Selbstbildnis nach links. 1929.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in upper right. 59 x 52 cm (23.2 x 20.4 in). [AW].

• Impressive exhibition history.
• Early self-portrait from the artist's most important creative phase.
• For the first time offered on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).
• Paintings from the early period are in numerous important collections, such as the Nationalgalerie Berlin, the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, and the Lenbachhaus Munich.

PROVENANCE: Family of the artist.
Private collection, Southern Germany (acquired from the above in 1996).

EXHIBITION: Künstlerhaus, Vienna, 1930.
Josef Scharl. 33 Gemälde und 20 Handzeichnungen, Graphisches Kabinett J. B. Neumann und G. Franke, Munich, February 7 - March 5, 1931.
Gemälde und Zeichnungen von Josef Scharl, Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf, Berlin, January 7-18, 1933, cat. no. 7.
Josef Scharl, Pavillon im Alten Botanischen Garten, Munich, January 3-25, 1953.
Josef Scharl, Neue Galerie, Vienna, Dec. 1954-May 1955.
Josef Scharl. Memorial exhibition, Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin, April 20-June 16, 1964.
Josef Scharl. Zum siebzigsten Geburtstag, Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin, March 20-June 7, 1967, cat. no. 40 (with b/w illu. on p. 37).
Josef Scharl. Gemälde und Graphik, Städtisches Museum, Wiesbaden, September 9 - October 29, 1967, cat. no. 9.
Josef Scharl, Städtisches Museum, Trier, November 21, 1967 - January 2, 1968, cat. no. 9 (with b/w illus.).
Josef Scharl 1896-1954, Kunstverein Heidelberg, January 14 - February 11, 1968, cat. no. 11.
Josef Scharl 1896-1954. Ölbilder und graphische Blätter, Galerie Alex Vömel, Düsseldorf, March 20 - April 13, 1968.
Josef Scharl, Städtisches Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm, May 18 - July 21, 1968, cat. no. 10.
Josef Scharl 1896-1954. Ölbilder und graphische Blätter, Kunstverein Herford, September 21 - October 13, 1968, cat. no. 5.
Josef Scharl, Galerie Günther Franke, Munich, April 17-May 29, 1971, cat. no. 6.
Josef Scharl. Bilder aus dem Besitz seiner Münchner Freunde, Stadtsparkasse Schwanthalerstraße, Munich, November 30 - December 21, 1982, cat. no. 2.
Josef Scharl. Arbeiten aus dem Nachlass von Alois Scharl, Galerie Axel Harmstorf, Munich, September 30 - October 30, 1999, cat. no. III.
Josef Scharl, Ausstellungshalle Saarstraße, Mengen, 2011.
Josef Scharl. Maler und Grafiker des Expressionismus, Haus Opherdicke, Holzwickede, April 9 - June 23, 2017, with color illus. on pp. 31, 67 (with an exhibition label on the reverse).
Josef Scharl. Zwischen den Zeiten, Museen Böttcherstraße, Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, Bremen, February 18 - June 3, 2018; Ernst Barlach Haus, Hamburg, June 17 - October 14, 2018; Buchheim Museum, Bernried, May 25 - September 15, 2019, cat. no. 6 (with color illus. on p. 41).

LITERATURE: Andrea Firmenich, Andrea Lukas, Peter Bronner, Josef Scharl. Monographie und Werkverzeichnis, Cologne 1999, no. 120 (illu. in black and white).
“Between 1926 and 1933 at the latest, Scharl refined his brushwork: while he still applied the paint in parallel manner, the brushwork became denser. The sculptural appeal that Scharl achieved through the impasto application was striking. He uses the oil paint to model the heads and hands of the sitter, as it were, thus forcing the focus onto the parts of the body that reveal the most about the sitter.”

Katharina Henkel, Josef Scharl und sein künstlerischer Leitstern Vincent van Gogh, in: Frank Schmidt, Karsten Müller (eds.), Josef Scharl. Zwischen den Zeiten, Bremen, Hamburg 2018, pp.13f.