Munich, 18 March 2010, (kk) - "Just like Otto Griebel‘s "Zwei Frauen" (Two Women), the current art market also stands with both feet on the ground again. Quality objects make for great results", said Robert Ketterer, auctioneer and owner of Ketterer Kunst. "There is an upward tendency", he adds with regards to the upcoming spring auctions. The lots of the auctions on 23 and 24 April 2010 already delight the hearts of art lovers – and that is not only in the face of one or the other revealing motif.
Thematic focal points will be on:

1. Modern Art
2. Post War/Contemporary Art<
3. Old Masters and Art of the 19th Century

on 1. Modern Art
This catalog’s cover will be adorned by a real rarity: Otto Griebel‘s watercolor "Zwei Frauen" was made in 1924 and will be called up with an estimate of € 30 000-40 000. The work did not only barely escape the burning of the artist's works that the National Socialists had confiscated in 1932, it also survived an allied air raid in 1945 in which Griebel lost his apartment and studio as well as most of his works to the flames.

Detached from the urging wants of an adolescent world, Ernst Barlach‘s "Vergnügtes Einbein" is jauntily dancing to the top of this auction section. The bronze that has been estimated at € 30 000-40 000, conveys the fascination that the last phase of life can also emanate. Other lots by the artist that will be called up are the gypsum work "Das Wiedersehen (Christus und Thomas)" and the bronze "Der Hornbläser". The estimates for these works are at € 20 000-30 000, and € 24 000-28 000 respectively.

The abstract picture language of Erich Buchholz appears in his untitled wooden relief with colors from 1922. This work, which has been estimated at € 15 000-20 000, is a prime example of the artist’s mastery. The vigorous relief, which has been worked out of the wooden plate, eventually makes for the decisive purification and reduction of the geometric form, a feature that was outmostly important for the development of European art of the 20th century.

The line of works by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff is headed by the drawing "Stehender Weiblicher Akt" (estimate: € 14 000-18 000), which was made around 1910-15. With "Herbstlandschaft" and "Der rosa Krug", two typical watercolors by the artist, each with an estimate between € 10 000-15 000, will enter the race as well. The object "Bemalter Steinkopf mit weißer Nase" (Painted stone head with white nose) by the same artist is a real magnet of attraction. The gray-brown granite stone has been estimated at € 3 000-4 000.

While Gustav Klimt‘s study in pencil "Sitzendes Mädchen nach links, Kopfwiederholung" from around 1912/14 captivates the observer with its tender lines, Christian Rohlfs, on contrary, seems to undo the paint from the object in his water tempera work "Rote Cannas", and determines the work’s effect solely through the process of creation. Estimates for both works are at € 14 000-18 000 each.

More than just worthwhile mentioning are Emil Nolde‘s watercolor "Frauenbildnis im Profil nach rechts" (estimate: € 9 000-10 000), Otto Gutfreund‘s posthumous cast "Der Cellospieler" (estimate: € 6 000-8 000) and the work "Hygieia" (estimate: € 4 000-6 000) by Oskar Kokoschka, drawing in color chalk in view of a sculpture in the Athens National Museum, as well as more than a dozen of pencil and charcoal drawings by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, with estimates ranging betwen € 900 and € 3 000.

The offer is rounded off by appealing print art: Besides three lithographs in colors by Serge Poliakoff and Emil Nolde‘s etching and aquatint "Hugo del Caril" (estimate: € 4 000-5 000) the "Lithographie 'Blau'" by Wassily Kandinskys (estimate: € 5 000-7 000), the chalk lithograph "Arbeiterfrau mit schlafendem Jungen" by Käthe Kollwitz from 1927 will also enthuse the audience.

on 2: Post War/Contemporary Art

Walter Stöhrer - Cut Up IV. 1970
Oil on canvas, 204,5x180 cm (80.5x70.8 in)
Estimate: € 18 000-24 000

Walter Stöhrer‘s works are unique in the world of 20th century art, and three large-sized works by the important representative of the Informel will be called up in this section. Besides two mixed media works without title, it is particularly the painting "Cut Up IV" which will draw the attention. With an estimate of € 18 000-24 000, it radiates an intensive degree of energy in its size of 204,5 x 180 cm. Only eleven works were made under the title "Cut Up", of which two are already in possession of German museums.

Emil Schumacher, who impresses the audience with his so-called "Weltinnenbilder" is represented in this auction with a mixed media work of this type from 1997. The relief-like color layers in light shades of blue and gray, furrowed by a meshwork of black lines, arouse associations to geological maps. The work has been estimated at € 12 000-15 000.

An untitled work by Günter Förg from 1994 is definitely going to cause some tension in the auction room, just as it will be the case with Norbert Bisky‘s oil painting "Vorwärts den Blick" from 1970. The estimates for both works are at € 10 000-15 000 each.

Lambert Maria Wintersberger‘s acrylic work "Homage an Leonardo da Vinci" (estimate: € 8 000-12 000) with its spontaneous and powerful stroke of the brush is a good example of the artist’s painting skills. In formal terms, the depiction calls reminiscence of the gestures of Saint Jerome, the painting of the same name by Leonardo da Vinci, which is in possession of the Pinacoteca Vaticana today.

Besides a zestful gouache in black and white (estimate: € 6 000-8 000), that Karl Otto Götz executed on cardboard in 1958, Markus Prachensky’s dynamic work "Rouge sur noir", which was made the same year, will be called up at € 5 000-7 000. This painting’s center is dominated by a strong red, whereas color accents in blue and red inspirit Fritz Winter‘s painting without title from 1954. It is estimated at € 5 000-7 000.

This section is rounded off by, among others, works by the following artists: Horst Antes, Georg Baselitz, Eduardo Chillida, Karl Fred Dahmen, Lucio Fontana, Damien Hirst, Horst Janssen, Robert Motherwell, Sigmar Polke, Neo Rauch, Antoni Tàpies and Zao Wou-Ki.

The first auction day will be opened by the section of Old Masters and Art of the 19th century, headed by Hendrik Willem Mesdag‘s oil painting "Die Rückkehr der Fischer", which is also the top lot in this auction. This work from the 1890s, estimated at € 40 000-50 000, is an impressive example of the artist’s atmospheric Realism, which he had developed against the traditions of the "Romantic School". At the same time he was a precursor of a new Dutch landscape painting.

Hendrik Willem Mesdag
Die Rückkehr der Fischer. 1890s
Oil on wood, 51 x 39,3 cm (20 x 15.4 in)
Estimate: € 40 000-50 000

Another heading lot is the painting "Die Eremitage von St. Maria del Avocatella bei Neapel" by Eugen von Guérard (estimate: € 20 000-30 000) from 1849. It counts among the classic depictions of southern Italian landscapes, which the artist successfully showed at academy exhibitions in Berlin, Leipzig and Lubeck.

An atmospheric genre piece by Felix Schlesinger is the small-format oil painting on wood "Beim Vorlesen". The rural idyll gives insight into family life and will be called up with an estimate of € 5 000-7 000.

Besides almost a dozen of still lives of nature and plants by Christian Friedrich Gille, all originate from the collection of the Berlin littérateur and art dealer Walter Unus, three landscape watercolors by Edward Theodore Compton will also shine their light on this section of the auction.

Further works by Johann Georg von Dillis, Jean Bastien-Lepage and Karl Friedrich Schinkel will also be on offer. Among the high-quality graphic art will be works by Albrecht Dürer, Francisco de Goya, Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Georg Friedrich Schmidt.