the named artist but no warranty is provided that the lot is the work of the named artist. Please read the full list of Qualified Headings and a lot’s full catalogue description before bidding.
(d) The authenticity warranty applies to the Heading as amended by any Saleroom notice
(e) The authenticity warranty does not apply where scholarship has developed since the auction leading to a change in generally accepted opinion. Further, it does not apply if the Heading either matched the generally accepted opinion of experts at the date of the sale or drew attention to any conflict of opinion.
(f) The authenticity warranty does not apply if the lot can only be shown not to be authentic by a scientific process which, on the date we published the catalogue, was not available or generally accepted for use, or which was unreasonably expensive or impractical, or which was likely to have damaged the lot
(g) The benefit of the authenticity warranty is only available to the original buyer shown on the invoice for the lot issued at the time of the sale and only if, on the date of the notice of claim, the original buyer is the full owner of the lot and the lot is free from any claim, interest or restriction by anyone else. The benefit of this authenticity warranty may not be transferred to anyone else.
(h) In order to claim under the authenticity warranty, you must: (i) give us written notice of your claim within five years of the date of the auction. We may require full details and supporting evidence of any such claim;
(ii) at Christie’s option, we may require you to provide the written opinions of two recognised experts in the field of the lot mutually agreed by you and us in advance confirming that the lot is not authentic If we have any doubts, we reserve the right to obtain additional opinions at our expense; and
(iii) return the lot at your expense to the saleroom from which you bought it in the condition it was in at the time of sale.
(i) Your only right under this authenticity warranty is to cancel the sale and receive a refund of the purchase price paid by you to us. We will not, in any circumstances, be required to pay you more than the purchase price nor will we be liable for any loss of profits or business, loss of opportunity or value, expected savings or interest, costs, damages, other damages or expenses.
(j) Books. Where the lot is a book, we give an additional warranty for 14 days from the date of the sale that if on collation any lot is defective in text or illustration, we will refund your purchase price, subject to the following terms:
(i) This additional warranty does not apply to:
(a) the absence of blanks, half titles, tissue guards or advertisements, damage in respect of bindings, stains, spotting, marginal tears or other defects not affecting completeness of the text or illustration;
(b) drawings, autographs, letters or manuscripts, signed photographs, music, atlases, maps or periodicals;
(c) books not identified by title;
(d) lots sold without a printed estimate;
(e) books which are described in the catalogue as sold not subject to return; or
(f) defects stated in any condition report or announced at the time of sale.
(ii) To make a claim under this paragraph you must give written details of the defect and return the lot to the sale room at which you bought it in the same condition as at the time of sale, within 14 days of the date of the sale.
(K) South East Asian Modern and Contemporary Art and Chinese Calligraphy and Painting.
In these categories, the authenticity warranty does not apply because current scholarship does not permit the making of definitive statements. Christie’s does, however, agree to cancel a sale in either of these two categories of art where it has been proven the lot is a forgery. Christie’s will refund to the original buyer the purchase price in accordance with the terms of Christie’s authenticity warranty provided that the original buyer notifies us with full supporting evidence documenting the forgery claim within twelve (12) months of the date of the auction. Such evidence must be satisfactory to us that the lot is a forgery in accordance with paragraph E2(h)(ii) above and the lot must be returned to us in accordance with E2h(iii) above. Paragraphs E2(b), (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g) and (i) also apply to a claim under these categories.
(l) Chinese, Japanese and Korean artefacts (excluding Chinese, Japanese and Korean calligraphy, paintings, prints, drawings and jewellery).
In these categories, paragraph E2 (b) – (e) above shall be amended so that where no maker or artist is identified, the authenticity warranty is given not only for the Heading but also for information regarding date or period shown in UPPERCASE type in the second line of the catalogue description (the “SubHeading”). Accordingly, all references to the Heading in paragraph E2 (b) – (e) above shall be read as references to both the Heading and the SubHeading
3 • YOUR WARRANTIES
(a) You warrant that the funds used for settlement are not connected with any criminal activity, including tax evasion, and you are neither under investigation, nor have you been charged with or convicted of money laundering, terrorist activities or other crimes.
(b) Where you are bidding as agent on behalf of any ultimate buyer(s) who will put you in funds before you pay Christie’s for the lot(s), you warrant that:
(i) you have conducted appropriate customer due diligence on the ultimate buyer(s) and have complied with all applicable anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing and sanctions laws;
(ii) you will disclose to us the identity of the ultimate buyer(s) (including any officers and beneficial owner(s) of the ultimate buyer(s) and any persons acting on its behalf) and on our request, provide documents to verify their identity;
(iii) the arrangements between you and the ultimate buyer(s) in relation to the lot or otherwise do not, in whole or in part, facilitate tax crimes;
(iv) you do not know, and have no reason to suspect that the ultimate buyer(s) (or its officers, beneficial owners or any persons acting on its behalf) are on a sanctions list, are under investigation for, charged with or convicted of money laundering, terrorist activities or other crimes, or that the funds used for settlement are connected with the proceeds of any criminal activity, including tax evasion; and
(v) where you are a regulated person who is supervised for anti-money laundering purposes under the laws of the EEA or another jurisdiction with requirements equivalent to the EU 4th Money Laundering Directive, and we do not request documents to verify the ultimate buyer’s identity at the time of registration, you consent to us relying on your due diligence on the ultimate buyer, and will retain their identification and verification documents for a period of not less than 5 years from the date of the transaction. You will make such documentation available for immediate inspection on our request.
F • PAYMENT
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• HOW TO PAY
(a) Immediately following the auction, you must pay the purchase price being:
(i) the hammer price; and
(ii) the buyer’s premium; and
(iii) any amounts due under section D3 above; and
(iv) any duties, goods, sales, use, compensating or service tax or VAT.
