Otto Mueller's experiences on various trips to the Balkans are the subject of the artist's so-called “Gypsy Portfolio,” with nine color lithographs, which he completed in 1927 as a monumental tribute to the culture of the Sinti and Roma people. The last sheet in this portfolio, the “Zigeunermadonna,” shows a woman smoking a pipe with a bareheaded child on her lap. The wheel in the center of the background resembles the eponymous symbol of a halo. In contrast to the other sheets in this portfolio, in which the artist addresses everyday life, this sheet allows for a personal connection to the artist's biography. After he divorced Maschka, who stayed in Berlin as she did not want to follow her professor husband to Breslau in 1919, he had a passionate yet vain affair with his student Irene Altmann. In 1921, Mueller met Elisabeth Lübke. He married her in 1922, only to separate from her in 1924, although she was expecting his son, Josef, who was born in 1925. After the birth, Mueller traveled to Hungary again, staying in Szolnok on the river Theiss. Mueller filed for divorce in 1927, and that same year, Elsbeth married the painter Otto Herbig; Josef grew up with his mother. Seen in this light, the “Zigeunermadonna” could be an allegory of a fragmented family portrait without a biological mother: the pipe-smoking father, Otto Mueller (who also smoked in real life), with his son.

It has long been established that Otto Mueller was neither of Sinti or Roma descent, nor did he grow up among them. The origin of the myth of “Gypsy Mueller” is to be found in Carl Hauptmann's novel “Einhart der Lächler” (Einhart the Smiler) from 1907, in which the author and paternal friend traces the life of the artist Einhart Selle alias Otto Mueller, who broke with social conventions and found inner peace in his observations of nature. Apart from that, the artist fostered this myth in his works by including symbols of the Sinti and Roma people, such as love amulets and pentagrams for protection against evil, thus also reflecting his interest in occultism and magic. Not least, with the so-called “Zigeunermappe” (Gypsy Folder), he honored the world of the Sinti and Roma and their anti-bourgeois yet inevitable way of life on the periphery of society. The artist also used his technique to paint some of the motifs in the portfolio, such as Mother with Child here, in distemper on burlap.[MvL]


The "Brücke": Expressionism on Paper – The Passion of a German Collector

The Hessian collector recollects his first encounter with Expressionist art to this day: it was shortly after the end of World War II that he was struck by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff paintings on a visit to the Frankfurter Kunstkabinett. The gallery was one of the first in Germany to offer art lovers an opportunity to see works by the artists of the "Brücke" group again, as they had been ostracized as "degenerate" by the Nazis. One of the main reasons behind Hanna Bekker von Rath's decision to open the place on Börsenplatz in Frankfurt in 1947 was to provide a forum for these artists after the dark years of Nazi rule and to reintroduce them to the public. “These works blew me away” is how the collector recalls his initial reaction to the exhibits. He liked Schmidt-Rottluff's rugged, woodcut-like style and subsequently also developed a liking for the other members of the “Brücke”, whose style was so different from what had previously been considered “beautiful”. Together with his wife – who was particularly interested in the works of Otto Mueller and Emil Nolde – he visited many more exhibitions at the Frankfurt Kunstkabinett and other galleries.

Nevertheless, it was about more than just admiring them. In 1962, the couple bought their first Expressionist work at auction in Stuttgart – from Roman Norbert Ketterer, the uncle of the current owner of Ketterer Kunst: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's woodcut "Drei Akte im Wald" from 1933 marked the beginning of the couple's extensive collection of "Brücke" prints.

He never had a specific system, says the collector. However, he avoided acquiring pieces that “many others had as well”. He was particularly interested in works produced in small numbers, pieces with a unique feature such as an additional coat of paint, or works that the artist used as trial proofs. But first and foremost, says the collector, “I made my purchases based on my taste”.

Further works from the collection will be offered in our Evening Sale on Friday, December 6, 2024, and in the simultaneous Online Sale (Auction ends on December 15, 2024)