Lot 231
Frame image
Raumbeispiel
231
Karl Hofer
Lesende Frau, 1943.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 85,600 Sold:
€ 125,000 / $ 133,750 (incl. surcharge)
Lesende Frau. 1943.
Oil on canvas.
Wohlert 1647. Bottom left monogrammed (in ligature) and dated (scratched into the wet paint). 84 x 63 cm (33 x 24.8 in). [CH].
• Intimate, private scene of a girl reading a letter, a rare motif Karl Hofer's oeuvre.
• Exhibited during the artist's lifetime as early as in 1945.
• Impressive exhibition history covering some 50 years.
• Part of the same German private collection for more than 40 years and for the first time offered on the auction market.
PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate (estate no. 429 (numbered on a label on the stretcher), Wirnitzer list no. 298).
Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne (with a typographically inscribed gallery label on the reverse).
Private collection North Rhine-Westphalia.
Ever since family-owned.
EXHIBITION: 1. Kunstausstellung der Kammer der Kunstschaffenden, Berlin-Charlottenburg, July to August 1945, cat. no. 51.
Karl Hofer 1878-1955, Berlin Academy of Arts, November 7, 1965 - January 2, 1966; Kunstmuseum Winterthur, January 23 - February 27, 1966, cat. no. 59, p. 59.
Anlässlich der 90. Wiederkehr des Geburtstags von Karl Hofer (October 11, 1878), Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne, October 11 - November 9, 1968, cat. no. 28 (titled "Brieflesende").
Karl Hofer. Retrospective Exhibition, Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven, April 20 - May 11, 1969, cat. no. 28.
Retrospective Exhibiton Karl Hofer. Ölbilder, Aquarelle, Handzeichnungen, Druckgraphik, Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne, Jaunary 20 - April 5, 1975, cat. no. 32, no p.
Karl Hofer. Ölbilder, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Galerie Bremer, Berlin (West), Ocotber 4 - October 28, 1976, no p. (titled "Lesendes Mädchen").
Karl Hofer 1878-1955, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Berlin (West), April 16 - June 14, 1978; Badischer Kunstverein e.V., Karlsruhe, August 1 - September 17, 1978, cat. no. 146, p. 173.
Karl Hofer. Malerei, Grafik, Zeichnung, Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg, Halle, November 26, 1978 - February 25, 1979, cat. no. 225, p. 154.
Die Figur im Werk von Karl Hofer, Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne, September 17 - November 13, 1982, folding leaflet, cat. no. 18.
LITERATURE: John Laupitz, In Form und Farbe, Galerie Bremer. Hofer-Ausstellung zum Jubiläum, in: Der Abend (Berlin), no. 238, Ocotber 19, 1976, p. 5 (with detail).
Oil on canvas.
Wohlert 1647. Bottom left monogrammed (in ligature) and dated (scratched into the wet paint). 84 x 63 cm (33 x 24.8 in). [CH].
• Intimate, private scene of a girl reading a letter, a rare motif Karl Hofer's oeuvre.
• Exhibited during the artist's lifetime as early as in 1945.
• Impressive exhibition history covering some 50 years.
• Part of the same German private collection for more than 40 years and for the first time offered on the auction market.
PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate (estate no. 429 (numbered on a label on the stretcher), Wirnitzer list no. 298).
Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne (with a typographically inscribed gallery label on the reverse).
Private collection North Rhine-Westphalia.
Ever since family-owned.
EXHIBITION: 1. Kunstausstellung der Kammer der Kunstschaffenden, Berlin-Charlottenburg, July to August 1945, cat. no. 51.
Karl Hofer 1878-1955, Berlin Academy of Arts, November 7, 1965 - January 2, 1966; Kunstmuseum Winterthur, January 23 - February 27, 1966, cat. no. 59, p. 59.
Anlässlich der 90. Wiederkehr des Geburtstags von Karl Hofer (October 11, 1878), Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne, October 11 - November 9, 1968, cat. no. 28 (titled "Brieflesende").
Karl Hofer. Retrospective Exhibition, Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven, April 20 - May 11, 1969, cat. no. 28.
Retrospective Exhibiton Karl Hofer. Ölbilder, Aquarelle, Handzeichnungen, Druckgraphik, Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne, Jaunary 20 - April 5, 1975, cat. no. 32, no p.
Karl Hofer. Ölbilder, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Galerie Bremer, Berlin (West), Ocotber 4 - October 28, 1976, no p. (titled "Lesendes Mädchen").
Karl Hofer 1878-1955, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Berlin (West), April 16 - June 14, 1978; Badischer Kunstverein e.V., Karlsruhe, August 1 - September 17, 1978, cat. no. 146, p. 173.
Karl Hofer. Malerei, Grafik, Zeichnung, Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg, Halle, November 26, 1978 - February 25, 1979, cat. no. 225, p. 154.
Die Figur im Werk von Karl Hofer, Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne, September 17 - November 13, 1982, folding leaflet, cat. no. 18.
LITERATURE: John Laupitz, In Form und Farbe, Galerie Bremer. Hofer-Ausstellung zum Jubiläum, in: Der Abend (Berlin), no. 238, Ocotber 19, 1976, p. 5 (with detail).
The year our work was created is considered a very fateful year in the life of Karl Hofer. During the first major air raid on Berlin on March 1st, a fire destroyed his studio and most of the works he had stored there. In the following months, the mature, experienced artist seemed to paint against his fate with an unbelievable energy and impressive creative urge: against the injustices he had to suffer, the defamation and ostracism by the National Socialists, his suspension, and against the helplessness in the light of the destruction of his work.
While the motif of the predominantly female figure, mostly reading a book or newspaper, is found more frequently in the artist's oeuvre, the depiction of the reader immersed in a letter is a rare occurrence. The same year he took up the motif again in "Brieflesendes Mädchen" (Kunstmuseum Stuttgart), which shows a young woman pensively gazing into space. In our picture the young lady takes a more serious look at the letter - perhaps a piece of military mail - an envelope that has just been opened and a waiting pencil make for an extraordinarily intimate narrative level with a noticeably emotional pictorial effect. In other portraits this is often overshadowed by the reverie and melancholy, in this work, however, it once again visualizes the wealth of ideas and the extraordinary painterly skills the master of the figure portrait possessed. [CH]
While the motif of the predominantly female figure, mostly reading a book or newspaper, is found more frequently in the artist's oeuvre, the depiction of the reader immersed in a letter is a rare occurrence. The same year he took up the motif again in "Brieflesendes Mädchen" (Kunstmuseum Stuttgart), which shows a young woman pensively gazing into space. In our picture the young lady takes a more serious look at the letter - perhaps a piece of military mail - an envelope that has just been opened and a waiting pencil make for an extraordinarily intimate narrative level with a noticeably emotional pictorial effect. In other portraits this is often overshadowed by the reverie and melancholy, in this work, however, it once again visualizes the wealth of ideas and the extraordinary painterly skills the master of the figure portrait possessed. [CH]
231
Karl Hofer
Lesende Frau, 1943.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 85,600 Sold:
€ 125,000 / $ 133,750 (incl. surcharge)