Karl Hartung
Liegende mit aufgestütztem Haupt
1948
Bronze. Height 34 cm, width 48 cm, depth 32 cm. On the underside with the three-part estate stamp: Name stamp 'HARTUNG', special symbol and stamp "N" (for Nachlass - estate), From an edition of 6 casts and one artist's or estate cast. One cast is held by the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg. - Fine, dark brown patina.
The “Liegende mit aufgestütztem Haupt” by Karl Hartung belongs to a group of reclining nudes created in 1948 (cf. Krause 401-411). They are characterised by voluminous, flowing forms that are based on the natural anatomy of the female body but freely abstract from it. The artist finds a great variety of formal solutions that unite tension and harmony. The bodies of the reclining figures are slightly turned in on themselves, weighty and buoyant passages balance one another out, and the resting limbs form a variety of views through the sculpture.
“The human body … is now seen only as a part of the creation as a whole … To the extent that human beings still remain the subject of sculptural work, what is seen in them is the typical, that which is close to creation, their figure as the living primal substance of formal possibilities, and it is no longer experienced in terms of standing out as an individual against nature,” writes a contemporary critic (cited in: Karl Hartung. Catalogue Raisonné, p. 87). The warm, mahogany-coloured patina of our reclining figure underscores the harmony with nature postulated here: it reflects light so intensely that it seems to take on a life of its own on the supplely smooth surface.
Catalogue Raisonné
Krause 406
Certificate
We would like to thank the Karl Hartung Estate for the kind additional information.
Provenance
Estate of the artist; Galerie Henze & Ketterer, Wichtrach/Bern (acquired at Art Cologne 1997); private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia
Exhibitions
Cf. et al. Berlin 1952 (Haus am Waldsee), Karl Hartung, cat. no. 70; Hannover 1953 (Kestner-Gesellschaft), Karl Hartung, cat. no. 37 with ill.; Berlin 1988 (Galerie Pels-Leusden), Karl Hartung, cat. no. 42 with ill. p. 38 f.; Neumünster 2023 (Gerisch Stiftung und Skulpturenpark Neumünster), Reine Formsache - Hommage an Karl Hartung (other cast)