Sale: 428 / Modern Art, Dec. 03./05. 2015 in Munich Lot 231

 

231
Erich Heckel
Hügellandschaft, 1913.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 450,000 / $ 486,000
Sold:
€ 745,000 / $ 804,600

(incl. surcharge)
Hügellandschaft. 1913.
Oil on canvas.
Vogt 1913/44. Signed and dated lower right. 56 x 64.5 cm (22 x 25.3 in).

Atmospheric landscape from Heckel's best period of creation. The expressive landscape paintings from the late days of the "Brücke" are among the artist's most sought-after works on the international auction market.
We are grateful to Renate Ebner and Hans Geissler, estate Erich Heckel, Hemmenhofen on Lake Constance, for their kind support in cataloging this lot.

PROVENANCE: Lempertz`sche Kunstversteigerung, Moderne Kunst, Cologne, October 1958, lot 106.
Collection Pellengahr, Krefeld.
Galerie Utermann, Dortmund (before 1981).
Private collection Dortmund (acquired from previously mentioned in 1981).
Private collection Rhineland-Palatinate (since 2009).

EXHIBITION: Erich Heckel, Galerie Großhenning, Dusseldorf 1965 (with the title "Frühlingslandschaft").
Dortmund sammelt. Werke des Deutschen Expressionismus und der Klassischen Moderne aus 7 Dortmunder Privatsammlungen, Galerie Utermann, Harenberg City-Center, Dortmund, 1st - 30th September, 1995, cat. no. 18, with color illu.

LITERATURE: Ulrike Middendorf, Kunsthandel im Rheinland und in Westfalen, in: Weltkunst. Aktuelle Zeitschrift für Kunst und Antiquitäten, 66th year, issue 21, November 1996, p. 2626, illu. 33.

Heckel painted the "Hügellandschaft" in 1913. That year saw both the artist group "Brücke" break up as well as his first solo show at Fritz Gurlitt in Berlin. Pure landscape motifs are an inherent part in Erich Heckel's oeuvre of paintings. Based on impressionist studies from around 1907, they increasingly shaped his paintings up into a later period of creation. Heckel does not create landscapes, he renders – just as it is the case with this work – what he sees with expressive strokes of the brush. His landscapes are elementary, their broad duct of the early years emanates a verve that documents a youthful enthusiasm for a painting of what is perceived the very moment. The harmonious chord of colors is decisive for the composition. The observer is not confronted with any sort of romantic atmosphere. Heckel remains true to the style that he had once acquired and which had led to his characteristic coloring. He did not strive for any spatial depth. It is rather the consequence of the three image levels, which, each in its own right, make for a depth that can otherwise only be achieved by means of perspective and shading. The firm basis of this painting has its roots in the “Brücke“ artists' spontaneous plein-air sessions at the Moritzburg Lakes.



231
Erich Heckel
Hügellandschaft, 1913.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 450,000 / $ 486,000
Sold:
€ 745,000 / $ 804,600

(incl. surcharge)