Lot 184 Dα

Ursula Heiderich has dated the present ink drawing - together with two larger brush-and-ink drawings, the sheet of studies “Leute auf der Straße” and “Leute an der Gartenmauer" (see Heiderich Zeichnungen 1243, 1244) to 1912 on the basis of close stylistic links to two of Macke's sketchbooks created in Bonn in the spring and summer of that year. She explains in detail: “Several brush-and-ink drawings are carried out with a characteristic gesture that occupies a sizeable amount of space in the sketchbooks. In sketchbooks nos. 41 and 44, which can be dated to the spring of 1912, similar motifs are composed in this style. Emphatically executed brushstrokes with open boundaries connect the graphic material with the underlying support to form an optical interplay. Here inspirations stemming from Far Eastern calligraphy become active - inspirations that had already led to similar results in Emile Bernard's or Albert Marquet's manner of drawing. The artistic technique of working with a dried brush, whose tip opens up into separate paths as it is dragged along the paper, can be linked with drawings by these artists. It is possible that August Macke was familiar with drawings of the Fauves in this style. He nonetheless achieves an entirely personal, distinctive, 'freehand' graphic style in his sheets in ink from 1912. At every moment, August Macke's art is more than just the sum of particular impressions.” (U. Heiderich, August Macke Zeichnungen, Werkverzeichnis, Stuttgart 1993, p. 44).
The brush technique described here also generates virtually painterly values through the varying density of the monochrome colour in this very appealing motif in a square format. The illusion of space emerges, just as the gradated values from deep black to grey unfold a nuanced effect suggesting a summery play of shadow.