Payment is due no later than by the end of the seventh calendar day following the date of the auction, or no later than 24 hours after we issue you with an invoice in the case of payment made in cryptocurrency, as the case may be (the ‘due date’).
(b) We will only accept payment from the registered bidder. Once issued, we cannot change the buyer’s name on an invoice or re-issue the invoice in a different name. You must pay immediately even if you want to export the lot and you need an export licence.
(c) You must pay for lots bought at Christie’s in the United Kingdom in the currency stated on the invoice in one of the following ways:
(i) Wire transfer
You must make payments to: Lloyds Bank Plc, City Office, PO Box 217, 72 Lombard Street, London EC3P 3BT. Account number: 00172710, sort code: 30-00-02 Swift code: LOYDGB2LCTY. IBAN (international bank account number): GB81 LOYD 3000 0200 1727 10.
(ii) Credit Card
We accept most major credit cards subject to certain conditions. You may make payment via credit card in person. You may also make a ‘cardholder not present’ (CNP) payment by calling Christie’s Post-Sale Services Department on +44 (0)20 7752 3200 or for some sales, by logging into your MyChristie’s account by going to: www.christies. com/mychristies. Details of the conditions and restrictions applicable to credit card payments are available from our Post-Sale Services Department, whose details are set out in paragraph (e) below.
If you pay for your purchase using a credit card issued outside the region of the sale, depending on the type of credit card and account you hold, the payment may incur a cross-border transaction fee. If you think this may apply to, you, please check with your credit card issuer before making the payment.
Please note that for sales that permit online payment, certain transactions will be ineligible for credit card payment.
(iii) Cash
We do not accept cash in England.
(iv) Banker’s draft
You must make these payable to Christie’s and there may be conditions.
(v) Cheque
You must make cheques payable to Christie’s. Cheques must be from accounts in pounds sterling (GBP) from a United Kingdom bank.
(vi) Cryptocurrency
With the exception of clients resident in Mainland China, payment for a lot marked with the symbol may be made in a cryptocurrency or cryptocurrencies of our choosing. Such cryptocurrency payments must be made in accordance with the Terms for Payment by Buyers in Cryptocurrency set out at Appendix B in these Conditions of Sale.
(d) You must quote the sale number, lot number(s), your invoice number and Christie’s client account number when making a payment. All payments sent by post must be sent to: Christie’s, Cashiers Department, 8 King Street, St James’s, London, SW1Y 6QT.
(e) For more information please contact our Post-Sale Service Department by phone on +44 (0)20 7752 3200 or fax on +44 (0)20 752 3300.
2 • TRANSFERRING OWNERSHIP TO YOU
You will not own the lot and ownership of the lot will not pass to you until we have received full and clear payment of the purchase price, even in circumstances where we have released the lot to the buyer.
3 • TRANSFERRING RISK TO YOU
The risk in and responsibility for the lot will transfer to you from whichever is the earlier of the following:
(a) When you collect the lot; or
(b) At the end of the 30th day following the date of the auction or, if earlier, the date the lot is taken into care by a third-party warehouse as set out on the page headed ‘Storage and Collection’, unless we have agreed otherwise with you in writing.
• WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DO NOT PAY
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(a) If you fail to pay us the purchase price in full by the due date, we will be entitled to do one or more of the following (as well as enforce our rights under paragraph F5 and any other rights or remedies we have by law):
(i) to charge interest from the due date at a rate of 5% a year above the UK Lloyds Bank base rate from time to time on the unpaid amount due;
(ii) we can cancel the sale of the lot. If we do this, we may sell the lot again, publicly or privately on such terms we shall think necessary or appropriate, in which case you must pay us any shortfall between the purchase price and the proceeds from the resale. You must also pay all costs, expenses, losses, damages and legal fees we have to pay or may suffer and any shortfall in the seller’s commission on the resale;
(iii) we can pay the seller an amount up to the net proceeds payable in respect of the amount bid by your default in which case you acknowledge and understand that Christie’s will have all of the rights of the seller to pursue you for such amounts;
(iv) we can hold you legally responsible for the purchase price and may begin legal proceedings to recover it together with other losses, interest, legal fees and costs as far as we are allowed by law;
(v) we can take what you owe us from any amounts which we or any company in the Christie’s Group may owe you (including any deposit or other part-payment which you have paid to us);
(vi) we can, at our option, reveal your identity and contact details to the seller;
(vii) we can reject at any future auction any bids made by or on behalf of the buyer or to obtain a deposit from the buyer before accepting any bids;
(viii) to exercise all the rights and remedies of a person holding security over any property in our possession owned by you, whether by way of pledge, security interest or in any other way as permitted by the law of the place where such property is located. You will be deemed to have granted such security to us and we may retain such property as collateral security for your obligations to us; and
(ix) we can take any other action we see necessary or appropriate.
(b) If you owe money to us or to another Christie’s Group company, we can use any amount you do pay, including any deposit or other partpayment you have made to us, or which we owe you, to pay off any amount you owe to us or another Christie’s Group company for any transaction.
(c) If you make payment in full after the due date, and we choose to accept such payment we may charge you storage and transport costs from the date that is ninety (90) calendar days following the auction in accordance with paragraphs Gc and Gd.
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• KEEPING YOUR PROPERTY
If you owe money to us or to another Christie’s Group company, as well as the rights set out in F4 above, we can use or deal with any of your property we hold or which is held by another Christie’s Group company in any way we are allowed to by law. We will only release your property to you after you pay us or the relevant Christie’s Group company in full for what you owe.
