Ernst Barlach - Der Zweifler - image-1
Ernst Barlach - Der Zweifler - image-2
Ernst Barlach - Der Zweifler - image-1Ernst Barlach - Der Zweifler - image-2

Lot 318 Dα

Ernst Barlach - Der Zweifler

Auction 1059 - overview Cologne
27.11.2015, 18:00 - Modern Art
Estimate: 90.000 € - 110.000 €
Result: 272.800 € (incl. premium)

Ernst Barlach

Der Zweifler
1930/1931

Bronze sculpture Height 51.5 cm. Width 28 cm. Depth 20.2 cm Signed 'E. Barlach' and with the driven-in cast number on rear right hem of robe as well as the foundry mark"H NOACK BERLIN FRIEDENAU" to rear left. Cast 4/10. Lifetime cast. - With gold brown, tending towards olive-coloured patina. The calvaria with typical small, minimally darker square caused by the casting channel. The inside with remnants of anthracite-coloured fireclay typical of old Barlach casts and with two labels of the Alfred Flechtheim galleries, Berlin, Düsseldorf.

The provenance of this bronze is the Galerie Alfred Flechtheim, where it was exhibited under the title “Der kniende Mann” at the Christmas exhibition of 1931/32 at Lützowufer no. 13 in Berlin. It is thus - as has been confirmed by the foundry Noack - a very beautiful liftetime cast. Flechtheim had repeatedly exhibited Barlach's sculptures and prints since the founding of his Düsseldorf gallery in 1913. In 1926 - following the death of Barlach's art dealer, Paul Cassirer - Flechtheim took over complete responsibility for the representation of his work as his art dealer. Thus in 1930 he supported Barlach in having twenty plaster models which he had created since 1907 cast in an edition of 10 to 20 bronzes. On the one hand he sensed a good commercial prospect here in spite of the Great Depression; on the other hand he had promised the artist financial assistance in building his new studio in Güstrow. In November and December of 1930, 20 bronzes by Barlach were presented in the Galerie Flechtheim. In 1931 Flechtheim planned to expand the casting programme through five single bronzes; these included “Der Zweifler”, given the title “Kniender Mann” (cf. Exhib. cat. Galerie Nierendorf, Ernst Barlach: Einundfünfzig Bronzen, Berlin 1981, p. 6). Because public opinion suddenly and dramatically shifted, the two series of casts initiated by Flechtheim could not be realised in the planned volume. The project ultimately fell through on account of the liquidation of the gallery and Flechtheim's emigration to London in 1933. In addition, Barlach was denounced by the Nazis as a “degenerate artist”. The labels inside as well as the numbering featuring the fraction slash characteristically applied by Noack to Flechtheim casts identify the sculpture as an early cast. It thus represents a particularity.
The bronze displays the clear and down-to-earth formal idiom so characteristic of Barlach. The pose of the doubter - bent forward slightly and almost swaying, with his hands clasped in front of his lap - expresses the moment of existential absorption in an emphatic manner. The motif of the kneeling male figure with an x-shaped outline can also be found in Barlach's drawings from 1912 onwards (“Kniender”, Probst 1146; “Gefesselter”, Probst 1147) as well as in the 1918 lithograph “Der Blinde” (Laur, Druckgraphik 52, see comparative illustration).

Catalogue Raisonné

Laur 470; Schult 385

Provenance

Galerien Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin und Düsseldorf (no. 13758); Hildegard and Kurt Kirchbach, Dresden; Berthold von Bohlen und Halbach, Essen (presumably acquired by Kirchbach before 1960); Christie's London 24 June 2009, Impressionist/Modern Day Sale, lot 297); Private Collection, Rhineland

Literature

Carl Dietrich Carls, Ernst Barlach. Das plastische, graphische und dichterische Werk, Berlin 1931, p. 67; Omnibus Almanach 1932, p. 42; Anita Beloubek-Hammer, Ernst Barlach. Plastische Meisterwerke, Leipzig 1996, p. 119, 22 f.; A. Bardon, Barlach und die Melancholie, in: Ausst. Rostock 1998, p. 308; Ottfried Dascher, "Es ist was Wahnsinniges mit der Kunst". Alfred Flechtheim. Sammler, Kunsthändler, Verleger, Wädenswil 2011, p. 470, CD p. 237

Exhibitions

I.a. Berlin 1931/1932 (Galerie Alfred Flechtheim), Weihnachten 1931 - Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Ernst Barlach, Rudolf Belling, Renée Sintenis, cat. no. 18 (Der kniende Mann) with illus. p. 5 (with imprinted gallery labels inside, thereon type- and handwritten note of artist, title "Der Zweifler" and dimensions) New York 1938 (Galerie Buchholz); Berlin 1948 (Galerie Franz), cat. no. 25, p. 22, with illus. p.17; Hamburg 1948 (Galerie Hoffmann), Ernst Barlach Gedächtnisausstellung zum 10jährigen Todestag, cat. no. 18; Düsseldorf 1951 (Galerie Alex Vömel), Ernst Barlach, cat. no. 20; Kassel 1955 (Documenta I), cat. no. 23; Lincoln/Nebraska 1955 (University of Nebraska, Art Galleries), cat. no. 21 (The Doubter); Bremen 1959 (Kunsthalle), Ernst Barlach, cat. no. 38; Bergen/Güstrow 2000 (Kunstmuseum/Ernst Barlach Stiftung), Ernst Barlach. Ein Graphiker und Bildhauer des deutschen Expressionismus, cat. no. 95; Kyoto 2006 (National Museum of Modern Art Kyoto), Ernst Barlach Retrospektive, cat. no. 146