Sale: 533 / Modern Art Day Sale and Gerlinger Collection, Dec. 10. 2022 in Munich Lot 414

 

414
Mappenwerk / Portfolio
1. Jahresmappe der Künstlergruppe "Brücke", 1906.
Portfolio with a woodcut by each Fritz Bleyl, E...
Estimate:
€ 15,000 / $ 16,200
Sold:
€ 52,500 / $ 56,700

(incl. surcharge)
1. Jahresmappe der Künstlergruppe "Brücke". 1906.
Portfolio with a woodcut by each Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.
Sheet: ca. 55 x 39 cm (21.6 x 15.3 in).
Contains: Fritz Bleyl. "Haus mit Freitreppe". 1905. Woodcut. Söhn HDO 211-1. Signed and monogrammed in printing block. On fine Japon. 22.5 x 17 (8.9 x 6.7 in). Sheet: 54.8 x 39.3 (21.6 x 15.5).
Erich Heckel. "Die Schwestern". 1905. Woodcut. Ebner/Gabelmann 58 H B (of B). Söhn HDO 211-2. Signed and monogrammed in printing block. On fine Japon. 18.8 x 14 cm (7.4 x 5.5 in). Sheet: 55 x 38.9 cm (21.7 x 15.3 in).
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. "Kauernder Akt, vom Rücken gesehen". Woodcut. Gercken 32 B (of B). Söhn HDO 211-3. Signed. On fine Japon. 12.9 x 9.9 cm (5.1 x 3.9 in). Sheet: 54.7 x 38.5 cm (21.5 x 15.2 in).
Complete content of the 1st annual portfolio.
The 1906 portfolio, also intended to hold the following years, is offered as a separate lot along with the table of contents for the 1906 and 1907 portfolios. [AM]

Initially, each sheet will be called up individually and in the following as the complete portfolio.

• This is the first portfolio the "Brücke" artists made for its passive members.
• A compilation of three fascinating woodcuts on paper in an extraordinary quality.
• Complete copies of annual "Brücke" portfolios are very rare on the international auction market (source: artprice.com)
.

PROVENANCE: Wolfgang Wittrock Kunsthandel, Düsseldorf.
Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Würzburg (acquired from the above in 1993, with the collector's stamp Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 2001-2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Hans Bolliger, E. W. Kornfeld, Ausstellung Künstlergruppe Brücke. Jahresmappen 1906-1912, Bern 1958, pp. 12-13, no. 3-5 (different copy).
Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, pp. 101-102, SHG no. 42-44.
Hermann Gerlinger, Heinz Spielmann (eds.), Fritz Bleyl und die frühen Jahre der "Brücke“, Schleswig 1999, p. 16 (different copy).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 147, SHG no. 325; p. 286, SHG no. 646; p. 368, SHG no. 816.

Right with the first annual portfolio, the artists manifested the group's claim to renewal and their obvious commitment to the woodcut. The woodcut on grained wood, subject of artistic discussion again since Japonism, and Gauguin and Munch, appears not only as a return to a natural, original, easily manageable and not elaborate material, as it was especially suitable for artistic spontaneity, since the cut into the wood cannot be corrected by knife, gouge, or chisel. Both Heckel with the sheet "Die Schwestern“ (The Sisters) and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner with "Kauernder Akt, vom Rücken gesehen“ (Crouching Nude, Seen from the Back) show the influence of Art Nouveau around the turn of the century, in addition, their skillfulness is reminiscent of the woodcut technique of the Swiss Felix Vallotton.
With the view "Haus mit Freitreppe" Bleyl testifies to his background in architecture. The linking of the nude, nature and individual living space in Heckel's and Kirchner's contributions also show a first hint at the later opening to new themess. The free determination of the human being in nature and in the studio, which at that time was programmatically pursued in the graphic "Viertelstundenakten" (Quarter Hour Nudes), is not yet reflected here. [MvL]



414
Mappenwerk / Portfolio
1. Jahresmappe der Künstlergruppe "Brücke", 1906.
Portfolio with a woodcut by each Fritz Bleyl, E...
Estimate:
€ 15,000 / $ 16,200
Sold:
€ 52,500 / $ 56,700

(incl. surcharge)