However, if we choose, we can also sell your property in any way we think appropriate. We will use the proceeds of the sale against any amounts you owe us and we will pay any amount left from that sale to you. If there is a shortfall, you must pay us any difference between the amount we have received from the sale and the amount you owe us.
• COLLECTION AND STORAGE
G
(a) You must collect purchased lots within thirty (30) days from the auction (but note that lots will not be released to you until you have made full and clear payment of all amounts due to us).
(b) If you do not collect any lot within ninety (90) days following the auction we can, at our option:
(i) charge you storage costs at the rates set out at www.christies.com/ en/help/buying-guide/storage-fees.
(ii) move the lot to another Christie’s location or an affiliate or third party warehouse and charge you transport costs and administration fees for doing so and you will be subject to the third party storage warehouse’s standard terms and to pay for their standard fees and costs.use’s standard terms and to pay for their standard fees and costs. (iii) sell the lot in any commercially reasonable way we think appropriate.
(c) The Storage Conditions which can be found at www.christies.com/en/ help/buying-guide/storage-conditions will apply.
(d) Nothing in this paragraph is intended to limit our rights under paragraph F4.
• TRANSPORT AND SHIPPING
H
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• TRANSPORT AND SHIPPING
We will enclose a transport and shipping form with each invoice sent to you. You must make all transport and shipping arrangements. However, we can arrange to pack, transport and ship your property if you ask us to and pay the costs of doing so. We recommend that you ask us for an estimate especially for any large items or items of high value that need professional packing before you bid. We may also suggest other handlers, packers, transporters or experts if you ask us to do so. For more information, please contact Christie’s Art Transport on +44 (0)20 7839 9060. See the information set out at www.christies.com/ shipping or contact us at arttransportlondon@christies.com. We will take reasonable care when we are handling, packing, transporting and shipping a lot. However, if we recommend another company for any of these purposes, we are not responsible for their acts, failure to act or neglect.
• EXPORT AND IMPORT
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Any lot sold at auction may be affected by laws on exports from the country in which it is sold and the import restrictions of other countries. Many countries require a declaration of export for property leaving the country and/or an import declaration on entry of property into the country. Local laws may prevent you from importing a lot or may prevent you selling a lot in the country you import it into. We will not be obliged to cancel your purchase and refund the purchase price if your lot may not be exported, imported or it is seized for any reason by a government authority. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy the requirements of any applicable laws or regulations relating to the export or import of any lot you purchase.
(a) You alone are responsible for getting advice about and meeting the requirements of any laws or regulations which apply to exporting or importing any lot prior to bidding. If you are refused a licence or there is a delay in getting one, you must still pay us in full for the lot. We may be able to help you apply for the appropriate licences if you ask us to and pay our fee for doing so. However, we cannot guarantee that you will get one. For more information, please contact Christie’s Art Transport Department on +44 (0)20 7839 9060. See the information set out at www.christies.com/shipping or contact us at arttransport_ london@ christies.com.
(b) You alone are responsible for any applicable taxes, tariffs or other government-imposed charges relating to the export or import of the lot. If Christie’s exports or imports the lot on your behalf, and if Christie’s pays these applicable taxes, tariffs or other governmentimposed charges, you agree to refund that amount to Christie’s.
(c) Lots made of protected species
Lots made of or including (regardless of the percentage) endangered and other protected species of wildlife are marked with the symbol ~ in the catalogue. This material includes, among other things, ivory, tortoiseshell, crocodile skin, rhinoceros horn, whalebone, certain species of coral, and Brazilian rosewood. You should check the relevant customs laws and regulations before bidding on any lot containing wildlife material if you plan to export the lot from the country in which the lot is sold and import it into another country as a licence may be required. In some cases, the lot can only be shipped with an independent scientific confirmation of species and/or age, and you will need to obtain these at your own cost. Several countries have imposed restrictions on dealing in elephant ivory, ranging from a total ban on importing African elephant ivory in the United States to importing, exporting and selling under strict measures in other countries. The UK and EU have both implemented regulations on selling, exporting and importing elephant ivory. In our London sales, lots made of or including elephant ivory material are marked with the symbol and are offered with the benefit of being registered as ‘exempt’ in accordance with the UK Ivory Act. Handbags containing endangered or protected species material are marked with the symbol ≈ and further information can be found in paragraph H2(h) below. We will not be obliged to cancel your purchase and refund the purchase price if your lot may not be exported, imported or it is seized for any reason by a government authority. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy the requirements of any applicable laws or regulations relating to the export or import of property containing such protected or regulated material.
(d) Lots of Iranian origin
As a convenience to buyers, Christie’s indicates under the title of a lot if the lot originates from Iran (Persia). Some countries prohibit or restrict the purchase and/or import of Iranian-origin property. It is your responsibility to ensure you do not bid on or import a lot in contravention of any sanctions, trade embargoes or other laws that apply to you. For example, the USA prohibits dealings in and import of Iranian-origin “works of conventional craftsmanship” (such as carpets, textiles, decorative objects, and scientific instruments) without an appropriate licence. Christie’s has a general OFAC licence which, subject to compliance with certain conditions, may enable a buyer to import this type of lot into the USA. If you use Christie’s general OFAC licence for this purpose, you agree to comply with the licence conditions and provide Christie’s with all relevant information. You also acknowledge that Christie’s will disclose your personal information and your use of the licence to OFAC.
(e) Gold
Gold of less than 18ct does not qualify in all countries as ‘gold’ and may be refused import into those countries as ‘gold’.
(f) Jewellery over 50 years old
Under current laws, jewellery over 50 years old which is worth £39,219 or more will require an export licence which we can apply for on your behalf. It may take up to eight weeks to obtain the export jewellery licence.
