Stilleben mit weisser Tasse und brennender Zigarette. 1921.
Oil on canvas.
Enders 21.Oe.5. Signed and dated lower right. 30 : 41 cm (11,8 : 16,1 in). In the early 1920s, Arnold Topp went into Cubism in depth and our exquisite little still life is a prime example of his approach to that style. The simple forms of the objects are viewed as surfaces; there is virtually no spatial depth. “The Cubist intercutting of lines leaves scope for the representational. The things thus evoked lead a still, contemplative existence. From the mundane we move on to the metaphysical.” (Curt Bauer, quoted in: Rainer Enders, Arnold Topp. Ein Lebensbild, Weimar 2007, p. 57). [KD]

PROVENIENZ: Hedwig Sauerlandt, Brandenburg on the Havel.
Wilhelm Stolze, Brandenburg on the Havel (after 1950).
AUSSTELLUNG: 104. Ausstellung der Galerie Der Sturm, Berlin, January 1922, cat.no. 11.
Erste Internationale Kunstausstellung Düsseldorf, im Hause Leonhard Tietz AG, Düsseldorf, 28 May - 3 July 1922, cat.no. 394.
115. Ausstellung der Galerie Der Sturm, Berlin, January 1923, cat.no. 121.
Das Wissen um die Kunst. Brandenburger Kunst der 20er und 30er Jahre. Arnold Topp, Curt Ehrhardt, Liselott Specht-Büchting, Kunsthalle Brennabor zu Brandenburg on the Havel, 19 March - 24 April 2005.
Verso: Oil study (probably detail)
Good overall impression. Partially with slight craquelé.