Tête au casque (Behelmter Kopf). 1943/44.

Signed in the lower right. Inscribed with the number and "Cassis 194i" on the reverse. On wove paper. 24.3 x 16.1 cm (9.5 x 6.3 in), size of sheet.
[KT].
• The lyrical fusion of figuration and abstraction makes Wols a pioneer of Informalism.
• His sensitive and idiosyncratic work occupies a unique position in art history.
• Important exhibition history, including presentation at documenta III in 1964.

PROVENANCE: The artist's estate.
Gréty Wols, Paris.
Art dealer Dr. Ewald Rathke, Frankfurt am Main.
Private collection, Hesse (acquired from the above in 1968).

EXHIBITION:
Michel Couturier Gallery, Paris, 1963.
documenta III, Kassel, June 28 - October 6, 1964, vol. II, p. 238, no. 3 (illustrated)
Aus dem Traumbuch der Maler. Phantasie und Vision. Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Frankfurter Kunstverein Steinernes Haus, Frankfurt a.M., Aug. 10 - Oct. 6, 1968, cat. no. 105 (illustrated)
Wols 1913-1951; Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, September 13-November 5, 1973, p. 102, no. 97 (Illustrated on p. 91).
WOLS. Peintures - aquarelles - dessins, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, December 19, 1973-February 3, 1974, cat. no. 103.
Kunst nach 45 aus Frankfurter Privatbesitz, Frankfurter Kunstverein Steinernes Haus, Frankfurt a.M., October 7 - November 27, 1983, p. 428 (illustrated on p. 392).
Wols. Drawings and Water-Colors. Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Goethe-Institut London, May 17 - June 29, 1985; Graphisches Kabinett Wolfgang Werner, Bremen, Oct. 4-Nov. 9, 1985, no. 12 (Illustrated on p. 39).
WOLS. Bilder, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Photographien, Druckgraphik, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, November 24, 1989 - February 11, 1990; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, March 31 - May 27, 1990, p. 194, cat. no. 139 (illustrated).

LITERATURE: Philipp Gutbrod, Wols (1913-1951). Die Arbeiten auf Papier (annotated critical catalogue), Heidelberg 2004, catalogue no. A-477 (illustrated)
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Werner Haftmann, Wols. Aufzeichnungen, Aquarelle, Aphorismen, Zeichnungen, Cologne 1963, ill. p. 77.
Exh. cat. Prague 1968 fig. 6
Shigeo Chiba, L'oeuvre de Wols, PhD thesis, Paris 1974, p. 166
Françoise LeGris-Bergmann, Composantes plastiques et pôles référentiels dans l'œuvre de Wols, PhD thesis, Paris 1976, no. 76.
Peter Inch, Wols' photography, Todmoerden 1978.
Claire van Damme, Kunst als catharsis en psychogenese, Gent 1985, no. 256.
Arbeitzer 1989, p. 139.

In good condition. Small paper stains in the lower part of the sheet, isolated tiny brown spots. Slight paper abrasion in the corners, also in the lower right edge of the sheet. Slight crease marks in the lower and upper right corners.