Lot 611
Frame image
611
Franz Marc
Zwei Pferde, blaugrün, 1911.
Watercolor
Estimate:
€ 200,000 / $ 220,000 Sold:
€ 769,000 / $ 845,900 (incl. surcharge)
Zwei Pferde, blaugrün. 1911.
Watercolor and tempera over pencil.
Hoberg/Jansen vol. III, p. 186. Lankheit 586. Lower left inscribed with the sheet number "18" by Maria Marc. On delicate paper. 13.2 x 20.1 cm (5.1 x 7.9 in) , the full sheet.
This work was presumably part of the sketchbook no. XXII as page 18 up until shortly before the artist's commemorative exhibition in Munich in 1916. Today the sketchbook is part of the collection of the 'Germanisches Nationalmuseum' in Nuremberg.
With a photo confirmation from Dr. Annegret Hoberg, Lenbachhaus Munich/catalog raisonné Franz Marc, dated 27 July 2016 and a confirmation from the Curatorship Catalog Raisonné Franz Marc, Munich, from March 8th 2016.
PROVENANCE: Maria Marc, Ried (artist's estate).
Erika Diener, Frankfurt (acquired in the commemorative exhibition of the Munich New Secession in 1916; ever since in family ownership).
EXHIBITION: Franz Marc. Commemorative Exhibition. Munich New Secession, Munich, 14 September - 15 October 1916.
Franz Marc - Zwischen Utopie und Apokalypse. Weidende Pferde IV, Franz Marc Museum, Kochel, 12 June - 11 September 2016.
LITERATURE: Alois J. Schardt, Franz Marc, Berlin 1936, no. II.1911-2 (there inscribed with ownerhsip of Maria Marc, Ried).
"Two horses, rendered in just a few bold pencil lines; both animals closely related, increased by the circumferential line, a blue ribbon, as if they were lovers, they are moved skywards through the blue watercolor parts. In 1911, the year of the both the "Blue Horse" and the "Blauer Reiter" - Franz Marc sees a purity in nature, something almost spiritual that is reflected in his works."
Prof. Helmut Friedel, long-time director of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
"The Blue Rider presents your highness his blue horse .."
Franz Marc in 1912 on a postcard to Else Lasker-Schüler, quote after: Hoberg/Janssen, vol. II, no. 276)
Watercolor and tempera over pencil.
Hoberg/Jansen vol. III, p. 186. Lankheit 586. Lower left inscribed with the sheet number "18" by Maria Marc. On delicate paper. 13.2 x 20.1 cm (5.1 x 7.9 in) , the full sheet.
This work was presumably part of the sketchbook no. XXII as page 18 up until shortly before the artist's commemorative exhibition in Munich in 1916. Today the sketchbook is part of the collection of the 'Germanisches Nationalmuseum' in Nuremberg.
With a photo confirmation from Dr. Annegret Hoberg, Lenbachhaus Munich/catalog raisonné Franz Marc, dated 27 July 2016 and a confirmation from the Curatorship Catalog Raisonné Franz Marc, Munich, from March 8th 2016.
PROVENANCE: Maria Marc, Ried (artist's estate).
Erika Diener, Frankfurt (acquired in the commemorative exhibition of the Munich New Secession in 1916; ever since in family ownership).
EXHIBITION: Franz Marc. Commemorative Exhibition. Munich New Secession, Munich, 14 September - 15 October 1916.
Franz Marc - Zwischen Utopie und Apokalypse. Weidende Pferde IV, Franz Marc Museum, Kochel, 12 June - 11 September 2016.
LITERATURE: Alois J. Schardt, Franz Marc, Berlin 1936, no. II.1911-2 (there inscribed with ownerhsip of Maria Marc, Ried).
"Two horses, rendered in just a few bold pencil lines; both animals closely related, increased by the circumferential line, a blue ribbon, as if they were lovers, they are moved skywards through the blue watercolor parts. In 1911, the year of the both the "Blue Horse" and the "Blauer Reiter" - Franz Marc sees a purity in nature, something almost spiritual that is reflected in his works."
Prof. Helmut Friedel, long-time director of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
"The Blue Rider presents your highness his blue horse .."
Franz Marc in 1912 on a postcard to Else Lasker-Schüler, quote after: Hoberg/Janssen, vol. II, no. 276)
The motif of the blue horses is considered the most characteristic and perhaps also the most progressive motif in the artistic creation of Franz Marc, the renowned protagonist of the expressionist artist group "Der Blauer Reiter". After his timely death in World War I the motif would earn Franz Marc a prime rank in the history of Modern Art. The most famous variants of this motif presumably are the lost painting "Der Turm der Blauen Pferde" from 1913 (Hoberg/Janssen 211) as well as "Blaues Pferd I" from 1911 (Hoberg/Janssen 141), today in the collection of the 'Städtisches Galerie im Lehnbachhaus', Munich. Accordingly, our watercolor, executed in bright colors and an expressive duct, is a very early document of the blue horse motif in Franz Marc's creation and testimonializes Marc's art-historically relevant disengagement from the objective color like no other work. Another important aspect is that this watercolor was made in the founding year of the progressive artist group "Der Blaue Reiter", their first exhibition was at the 'Moderne Galerie Heinrich Tannhauser' in Munich in December 1911 and January 1912. The exhibition included, among others, Marc's painting "Die blauen Pferde" (Hoberg/Janssen 159; there with the title "Die großen blauen Pferde") for which this work may have been a preliminary study. Our work in strong colors from 1911, the year that marked Franz Marc's turn to Expressionism and the founding year of the "Blaue Reiter" also documents seminal significance of the progressive blue horse motif for Modern Art. This is why we are all the more happy to offer the watercolor "Zwei Pferde, blaugrün", mentioned by Hoberg/Jansen as “whereabouts unknown” in the catalog raisonné from 2011, in our auction. Since 1916 it has been in a German private collection. [JS]
611
Franz Marc
Zwei Pferde, blaugrün, 1911.
Watercolor
Estimate:
€ 200,000 / $ 220,000 Sold:
€ 769,000 / $ 845,900 (incl. surcharge)