Lot 18 D

The years between 1911 and 1914 established the course of Heinrich Campendonk’s artistic career. He became a member of the “Blauer Reiter” group in 1911 and moved to the Upper Bavarian village of Sindelsdorf to join Franz Marc as well as August and Helmuth Macke in their artistic refuge; he exhibited his work with them and found his first patrons in the gallerist Alfred Flechtheim and the collector Bernhard Koehler. From 1912 he was represented by the Berlin gallerist Herwarth Walden, who exhibited Campendonk’s work at his “Sturm” gallery multiple times until 1914. When the artist married in 1913, his life initially remained centred around Sindelsdorf. However, the artists’ association would already be dissolved the following year: the beginning of World War I divided its members in terms of physical distance and ideology.
Our important gouache “Kind mit Fischen” was created during this tumultuous period. Inspired by Franz Marc, Campendonk was primarily concentrating on the depiction of animals from the countryside around Sindelsdorf. Like Marc, he was striving to elevate the animal from its ordinary existence to a symbolically charged, higher plane. From 1912 his work became intensely shaped by influences from Cubism, Futurism and Orphism. “Kind mit Fischen” is an exemplary demonstration of the independent style that resulted from this. He has transformed the everyday scene into a highly charged mosaic formed out of its pure, powerful coloration. The areas of colour are juxtaposed without contours, and the underlying rhythm and luminous colour contrasts define the composition. In its formal rigour it is comparable to contemporary sheets like “Figur und kleines Fabeltier” (Firmenich 400, Clemens Sels Museum Neuss) and “Gelbweiße Kuh vor Häusern” (Firmenich 402, Kunstmuseum Bonn).
This gouache represents a museum-class rarity at a level of quality that is rarely offered for sale on the art market.