Lot 308 R

"The reverse glass painting 'Pferdeschwemme' (Horse Pond) depicts a group of naked people and horses, composed in a triangle, bathing in a river. On the horizon, industrial buildings and chimneys stretch along the opposite bank in a sort of a swaying round dance - metaphors of the modern industrial era typical for the Rhine valley region between Düsseldorf and Cologne at the beginning of the 20th century. [...]
The rich intensity and high-contrast colouring as well as the crystalline structure of overstretched, curved shapes refer not only to the influences of avant-garde art trends. They are also reminiscent of the medieval glass painting from the Rhineland which, in the course of the return to the origins and traditions of art by young artists, was revalued at the beginning of the century.
Carlo Mense was steered towards the medium of reverse glass painting by the artists of the 'Blauer Reiter' who had revived this folkloric painting technique with a long-standing tradition. The horseman and horse motifs, with their transcendent significance, also have their origin in the 'Blauer Reiter'. Around 1913/14, Mense repeatedly used them together with bathers and the river scenery of the Rhineland in order to symbolise an unspoilt world close to nature and an intense vital energy." (Klara Drenker-Nagels, in: Exhib. cat. Internationale Sprachen der Kunst, loc.cit., p. 165 f.)