Badendes Mädchen (Kleinere Version). 1902/1905.
Bronze with black-brown patina.
Cf. Schubert 12a B. Rear of plinth with the name "W. Lehmbruck Df.", on teh rear of the plinth's edge with the foundry mark "DÜSSELDF.BRONCEBILDGIESSEREI G.M.B.H". One of 6 known copies. 42 x 25 x 22 cm (16.5 x 9.8 x 8.6 in).
Presumably cast between 1906 and 1914. [KT].
• Renowned provenance: This bronze comes from important Kohl-Weigand Collection.
• Particularly high-quality cast, due to the subtly executed details such as, for instance, the delicate and yet sinewy feet.
• The small bather is one of Lehmbruck's earliest sculptures - it is his sculptural answer to the classic and static elegance of Aristide Maillol's sculptures.
• In this work Lehmbruck unites the classic ideal of proportions with a gracefully line influenced by Art Nouveau.
• The body's torsion already hints at expressionist tendencies that will make Lehmbruck one of the most important sculptors of Modernism Germany.

We are grateful to Prof. Dr. Dietrich Schubert, University of Heidelberg, for his kind expert advice.

PROVENANCE: Collection Franz-Josef Kohl-Weigand (1900-1972), Saarland (with a label below the plinth.
Private collection Schleswig-Holstein (from family ownership).

"Sculpting is the nature of things, the character of nature, something that's eternally human."
Wilhelm Lehmbruck, quoted from: www.staatsgalerie.de/ausstellungen/wilhelm-lehmbruck.html