Sale: 428 / Modern Art, Dec. 03./05. 2015 in Munich Lot 265

 

265
Georg Schrimpf
Stillende Mutter, 1919.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 140,000 / $ 151,200
Sold:
€ 287,500 / $ 310,500

(incl. surcharge)
Stillende Mutter. 1919.
Oil on canvas.
Hofmann/Praeger 1919/1. Signed and dated lower right. 110 x 90 cm (43.3 x 35.4 in).

Important early painting showing the inspiration from Italian Renaissance.

PROVENANCE: Kunstantiquariat Eduard Walz, Munich (with an acknowledgement of receipt).
Private collection Southern Germany (acquired from previously mentioned in 1934, personal contact with the Schrimpf family).
Private collection Southern Germany (inherited, in family possession for 81 years).

EXHIBITION: Georg Schrimpf. 56. Ausstellung Neue Kunst, Hans Goltz, Munich, January 1920, no.19 (with remains of a label on stretcher)
Deutscher Expressionismus. Städt. Ausstellungsgebäude Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt, 10 June - 30 July, 1920, no. 607
16. Ausstellung des Deutschen Künstlerbundes. Kunstverein Hamburg, 14 August - 31 October, 1921, no. 301.
Neue Sachlichkeit, Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, 14 June - 13 September, 1925
Kunstverein Hanover (with label on stretcher)
Ein Maler der neuen Sachlichkeit, eine Malerin des Expressionismus: Georg Schrimpf, Maria Uhden, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin 11 May - 16 June, 1985 Villa Stuck/Städtische Galerie Albstadt.
Georg Schrimpf: Ölbilder, Aquarelle, Galerie Nikolaus Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, 1992 (with gallery label on stretcher, ex. cat. with illu.).
Süddeutsche Freiheit. Kunst der Revolution in München 1919, Lenbachhaus Munich 10 BNovember, 1993 - 9 Jaunuary, 1994, cat. no. 152 (ex. cat. with color illu.).

LITERATURE: Oskar Maria Graf. Georg Schrimpf. Leipzig 1923, p.11
Wolfgang Storch. Georg Schrimpf und Maria Uhden, Leben und Werk. Berlin 1985, Full-page color plate on p. 86.

Schrimpf tried to work up the death of his wife Maria in his art and was predominantly occupied with the subject of mother and child around 1918/19, in order to raise a monument for his wife. In this context our painting "Stillende Mutter" was made. In terms of coloring it calls strong reminiscence of Franz Marc's "Blaues Pferd I". The composition is strongly influenced by early Italian Renaissance. Georg Schrimpf made a figure composition which for her calm statuary aspect reminds of depictions of saints from those days. He uses the then common triangular composition, which would become a fundamental component of his works. Their formal arrangement is a synthesis of traditional aspects with simplified forms and an emphasis on the intense relations between the figures. The wide-open eyes dominate the image and create an iconic effect, in order to emphasize the work's spiritual character. Georg Schrimpf takes traditional religious iconography to a modern world without becoming kitschy. The main motif, which resembles the depiction "Virgin and Child with Saint Anne", is flanked by a cool and repellent cityscape that occupies the composition's upper third part. The contrast between the intimacy among the three people and the towering city architecture could not be bigger. These contrasts obviously were Schrimpf's intention in such compositions. Through this picture Schrimpf elevates his deceased wife to a saint-like meaning and underlines his position as main protaginist of New Objectivity.



265
Georg Schrimpf
Stillende Mutter, 1919.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 140,000 / $ 151,200
Sold:
€ 287,500 / $ 310,500

(incl. surcharge)