Bronze sculpture. Height 7.3 cm. Mounted onto marble base 2 x 13.5 x 7 cm. With foundry mark "NOACK BERLIN" on front side of plinth at left. - With medium brown patina.
Gabler 162
Information on lots 132 - 137:
In 1907, August Gaul's gallerist Paul Cassirer and his wife Tilla Durieux gave a donkey as a present to Gaul's family. It was mainly intended as a pet for Gaul's son.
"In a series of six works, Gaul playfully examined all possible movements of a donkey. He presented four sculptures of this so called 'Eselei' for the first time at the Berliner Secession, the two others were offered in the gallery [Cassirer] from August 1912 resp. November 1913. A short while later, the donkey served as a motif for the combination of animal and man, quite uncommon for Gaul, see the 'Donkey Rider'." (Josephine Gabler, August Gaul. Das Werkverzeichnis der Skulpturen, Berlin 2007, p. 154)
Our offer of the small donkeys in their complete series as "Eselei" is extremely rare.
Provenance
Formerly private collection, Hessen (since the 1930's); private possession, Rhineland
Literature
Emil Waldmann, August Gaul, Berlin 1919, with ill.; Angelo Walther, Der Bildhauer August Gaul. Leben und Werk, Leipzig 1961, nr. 91; Roland Dorn, Verzeichnis der bei Paul Cassirer nachweisbaren Arbeiten von August Gaul, in: Ursel Berger, Der Tierbildhauer August Gaul, Berlin 1999, cat. nr. 50; Herwig Guratzsch (ed.), Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Katalog der Bildwerke, Köln 1999, cat. nr. V 11
Exhibitions
Berlin 1914 (Galerie Cassirer), August Gaul, XVIth year, 6th exhibition; Berlin 1915 (Galerie Cassirer), XVIIth year summer exhibition; Berlin 1915 (Akademie der Künste); Berlin 1919 (Galerie Cassirer), Sonderausstellung August Gaul; Berlin 1947 (Graphisches Kabinett A. von der Becke), Plastik und Handzeichnung; Berlin/Hamburg/Hanau 1999 (Georg Kolbe Museum/Ernst Barlach Haus/Museen d. Stadt Hanau), Der Tierbildhauer August Gaul, cat. nr. 47, with ill. p. 194; Frankfurt 2006 (Museum Giersch), Von Köpfen und Körpern. Frankfurter Bildhauerei aus dem Städel, with ill.; Neu-Ulm 2006 (Edwin Scharff Museum), Skulptur! Klein! Skulptur! Kleinplastiken des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts aus der Sammlung K. und U. Schulz, with ill.