(g) Watches
Many of the watches offered for sale in this catalogue are pictured with straps made of endangered or protected animal materials such as alligator or crocodile. These lots are marked with the symbol ψ in the catalogue. These endangered species straps are shown for display purposes only and are not for sale. Christie’s will remove and retain the strap prior to shipment from the sale site. At some sale sites, Christie’s may, at its discretion, make the displayed endangered species strap available to the buyer of the lot free of charge if collected in person from the sale site within one year of the date of the sale. Please check with the department for details on a particular lot. For all symbols and other markings referred to in paragraph H2, please note that lots are marked as a convenience to you, but we do not accept liability for errors or for failing to mark lots
(h) Handbags
A lot marked with the symbol ≈ next to the lot number includes endangered or protected species material and is subject to CITES regulations. This lot may only be shipped to an address within the country of the sale site or personally picked up from our saleroom. The term “hardware” refers to the metallic parts of the handbag, such as the buckle hardware, base studs, lock and keys and/or strap, which are plated with a coloured finish (e.g. gold, silver, palladium). The terms “Gold Hardware”, “Silver Hardware”, “Palladium Hardware”, etc. refer to the tone or colour of the hardware and not the actual material used. If the handbag incorporates solid metal hardware, this will be referenced in the catalogue description.
I • OUR LIABILITY TO YOU
(a) We give no warranty in relation to any statement made, or information given, by us or our representatives or employees, about any lot other than as set out in the authenticity warranty and, as far as we are allowed by law, all warranties and other terms which may be added to this agreement by law are excluded. The seller’s warranties contained in paragraph E1 are their own and we do not have any liability to you in relation to those warranties
(b) (i) We are not responsible to you for any reason (whether for breaking this agreement or any other matter relating to your purchase of, or bid for, any lot) other than in the event of fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation by us or other than as expressly set out in these Conditions of Sale; or (ii) we do not give any representation, warranty or guarantee or assume any liability of any kind in respect of any lot with regard to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, description, size, quality, condition, attribution, authenticity, rarity, importance, medium, provenance, exhibition history, literature, or historical relevance. Except as required by local law, any warranty of any kind is excluded by this paragraph.
(c) In particular, please be aware that our written and telephone bidding services, Christie’s LIVE™, condition reports, currency converter and saleroom video screens are free services and we are not responsible to you for any error (human or otherwise), omission or breakdown in these services.
(d) We have no responsibility to any person other than a buyer in connection with the purchase of any lot
(e) If, in spite of the terms in paragraphs (a) to (d) or E2(i) above, we are found to be liable to you for any reason, we shall not have to pay more than the purchase price paid by you to us. We will not be responsible to you for any reason for loss of profits or business, loss of opportunity or value, expected savings or interest, costs, damages, or expenses.
J • OTHER TERMS
1 • OUR ABILITY TO CANCEL
In addition to the other rights of cancellation contained in this agreement, we can cancel a sale of a lot if: (i) any of your warranties in paragraph E3 are not correct; (ii) we reasonably believe that completing the transaction is or may be unlawful; or (iii) we reasonably believe that the sale places us or the seller under any liability to anyone else or may damage our reputation.
2 • RECORDINGS
We may videotape and record proceedings at any auction. We will keep any personal information confidential, except to the extent disclosure is required by law. However, we may, through this process, use or share these recordings with another Christie’s Group company and marketing partners to analyse our customers and to help us to tailor our services for buyers. If you do not want to be videotaped, you may make arrangements to make a telephone or written bid or bid on Christie’s LIVE™ instead. Unless we agree otherwise in writing, you may not videotape or record proceedings at any auction.
• COPYRIGHT
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We own the copyright in all images, illustrations and written material produced by or for us relating to a lot (including the contents of our catalogues unless otherwise noted in the catalogue). You cannot use them without our prior written permission. We do not offer any guarantee that you will gain any copyright or other reproduction rights to the lot
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4 • ENFORCING THIS AGREEMENT
If a court finds that any part of this agreement is not valid or is illegal or impossible to enforce, that part of the agreement will be treated as being deleted and the rest of this agreement will not be affected.
• TRANSFERRING YOUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
You may not grant a security over or transfer your rights or responsibilities under these terms on the contract of sale with the buyer unless we have given our written permission. This agreement will be binding on your successors or estate and anyone who takes over your rights and responsibilities.
• TRANSLATIONS
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If we have provided a translation of this agreement, we will use this original version in deciding any issues or disputes which arise under this agreement.
• PERSONAL INFORMATION
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We will hold and process your personal information and may pass it to another Christie’s Group company for use as described in, and in line with, our privacy notice at www.christies.com/about-us/contact/ privacy and if you are a resident of California you can see a copy of our California Consumer Privacy Act statement at https://www.christies. com/about-us/contact/ccpa
8 • WAIVER
No failure or delay to exercise any right or remedy provided under these Conditions of Sale shall constitute a waiver of that or any other right or remedy, nor shall it prevent or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy. No single or partial exercise of such right or remedy shall prevent or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy.
9 • LAW AND DISPUTES
This agreement, and any contractual or non-contractual dispute arising out of or in connection with this agreement, will be governed by English law. Before either you or we start any court proceedings and if you and we agree, you and we will try to settle the dispute by mediation in accordance with the CEDR Model Mediation Procedure. If the dispute is not settled by mediation, you agree for our benefit that the dispute will be referred to and dealt with exclusively in the English courts; however, we will have the right to bring proceedings against you in any other court.
