Modern Art - Variations

“Variation: Purpurgold (Herbst)” is a classical painting by Alexej von Jawlensky from 1918 which has been referenced in the literature and exhibited many times and was once owned by Galka Scheyer in Hollywood. Jawlensky worked for over six years on an artistic complex he officially referred to as “Variations on a Landscape Theme” (lot 207, € 120/150,000).

The chromatic and formal force of Nolde's watercolour “Tosendes Meer” is reminiscent of the high artistic status that seascapes possessed within his oeuvre. The pictures done in oils – painted in exhilaration, as if in ecstasy – were sometimes created one after the other in large painted series, particularly in 1930, during his stay on Sylt. After the war, in 1947, paintings of comparable formats followed, one of which belonged to Jolanthe Nolde and was exhibited at the Heidelberger Kunstverein in 1958, together with the present watercolour. Nolde's highly expressive works on paper accompanied his paintings; the medium of the watercolour seemed particularly adequate for this purpose (lot 168, € 100/130,000). A further, typical Nolde watercolour with tulips and amaryllis has an estimate of € 90/120,000 (lot 169).

Franz Wilhelm Seiwert is prominently represented by his painting “Drei Arbeiterköpfe” from 1924/25. The elements of geometric abstraction, the rigorously simplified contours, the elements drawn on to the heads and figures and their densely packed alternation in frontal and profile views are stylistic devices which originally derived from Seiwert's graphic work and his artistic and political propaganda (lot 200, € 90/120,000). Over the course of Serge Poliakoff's late work - and in the midst of his characteristic compositions built up out of forms - we repeatedly find individual works which possess a veritably monochrome, spherical quality and exude a meditative effect. One example is that offered here, “Composition abstraite” from 1967 which clearly stands apart from his painterly work of around 1967 (lot 106, € 100/120,000). Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s important lithography “Tanzende Akte” from 1914 is one of seven proofs in this state, a hand-print once owned by Erich Heckel (lot 135, € 80/120,000). Erich Heckel’s canvas “Frauen im Wald” from the year 1922 is estimated at € 90/120,000 (lot 137).

Max Liebermann’s painting “Konzert in der Oper” is one of the rare concert pictures that Liebermann painted from the late 1910s to the early 1920s at Berlin's national opera “Unter den Linden”. The extraordinary pieces from this series were created directly in the auditorium during the performance of the concerts, which the artist enjoyed and regularly attended. This circumstance also explains the relatively small formats of the concert pictures (lot 181, € 80/120,000). “Dame in rosa Kleid auf weißem Esel" – Mädchen beim Eselreiten am Strand von Scheveningen”, a pastel painted work from 1901 is valued at € 70/90,000 (lot 183).

“Der singende Mann” from 1928, a 49.5 cm bronze by Ernst Barlach has an estimate of € 80/120,000 (lot 202), whilst the bronze “Der Zweifler”, made two years later, is valued at € 60/80,000 (lot 203). Leonor Fini’s canvas “Les Adelphes” from 1968 has been set at € 80/100,000 (lot 116), as has “Moulin de la Galette á Montmartre” by Maurice Utrillo from 1936 (lot 196). 

Gert Heinrich Wollheim’s “Porträt Heinrich George“ from 1928 deserves particular attention. Gert Heinrich Wollheim possessed a wealth of talents: he wrote poems, played the violin, drew, painted, modelled sculptures, organised exhibitions, wrote plays and also liked to perform as an actor himself. Along with all of this, Wollheim gave lectures and also wrote essays and polemics in journals like “Das Ey” or “Das Junge Rheinland”. Regardless of his medium, Wollheim's contributions are distinguished by their deep interest in human existence, they possess an unbridled force and delicate fragility and are, at the same time, rarely free of humour or irony. Like few others, Wollheim was able to artistically assimilate the Roaring Twenties - with all their glamour and depths (lot 144, €60/80,000).

A nude by Hans Purrmann from 1926 has an estimate of € 60/80,000 (lot 197), a glass window by Adolf Hölzel from the same year is valued at € 40/60,000 (lot 190), a canvas painted one year later by Xanti Schawinski at € 35/45,000 (lot 100), as is a further canvas by Franco Gentilini from the 1950s (lot 115). Finally, a selection of 18 works from the museum of the former collector Heinz Pachen, Mainz/ Rockenhausen, including two paintings by Otto Dix (Lots 157, 158), rounds off the varied selection.