Sale: 436 / Modern Art I, Dec. 10. 2016 in Munich Lot 274

 

274
Ernst Wilhelm Nay
Zwei Badende am Bergsee, 1938.
Woodcut in colors
Estimate:
€ 20,000 / $ 21,400
Sold:
€ 57,500 / $ 61,525

(incl. surcharge)
Zwei Badende am Bergsee. 1938.
Woodcut in colors.
Gabler 21. Signed and dated. One of 8-10 impressions from the artist's hand. On creme wove paper. 35 x 48.8 cm (13.7 x 19.2 in). Sheet: 52,7 x 75,2 cm (20,7 x 29,6 in).
Fine and strong impression, printed by the artist.
Rare. Only three other copies of this early color woodcut have been offered on the international auction market (source: www.artnet.de).

PROVENANCE: Collection Günther Franke, Munich.
Private collection Germany (until 2005).
Private collection Baden-Württemberg.

EXHIBITION: Collection Günter Franke. Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Druckgrafik. München, Städtische Galerie 9 September - 20 November 1960, cat. no. 529 b (verso with hand-written note).

On occasion of the second journey to the Lofoten in 1938 Nay mad four color woodcuts that were of crucial importance for the artist's graphic oeuvre. Still under the influence of woodcut art of German Expressionism, particularly that of Erich Heckel, they were entirely in line with an expressive form that accentuates the color fields within the graphic frame. Nay rendered the cliffy landscape of the Lofoten in interlocked dynamic forms. The rough forms and colors of the few proofs made hint at the mastery with which the hand-colored graphic creations, which count among his most sought-after works today, were made.



274
Ernst Wilhelm Nay
Zwei Badende am Bergsee, 1938.
Woodcut in colors
Estimate:
€ 20,000 / $ 21,400
Sold:
€ 57,500 / $ 61,525

(incl. surcharge)