10 •REPORTING ON WWW.CHRISTIES.COM
Details of all lots sold by us, including catalogue descriptions and prices, may be reported on www.christies.com. Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees, or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits. We regret that we cannot agree to requests to remove these details from www.christies.com
• GLOSSARY
K
auctioneer: the individual auctioneer and/or Christie’s. authentic: a genuine example, rather than a copy or forgery of:
(i) the work of a particular artist, author or manufacturer, if the lot is described in the Heading as the work of that artist, author or manufacturer; (ii) a work created within a particular period or culture, if the lot is described in the Heading as a work created during that period or culture;
(iii) a work for a particular origin source if the lot is described in the Heading as being of that origin or source; or
(iv) in the case of gems, a work which is made of a particular material, if the lot is described in the Heading as being made of that material.
authenticity warranty: the guarantee we give in this agreement that a lot is authentic as set out in section E2 of this agreement.
buyer’s premium: the charge the buyer pays us along with the hammer price catalogue description: the description of a lot in the catalogue for the auction, as amended by any saleroom notice
Christie’s Group: Christie’s International Plc, its subsidiaries and other companies within its corporate group.
condition: the physical condition of a lot
due date: has the meaning given to it in paragraph F1(a).
estimate: the price range included in the catalogue or any saleroom notice within which we believe a lot may sell. Low estimate means the lower figure in the range and high estimate means the higher figure.
The mid estimate is the midpoint between the two.
hammer price: the amount of the highest bid the auctioneer accepts for the sale of a lot
Heading: has the meaning given to it in paragraph E2.
SubHeading: has the meaning given to it in paragraph E2.
lot: an item to be offered at auction (or two or more items to be offered at auction as a group).
other damages: any special, consequential, incidental or indirect damages of any kind or any damages which fall within the meaning of ‘special’, ‘incidental’ or ‘consequential’ under local law.
purchase price: has the meaning given to it in paragraph F1(a).
provenance: the ownership history of a lot
qualified: has the meaning given to it in paragraph E2 and Qualified Headings means the section headed Qualified Headings on the page of the catalogue headed ‘Important Notices and Explanation of Cataloguing Practice’.
reserve: the confidential amount below which we will not sell a lot saleroom notice: a written notice posted next to the lot in the saleroom and on www.christies.com, which is also read to prospective telephone bidders and notified to clients who have left commission bids, or an announcement made by the auctioneer either at the beginning of the sale, or before a particular lot is auctioned.
UPPER CASE type: means having all capital letters.
warranty: a statement or representation in which the person making it guarantees that the facts set out in it are correct.
VAT SYMBOLS AND EXPLANATION (FOR ALL LOTS EXCLUDING NFTS)
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The VAT liability in force on the date of the sale will be the rules under which we invoice you. You can find the meanings of words in bold on this page in the glossary section of the Conditions of Sale.
VAT PAYABLE
Symbol
No Symbol
†
θ
We will use the VAT Margin Scheme in accordance with Section 50A of the VAT Act 1994 & SI VAT (Special Provisions) Order 1995. No VAT will be charged on the hammer price VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
We will invoice under standard VAT rules and VAT will be charged at 20% on both the hammer price and buyer’s premium and shown separately on our invoice. For qualifying books only, no VAT is payable on the hammer price or the buyer’s premium
* These lots have been imported from outside the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
Ω These lots have been imported from outside the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Customs Duty as applicable will be added to the hammer price and Import VAT at 20% will be charged on the Duty Inclusive hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
α The VAT treatment will depend on whether you have registered to bid with a UK address or non-UK address:
• If you register to bid with an address within the UK you will be invoiced under the VAT Margin Scheme (see No Symbol above).
• If you register to bid with an address outside of the UK you will be invoiced under standard VAT rules (see † symbol above) ‡ For wine offered ‘in bond’ only. If you choose to buy the wine in bond no Excise Duty or Clearance VAT will be charged on the hammer If you choose to buy the wine out of bond Excise Duty as applicable will be added to the hammer price and Clearance VAT at 20% will be charged on the Duty inclusive hammer price Whether you buy the wine in bond or out of bond, 20% VAT will be added to the buyer’s premium and shown on the invoice.
VAT refunds: what can I reclaim?
Non-UK buyer If you meet ALL of the conditions in notes 1 to 3 below we will refund the following tax charges:
No symbol We will refund the VAT amount in the buyer’s premium
† and α We will refund the VAT charged on the hammer price. VAT on the buyer’s premium can only be refunded if you are an overseas business. The VAT amount in the buyer’s premium cannot be refunded to non-trade clients.
‡ (wine only)
No Excise Duty or Clearance VAT will be charged on the hammer price providing you export the wine while ‘in bond’ directly outside the UK using an Excise authorised shipper. VAT on the buyer’s premium can only be refunded if you are an overseas business. The VAT amount in the buyer’s premium cannot be refunded to non-trade clients.
* and Ω We will refund the Import VAT charged on the hammer price and the VAT amount in the buyer’s premium
1. We CANNOT offer refunds of VAT amounts or Import VAT to buyers who do not meet all applicable conditions in full. If you are unsure whether you will be entitled to a refund, please contact Client Services at the address below before you bid.
2. No VAT amounts or Import VAT will be refunded where the total refund is under £100.
3. To receive a refund of VAT amounts/ Import VAT (as applicable) a non-UK buyer must:
a) have registered to bid with an address outside of the UK; and
b) provide immediate proof of correct export out of the UK within the
required time frames of 90 days from the date of the sale. Lots purchased with the * and Ω symbol must be exported via a ‘controlled export’.
4. Details of the documents which you must provide to us to show satisfactory proof of export/ shipping are available from our VAT team at the address below.
We charge a processing fee of £35.00 per invoice to check shipping/ export documents. We will waive this processingfeeifyouappointChristie’s Shipping Department to arrange your export/shipping.
