Lot 307 Dα

The themes of the dance and movement are present in many of Rohlfs's paintings and graphic works from the years 1911 to 1916. Apart from the present work, he depicted exotic dancers and acrobats engaged in graceful-sensual movements in, for example, the oil or tempera paintings “Tanzende Faunin mit grünem Schleier” (Dancing female faun with a green veil; 1912; Vogt 521), “Tänzer” (Dancers; 1913; Vogt 537), “Akrobaten” (Acrobats, c. 1916; Vogt 577) as well as the woodcut “Zwei Tanzende” (Two dancers; c. 1913; Vogt Graphik 70). The artist's inspiration to do so is likely to have derived substantially from his patron Karl Ernst Osthaus's intense interest in theatre, dance and the circus. In his Folkwang-Museum, Osthaus organised avant-garde musical, theatrical and dance performances, and thus prepared a stage for - among others - Alexander Sakharoff, the star of Russian expressive dance, who had already been painted by Alexej von Jawlensky in a famous portrait from 1909.
The “Tänzerin mit rotem Schal” (Female dancer with red shawl) is depicted in the close-up view characteristic of Rohlfs's work. Her body is cropped at the knees and inserted into the pictorial space in such a way that she seems to be using her raised hand to push herself away from the right edge of the painting. In spite of the lively and dark internal shading, the contour of the body is compact - it is delineated in the manner of a silhouette and forms a delightful contrast to the red shawl surrounding it as well as the brightly luminous background.
The painting was once owned by Dr. Hermann Commerell, who was a friend and important patron of Christian Rohlfs and who, from 1910 to 1912, made it financially possible for the painter to work in a Munich studio and in the Upper Bavarian town of Polling (cf. chapter "Bei Dr. Commerell in Oberbayern", in: Walter Scheidig, Christian Rohlfs, Dresden 1965, p. 121-124).