Munich, 15 April 2009 (kk) – Ketterer Kunst is celebrating its new House for Art directly at Neue Messe Munich with the sale of important works dating from the 15th to the 21st centuries at four Grand Welcome Auctions to be held on 19/20 June 2009. "I’m very glad indeed that we can now present our new domicle for art in all its splendour to our clientele and an interested public. Anyone who wants to experience art close up and plunge into the fascinating world of auctioneering, is in the right place here," thus Robert Ketterer, auctioneer and owner of Ketterer Kunst.

In the new House for Art:
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Allée d’arbres (Allée à Cagnes), c. 1900.
Oil on canvas. 26 x 32 cm (10.2 x 12.5 in).
26 x 32 cm (10,2 x 12,5 in).
Estimate: € 100 000-150 000

Over an exhibition space covering 3500 m², masterpieces such as the Pierre-August Renoir oil painting "Allée d'arbres (Allée à Cagnes)" can be viewed in close-up days before the auctions and contemplated at leisure in a stylish setting. Carrying an estimate of € 100 000- 150 000, this work is a highlight of the June Modern Art auction. Painted around 1900, when Renoir was at the height of his powers and the zenith of his career, this tranquil work shows the quintessence of the avenue as providing shade from beautiful trees. Renoir treated his trees as tenderly as he did his models. All harshness and contrasts have been eliminated, with the gentleness of Renoir’s style reinforcing the consistency of his visual statement.

Alexej von Jawlensky
Landscape Lake Geneva. 1915.
Oil on linen-finish paper on cardboard.
227,4 x 39,1 cm (10,8 x 15,4 in).
Estimate: € 100.000-150.000

Alexei von Jawlensky is also less concerned with topographical accuracy and more with atmospheric qualities in "Landschaft Genfer See" ["Landscape: Lake Geneva"], which is also to be called at an estimate of € 100 000-150 000. Painted in oils c. 1915, this work attests to the economical and assured handling of colour and the concentration of visual powers unique to Jawlensky and known from his "Meditations".

Well worth mentioning are, further, a 1914 August Macke watercolour "Gartenhaus" ["Summer House"] (estimate: € 80 000-100 000) and Ernst Barlach’s "Der Geistkämpfer" ["Spirit Fighter"], a life cast by the artist dating from 1928, which, according to www.artnet.de, has not been on the market for over 25 years. This bronze, which is nearly 120 cm (47.24 in) high, was created as a single figure for the monument that warns against war in St Nicholas’ Church in Kiel on a 1:4 scale. It occupies a special niche in Barlach’s œuvre because of its history (estimate: € 150 000-250 000).

Another exceptional bronze that is sure to keep the auction room in suspense is by Fritz Klimsch ("Elegie" ["Elegy"], estimate: € 25 000-35 000) and so will works by such luminaries as George Grosz, Max Liebermann and Christian Rohlfs, not to mention an oil painting by Hanns Bolz. After "Portrait of the Art Dealer Alfred Flechtheim" by Bolz achieved € 77 000, three times the original estimate of € 18 000-24 000 in December 2008, great expectations for his "Dame mit Hut" (estimate: € 20 000-30 000) would seem called for. Many of Hanns Bolz’s (1887-1918) works are believed to have been lost so it is more than a minor sensation that a second work by this artist is now to be sold at auction. It should be borne in mind that Bolz, who, by the way, rented Pablo Picasso’s Paris studio after Picasso had vacated it, laid it down in his will shortly before his death that all his pictures were to be destroyed.

László Moholy-Nagy
Landscape with Houses. 1919
Oil on hardboard.
61 x 86 cm (24 x 33,8 in).
Estimate: € 180.000-240.000.

On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus by Walter Gropius, a BAUHAUS special auction, to be held jointly with the Munich auction house Quittenbaum, will feature works of the first water, including a 1919 László Moholy-Nagy "Landschaft mit Häusern" ["Landscape with Houses"]. Painted in oil on hardboard (estimate: € 180 000-240 000), this work is an interesting example of the transition from realistic representational painting to technical and geometric art. The scope of this special auction will embrace both the applied and the fine arts, providing a richly varied programme of paintings, works on paper and sculpture as well as furnishings, designer objects and objets d’art.

Norbert Kricke
Spatial Sculpture. C 1960.
Stainless steel on granite base. One-off.
Sculpture: approx 60 x 64 x 50 cm
(23,6 x 25,1 x 19,6 in).
Base: 10 x 8,2 x8,2 cm
(3,9 x 3,2 x 3,2 in)
Estimate: € 40.000-60.000

Carrying an estimate of € 40 000-60 000, "Raumplastik" ["Spatial Sculpture"] by Norbert Kricke measures approx 60 x 64 x 50 cm (23.62 x 25.2 x 19.69 in) and is a major work to be sold at the Post War /Contemporary Art auction. Executed in stainless steel, it consists of welded rods, bunched at the centre to flare out into space on all sides. This delicate sculpture, which seems weightless, exemplifies the abstract, dynamic formal language for which this documenta artist is famous.

Also of steel, but, at 4 x 2.40 m (13.12 x 7.88 ft) monumental, is Andreu Alfaro’s "Homentage als Constructivistes" ["Homage to the Constructivists"]. This impressive sculpture enters the lists carrying an estimate of € 40 000-50 000.

In a similar bracket (estimate: € 30 000-50 000) is Rupprecht Geiger’s "Blaue Form, Rot und Schwarz" ["Blue Form, Red and Black"], painted in oils in 1958. Throbbing with life, the painting lives from the contrasting warm and cold of the vibrant blue wedge of colour and a pulsing red and black ground. Form becomes the scaffolding for pure colour.

Adrien de Braekeleer
Scene at an Inn with Bowlers and Trictrac Players in
an Inner Courtyard. 1859.
Oil on canvas
76 x 93 cm (29,9 x 36,6 in)
Estimate: € 18.000-24.000

Other exciting works are Cai Jin’s "Banana 47" (estimate: € 25 000-35 000) and an untitled Sigmar Polke dating from 2000 (estimate: € 30 000-40 000). Using white raster points on a black ground reduced to a cipher, the artist is referring in this work in acrylic to his representational early work whereas the traces left by trickling paint when the canvas was turned allude to his 1980s Pouring Pictures.

The grand Welcome Auction will open with Old Masters and Art of the 19th Century. Works to be called include a choice selection of prints by Albrecht Dürer, works by Adrien de Braekeleer and Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and Franz von Defregger, who will lead off for the Munich School.

Pre-sale viewings(selected works):

Good to know: The Auctions of Marine and North German Art will be held under the auspices of the Rare Books auction on 18 and 19 May 2009 in Hamburg. Old Masters and Art of the 19th Century auctions will, along with all other specialised art auctions, in future be held four times a year in Munich.