5. Following the UK’s departure from the EU (Brexit), private buyers will only be able to secure VAT-free invoicing and/or VAT refunds if they instruct Christie’s or a third party commercial shipper to export out of the UK on their behalf.
6. Private buyers who choose to export their purchased lots from the UK hand carry will now be charged VAT at the applicable rate and will not be able to claim a VAT refund.
7. IfyouappointChristie’sArtTransport or one of our authorised shippers to arrange your export/shipping we will issue you with an export invoice with the applicable VAT or duties cancelled as outlined above. If you
later cancel or change the shipment in a manner that infringes the rules outlined above we will issue a revised invoice charging you all applicable taxes/charges. If you export via a third party commercial shipper, you must provide us with sufficient proof of export in order for us to cancel the applicable VAT or duties outlined above.
8. If you ask us to re-invoice you under normal UK VAT rules (as if the lot had been sold with a † symbol) instead of under the Margin Scheme the lot may become ineligible to be resold using the Margin Schemes. You should take professional advice if you are unsure how this may affect you.
9. All reinvoicing requests, corrections, or other VAT adjustments must be received within four years from the date of sale.
If you have any questions about VAT refunds please contact Christie’s Client Services on info@christies.com
COPYRIGHT NOTICE No part of this catalogue may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Christie’s.
The meaning of words coloured in bold in this section can be found in paragraph K, Glossary, of the section of the catalogue headed ‘Conditions of Sale’.
º Christie’s has a direct financial interest in the lot. See Important Notices and Explanation of Cataloguing Practice in the Conditions of Sale for further information.
º
♦
Christie’s has provided a minimum price guarantee and has a direct financial interest in this lot. Christie’s has financed all or a part of such interest through a third party. Such third parties generally benefit financially if a guaranteed lot is sold. See the Important Notices in the Conditions of Sale for further information.
Christie’s has a financial interest in the lot. See Important Notices in the Conditions of Sale for further information.
Christie’s has a financial interest in this lot and has financed all or a part of such interest through a third party. Such third parties generally benefit financially if a guaranteed lot is sold. See the Important Notices in the Conditions of Sale for further information.
¤ A party with a direct or indirect interest in the lot who may have knowledge of the lot’s reserve or other material information may be bidding on the lot
λ
Artist’s Resale Right. See paragraph D3 of the Conditions of Sale for further information.
• Lot offered without reserve
Lot incorporates material from endangered species which could result in export restrictions. See paragraph H2(c) of the Conditions of Sale for further information.
≈
Handbag lot incorporates material from endangered species. International shipping restrictions apply. See paragraph H2 of the Conditions of Sale for further information.
Lot incorporates elephant ivory material. See paragraph H2 of the Conditions of Sale for further information.
ψ
Lot incorporates material from endangered species which is shown for display purposes only and is not for sale. See paragraph H2(h) of the Conditions of Sale for further information.
Lot is a Non Fungible Token (NFT). Please see Appendix A
– Additional Conditions of Sale – Non- Fungible Tokens in the Conditions of Sale for further information.
Lot contains both a Non Fungible Token (NFT) and a physical work of art. Please see Appendix A – Additional Conditions of Sale – Non-Fungible Tokens in the Conditions of Sale for further information.
With the exception of clients resident in Mainland China, you may elect to make payment of the purchase price for the lot via a digital wallet in the name of the registered bidder, which must be maintained with one of the following: Coinbase Custody Trust; Coinbase, Inc.; Fidelity Digital Assets Services, LLC; Gemini Trust Company, LLC; or Paxos Trust Company, LLC. Please see the lot notice and Appendix B – Terms for Payment by Buyers in Cryptocurrency in the Conditions of Sale for further requirements and information.
See VAT Symbols and Explanation in the Conditions of Sale for further information.
See Storage and Collection Page.
Please note that lots are marked as a convenience to you and we shall not be liable for any errors in, or failure to, mark a lot
IMPORTANT NOTICES
CHRISTIE’S INTEREST IN PROPERTY CONSIGNED FOR AUCTION
Δ Property in which Christie’s has an ownership or financial interest
From time to time, Christie’s may offer a lot in which Christie’s has an ownership interest or a financial interest. Such lot is identified in the catalogue with the symbol Δ next to its lot number. Where Christie’s has an ownership or financial interest in every lot in the catalogue, Christie’s will not designate each lot with a symbol, but will state its interest in the front of the catalogue.
º Minimum Price Guarantees
On occasion, Christie’s has a direct financial interest in the outcome of the sale of certain lots consigned for sale. This will usually be where it has guaranteed to the Seller that whatever the outcome of the auction, the Seller will receive a minimum sale price for the lot. This is known as a minimum price guarantee. Where Christie’s holds such financial interest, we identify such lots with the symbol ° next to the lot number.
º♦ Third Party Guarantees/Irrevocable bids
Where Christie’s has provided a Minimum Price Guarantee, it is at risk of making a loss, which can be significant if the lot fails to sell. Christie’s therefore sometimes chooses to share that risk with a third party who agrees, prior to the auction, to place an irrevocable written bid on the lot. If there are no other higher bids, the third party commits to buy the lot at the level of their irrevocable written bid. In doing so, the third party takes on all or part of the risk of the lot not being sold. Lots which are subject to a third party guarantee arrangement are identified in the catalogue with the symbol º♦ In most cases, Christie’s compensates the third party in exchange for accepting this risk. Where the third party is the successful bidder, the third party’s remuneration is based on a fixed financing fee. If the third party is not the successful bidder, the remuneration may either be based on a fixed fee or an amount calculated against the final hammer price. The third party may also bid for the lot above the irrevocable written bid.
