Fritz Klimsch - Jugend - image-1
Fritz Klimsch - Jugend - image-2
Fritz Klimsch - Jugend - image-1Fritz Klimsch - Jugend - image-2

Lot 96 D

Fritz Klimsch - Jugend

Auction 1155 - overview Cologne
19.06.2020, 18:00 - Modern and Contemporary Art - Evening Sale
Estimate: 60.000 € - 80.000 €
Result: 112.500 € (incl. premium)

Fritz Klimsch

Jugend
1940/4141

Bronze Height 157.5 cm Signed 'Fritz Klimsch' on the cast-with plinth and foundry mark "GUSS H. NOACK BERLIN" on edge of plinth. Liftetime cast. - Black green patina with partial bronze-coloured lightening.

The then 19-year-old Margrit Schlömer served as Fritz Klimsch's model for “Jugend”, which possesses a classical air. Her romantic partner, the artistically ambitious young jurist Dr Hanswilly Bernartz, had sent Klimsch a nude photo of Schlömer in April 1940, asking whether she might not be an ideal model for him. Fritz Klimsch and Margit Schlömer also remained in contact during the years that followed, and the sculptor gave her the cast in bronze offered here.
Regarding this work, Hermann Braun explains: “An enchanting, slender figure with high-set breasts presents herself to us with averted gaze. The pose is entirely serene and assured; only the hands betray a remnant of shyness: it is as though the fingers were seeking protection in the palms. This motif simultaneously leads the arms, which are only slightly drawn back and extended to the sides, towards the body again. The head turned to the side and featuring a combed-back, very feminine hairstyle presents a clear profile; the gaze is directed into the distance.” (Hermann Braun, Fritz Klimsch. Eine Dokumentation, Köln 1991, p. 399).
This statue was the artist's last bronze figure near to life-size. It forms the highly expressive conclusion of a series of standing young female nudes by the sculptor, which also include “Frühling” (1932), “Eva” (1933) and “In Wind und Sonne” (1936). Here Klimsch was searching for an ideal beauty uniting balanced proportions and youthful light-heartedness. Although “Jugend” possesses a basic pose that is certainly stern, Klimsch has inscribed the figure with an unmistakable naturalness and ease.

Catalogue Raisonné

Braun 207

Provenance

Margrit Schlömer (gift from the artist to the model); Collection Hanswilly Bernartz; Private collection, Rüsselsheim; Galerie Thomas, Munich; Private collection, South Germany

Literature

Uli Klimsch, Fritz Klimsch. Freie Schöpfungen, Stollhamm/Berlin 1949, cat. no. 66/67; Hermann Braun, Fritz Klimsch. Werke, Hannover 1980, cat. no. 38 with full-page illus. p. 92

Exhibitions

Berlin 1942 (Preußische Akademie der Künste), 3. Frühjahrsausstellung. Fritz Klimsch. Sonderausstellung, cat. no. 204