Sale: 540 / Evening Sale, June 09. 2023 in Munich Lot 44


44
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Fischer mit Netzen, 1921.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 500,000 / $ 550,000
Sold:
€ 762,000 / $ 838,200

(incl. surcharge)
Fischer mit Netzen. 1921.
Oil on canvas.
Grohmann p. 293. Signed in upper left. Once more signed, titled "Fischer mit Netzen" and inscribed with the work number "2123" on the reverse. 98 x 112.5 cm (38.5 x 44.2 in).
[AM].
• This is the very first time that a painting from this creative period of such outstanding quality is offered on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).
• The radiant colors and the dynamic forms unite in an exhilarating dance.
• Bright declaration of love to Jershöft, his place of inspiration on the Baltic Sea.
• Shown in the important exhibition "Internationale Kunstausstellung" in Zürich as early as in 1925.
• Schmidt-Rottluff's main work in the collection of his longtime friend and supporter Hermann Gerlinger
.

The work is documented in the archive of the Karl and Emy Schmidt-Rottluff Foundation Berlin.

PROVENANCE: Art dealer Alfred Heller, Berlin (with the label on the reverse).
Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp, Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Internationale Kunstausstellung, Kunsthaus Zürich, August-September 1925, cat. no. 403.
Schmidt-Rottluff — G.H. Wolff, Vereinigung für junge Kunst, Augusteum Oldenburg, April 18 - May 16, 1926, cat. no. 13.
Schmidt-Rottluff. Gemälde: Landschaften aus 7 Jahrzehnten, June 14 - September 1, 1974, Altonaer Museum, Hamburg, cat. no. 21 (with illu. p. 83).
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff zum 100. Geburtstag, Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, June 3 - August 12, 1984, cat. no. 49.
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Retrospektive, Kunsthalle Bremen, June 16 - September 10, 1989 / Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, September 27 - December 3, 1989, cat. no. 229 (with a reversed illu.).
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Expressiv! Die Künstler der Brücke. Die Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Albertina Vienna, June 1 - August 26, 2007, cat. no. 60 (with illu.).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022)
Brückenschlag: Gerlinger – Buchheim!, Buchheim Museum, Bernried, October 28, 2017 - February 25, 2018, p. 368 (with illu. p. 369).
Schmidt-Rottluff. Form, Farbe, Ausdruck, Buchheim Museum, Bernried, September 29, 2018 - February 3, 2019, p. 252 (with illu.).

LITERATURE: Will Grohmann, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Stuttgart 1956, p. 293 (no illu.).
Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 397, SHG no. 690 (with illu.).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 97, SHG no. 206 (with illu.).

Inspiration Jershöft
Since 1920, Schmidt-Rottluff spent almost every summer in the small fishing and farming village of Jershöft in Pomerania near the Baltic Sea. The fishing village of Jershöft was a place of peace and calm at a time that was, after all, the very turbulent post-war period, especially in terms of the uprising of extreme political forces in Berlin, where he was living. So Schmidt-Rottluff devoted himself to rural life. Workers, farmers or fishermen doing their daily chores become the motif of paintings that depict the people in their social living environment.

Depictions of rural life
The painting "Fischer mit roten Netzen" (Fisherman with Red Nets) deserves special mention, as it belongs to the main works from the series of pictures dedicated to workers and craftsmen. Schmidt-Rottluff's endeavors to achieve the desired monumentality with highly dynamic painting becomes clearly tangible. Generous, simplified forms and large areas determine the character of the composition. Schmidt-Rottluff captures the contours of the figures and objects, such as the nets, with rapid, almost sketchy brushstrokes. The contours are almost always black. Within the area-defining boundaries, the color develops a magnificent, luminous life of its own. It is always the same tones he preferred, and which blend into a harmonious whole: a strong blue, an olive-colored ocher and a reddish brown. Occasionally, fishermen and boats take on sculptural forms, attain an increased expressiveness.

Colorful and dynamic surface painting
In the pictures of workers, craftsmen and fishermen, Schmidt-Rottluff developed a color surface painting that gave his art a a strong presence and expression. Zones of pure colors intertwine and add a dynamic rhythm to the surface. Sometimes the forms on the color surface even seem to dissolve into a sort of color abstraction, whereby a reference to the actual motif remains visible. The artist also uses the black contours to define different forms, thereby creating a sense of space by arranging the individual parts of the picture. In “Fischer mit roten Netzen”, the artist depicts the process of fishing, maintenance of the nets, and describes the hard work of the fishermen in dynamic gestures and rhythmic movements. Schmidt-Rottluff shows people without the usual physiognomy in an expressive movement. They are rhythmic pictorial processes that can’t be found in earlier works. Karl Schmidt-Rottluff’s works from the post-war years still show notions of the expressive surface style characteristic of the pre-war period, however, they evoke a far more emotional, less calm impression. [MvL]



44
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Fischer mit Netzen, 1921.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 500,000 / $ 550,000
Sold:
€ 762,000 / $ 838,200

(incl. surcharge)