Third party guarantors are required by us to disclose to anyone they are advising their financial interest in any lots they are guaranteeing. However, for the avoidance of any doubt, if you are advised by or bidding through an agent on a lot identified as being subject to a third party guarantee you should always ask your agent to confirm whether or not they have a financial interest in relation to the lot
Property in which Christie’s has an interest and Third Party Guarantee/Irrevocable bid
Where Christie’s has a financial interest in a lot and the lot fails to sell, Christie’s is at risk of making a loss. As such, Christie’s may choose to share that risk with a third party whereby the third party contractually agrees, prior to the auction, to place an irrevocable written bid on the lot. Such lot is identified with the symbol next to the lot number. Where the third party is the successful bidder on the lot, they will not receive compensation in exchange for accepting this risk. If the third party is not the successful bidder, Christie’s may compensate the third party. The third party is required by us to disclose to anyone they are advising of their financial interest in any lot in which Christie’s has a financial interest. If you are advised by or bidding through an agent on a lot in which Christie’s has a financial interest that is subject to a contractual written bid, you should always ask your agent to confirm whether or not they have a financial interest in relation to the lot
Bidding by parties with an interest
When a party with a direct or indirect interest in the lot who may have knowledge of the lot’s reserve or other material information may be bidding on the lot, we will mark the lot with this symbol ¤. This interest can include beneficiaries of an estate that consigned the lot or a joint owner of a lot Any interested party that successfully bids on a lot must comply with Christie’s Conditions of Sale, including paying the lot’s full buyer’s premium plus applicable taxes.
Post-catalogue notifications
If Christie’s enters into an arrangement or becomes aware of bidding that would have required a catalogue symbol, we will notify you by updating christies.com with the relevant information (time permitting) or otherwise by a pre-sale or prelot announcement.
Other Arrangements
Christie’s may enter into other arrangements not involving bids. These include arrangements where Christie’s has advanced money to consignors or prospective purchasers or where Christie’s has shared the risk of a guarantee with a partner without the partner being required to place an irrevocable written bid or otherwise participating in the bidding on the lot. Because such arrangements are unrelated to the bidding process they are not marked with a symbol in the catalogue.
Please see: http://www.christies.com/ financial-interest/ for a more detailed explanation of minimum price guarantees and third party financing arrangements.
EXPLANATION OF CATALOGUING PRACTICE
Terms used in a catalogue or lot description have the meanings ascribed to them below. Please note that all statements in a catalogue or lot description as to authorship are made subject to the provisions of the Conditions of Sale, including the authenticity warranty. Our use of these expressions does not take account of the condition of the lot or of the extent of any restoration. Written condition reports are usually available on request.
A term and its definition listed under ‘Qualified Headings’ is a qualified statement as to authorship. While the use of this term is based upon careful study and represents the opinion of specialists, Christie’s and the consignor assume no risk, liability and responsibility for the authenticity of authorship of any lot in this catalogue described by this term, and the authenticity warranty shall not be available with respect to lots described using this term.
PICTURES, DRAWINGS, PRINTS, MINIATURES AND SCULPTURE
Name(s) or Recognised Designation of an artist without any qualification: in Christie’s opinion a work by the artist.
QUALIFIED HEADINGS
Attributed to…”: in Christie’s qualified opinion probably a work by the artist in whole or in part.
“Studio of …”/“Workshop of …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a work executed in the studio or workshop of the artist, possibly under their supervision.
“Circle of …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a work of the period of the artist and showing their influence.
“Follower of …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a work executed in the artist’s style but not necessarily by a pupil.
“Manner of …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a work executed in the artist’s style but of a later date.
“After …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a copy (of any date) of a work of the artist.
“Signed …”/“Dated …”/ “Inscribed …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion the work has been signed/dated/inscribed by the artist.
“With signature …”/“With date …”/ “With inscription …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion the signature/ date/inscription appears to be by a hand other than that of the artist.
The date given for Old Master, Modern and Contemporary Prints is the date (or approximate date when prefixed with ‘circa’) on which the matrix was worked and not necessarily the date when the impression was printed or published.
STORAGE AND COLLECTION
COLLECTION LOCATION AND TERMS
Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square ( ) not collected from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London SW1Y 6QT by 5.00pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Crozier Park Royal (details below). Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite.
If the lot is transferred to Crozier Park Royal, it will be available for collection from 12.00pm on the second business day following the sale.
Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by prebooked appointment only
Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com.
If the lot remains at Christie’s, 8 King Street, it will be available for collection on any working day (not weekends) from 9.00am to 5.00pm.
COLLECTION AND CONTACT DETAILS
Lots will only be released on payment of all charges due and on production of a Collection Form from Christie’s. Charges may be paid in advance or at the time of collection. We may charge fees for storage if your lot is not collected within thirty days from the sale. Please see paragraph G of the Conditions of Sale for further detail.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com
SHIPPING AND DELIVERY
Christie’s Post-Sale Service can organise local deliveries or international freight. Please contact them on +44 (0)20 7752 3200 or PostSaleUK@christies.com.
CROZIER PARK ROYAL
Unit 7, Central Park Central Way London NW10 7FY
Vehicle access via Central Way only, off Acton Lane.
COLLECTION FROM CROZIER PARK ROYAL
Please note that the opening hours for Crozier Park Royal are Monday to Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm and lots transferred are not available for collection at weekends.
Identity Verification
Anti-money laundering regulations require Christie’s and other art businesses to verify the identity of all clients. To register as a new client, you will need to provide the following documents, or if you are an existing client, you will be prompted to provide any outstanding documents the next time you transact.
Private Individuals
• A copy of your passport or other government-issued photo ID.
• Proof of your residential address (such as a bank statement or utility bill) dated within the last three months.
Please upload your documents through your christies.com account: click ‘My Account’ followed by ‘Complete Profile’. You can also email your documents to info@christies.com or provide them in person.
Organisations
• Formal documents showing the company’s incorporation, its registered office and business address, and its officers, members and ultimate beneficial owners.
• A passport or other government issued photo ID for each beneficial owner and authorised user.
Please email your documents to info@christies.com or provide them in person.
THE HEGEWISCH COLLECTION: SELECTED EXHIBITIONS HELD AT
OR IN COOPERATION WITH THE HAMBURGER KUNSTHALLE
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Max BeckmannBerliner Reise, February – March 1984.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Pablo Picasso – Der Blinde Minotaurus, February 1997, catalogue by Christoph Heinrich, with a contribution by Werner Spies.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Verhext –Phantastische Graphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, November 1997 – March 1998.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann –Menschenorchester, August – November 1998.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des Künstlers – Druckgraphik und vorbereitende Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, Part I & II: March - October 2000, catalogue by Sebastian Giesen.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Weibsbilder, September 2000 – July 2001.
Ernst Barlach Haus, Hamburg, Max Beckmann: Krieg - Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik 1913-1919, November 2000January 2001; then Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum, Berlin, January - März 2001, catalogue by Sebastian Giesen & Martin Fritsch (with loans from other collections).
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Agostino Carracci: Die Schule der Zeichnung, July – October 2001.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hogarth – Dirne, Wüstling und eine moderne Ehe, MarchNovember 2002.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Edvard Munch: Das kranke Kind – Die graphischen Fassungen, March – June 2002.
Oslo, Munchmuseet, Pablo Picasso - Den blinde Minotaurus - grafikk og tegning, November 2002 - February 2003.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Callot, Goya, DixKrieg, December 2002 – March 2003.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Traumwandler – Odilon Redon und Rodolphe Bresdin, February – June 2003.
Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum, Berlin, Picasso – Der blinde Minotaurus, August – November 2003.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Francisco de GoyaCaprichos, November 2003 – March 2004.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Francisco de GoyaDisparates, April – October 2004, curated by Petra Roettig & Fiona McGovern.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Von Delacroix bis Cezanne – Französische Zeichnungen des 19 Jahrhunderts, November 2004 – February 2005.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Pablo Picasso – La Tauromaquia oder Die Kunst des Stierkampfs, July – October 2005.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann – Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, Part I, II & III: November 2005 - January 2007, catalogue by Andreas Stolzenburg, with contributions by Petra Roettig, Uwe M. Schneede, Kristine von Oehsen & Chistiane Zeiller.
State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Max Beckmann – Works from Museum and Private Collections of Hamburg and Lübeck , November 2007 – January 2008, catalogue by Mikhail Dedinkin.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Tierisch! –Tierdarstellungen aus vier Jahrhunderten, March – July 2008.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Obscur – Klaus Hegewisch zum 90. Geburtstag, October 2009- January 2010, with a publication by Hubertus Gassner & Dorothee Gerkens.
Ernst Barlach Haus - Stiftung Hermann F. Reemtsma, Hamburg, Pablo Picasso – Der Stier und das Mädchen – Meisterblätter aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, June – October 2010, catalogue by Andreas Stolzenburg.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Otto Dix – Der Krieg, April – August 2011.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Im Banne des Dunkels – Charles Meryon und die französisiche Radierbewegung, November 2012 – March 2013, catalogue by Jonas Beyer (with loans from the museum’s permanent collection and the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin).
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Auf Stein gezeichnet – Lithographien von Bresdin bis Vuillard, November 2013 – March 2014, catalogue by Jonas Beyer.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mit dem inneren Auge sehen – Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Hegewisch, September 2016 – January 2017, catalogue by Jonas Beyer, with contributions by Steven Reiss, Wolfgang Wittrock and an interview with Klaus Hegewisch by Belinda Grace Gardner.
London | March 2026
EXHIBITION
March 2026
8 King Street
London SW1Y 6QT
CONTACT
Veronica Scarpati
vscarpati@christies.com
+44 207 389 2365
Tim Schmelcher
tschmelcher@christies.com
+44 207 389 2268
FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)
Los Proverbios the complete set of 18 etchings with aquatint and drypoint, circa 1815-24, from the First Edition of 1864
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VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853-1890)
Coin de jardin avec papillons
Price realised: $33,185,000
Christie’s New York, May 2024
GCC 2024
London | 17 October 2025
EXHIBITION
8–17 October 2025
8 King Street
London SW1Y 6QT
CONTACT
Veronica Scarpati
vscarpati@christies.com
+44 207 389 2365
EDGAR DEGAS (1834-1917)
Bateaux de pêche à l’entrée du port de Dives stamped with the signature Degas (Lugt 658; lower left) pastel and charcoal on paper 22 x 33 cm. (85/8 x 13 in.)
Executed circa 1869
£200,000-300,000
INDEX
B Baldung, H. 302 Beckmann, M. 329-331
C Cezanne, P. 351
D Delacroix, F.-V.-E. 304, 320
Dix, O. 318, 333, 345, 347
Doré, G. 303
Dürer, A. 301, 307, 319, 334, 341
E Ensor, J. 328, 343
F Feininger, L. 353
G Goya, F. de 326, 342
K Klimt, G. 317
Kollwitz, K. 346
L Léger, F. 332, 354
M Meidner, L. 344 Menzel, A. von 309 Munch, E. 315, 316, 327, 338, 339, 352
O Oelze, R. 325
P Picasso, P. 305, 306, 310, 312, 314, 322, 323, 336, 337, 340
