Fritz Klimsch - In Wind und Sonne - image-1

Lot 419 D

Fritz Klimsch - In Wind und Sonne

Auction 1070 - overview Cologne
03.06.2016, 18:00 - Modern Art
Estimate: 35.000 € - 40.000 €
Result: 62.000 € (incl. premium)

Fritz Klimsch

In Wind und Sonne
1936

Bronze Height 147 cm Monogrammed 'FK' (joined) on the cast-with plinth left verso and with the foundry mark "H. NOACK BERLIN". - Fine dark brown, partially bronze-coloured lightened patina.

Looking back, Fritz Klimsch referred to the sculpture "In Wind und Sonne" as one of his finest. The work is compelling as a subtly articulated nude in the realm between calmness and vitality; the motif is simultaneously stationary and in motion. Klimsch carefully dynamises the ideal figure of the young woman by cautiously twisting the hip and the bent arms above the projecting right leg in the opposite direction. The bowed head, with its slightly averted gaze, simultaneously invests the image with an aspect of soulfulness and inwardness. Faced by the wind and sun, the nymph-like nude seems to be resisting these natural forces - though they have certainly not failed to make an impression, as is conveyed through the waving hair.
An intensified occupation with Greek sculpture is characteristic of Fritz Klimsch's work from the 1910s onwards. His interest manifests itself in his emphatic enthusiasm for the “spirit of the ancient Hellenes” (Fritz Klimsch, Erinnerungen und Gedanken eines Bildhauers, Geformte Bilder eines Lebens und zweier Jahrhunderte, Berlin 1952, p. 103) and particularly for the idea of the unity of nature and art. In reinventing ancient ideals, Klimsch strove for an “art that stands above contemporary history.” (Fritz Klimsch, Erinnerungen und Gedanken eines Bildhauers, op. cit., p. 90)

Catalogue Raisonné

Braun 176

Provenance

Galerie Koch-Westenhoff, Lübeck (1991); Private possession since, North Germany

Literature

Uli Klimsch, Fritz Klimsch. Die Welt des Bildhauers, Berlin 1938, p. 52, illus. p. 102 and 103; Walter Manggold, Fritz Klimsch, in: Die Kunst für Alle, 55th year, 1939-40, p. 108 ff., illus. p. 110; Egbert Delpy, Fritz Klimsch, Berlin 1942, illus. no. 34; Hermann Braun, Fritz Klimsch. Werke, Hannover 1980, no. 28 with illus. p. 72

Exhibitions

Berlin 1936 (Olympische Kunstausstellung der XI. Olympiade), cat. p. 24, no. 138 ("Entspannung"); Paris 1937 (Weltausstellung); Berlin 1938 (Ausstellungsgebäude Tiergartenstraße 21 a), Sonderausstellung Fritz Klimsch. Plastik, cat. no. 10; Cologne 1970 (Galerie Abels), cat. no. 8 with illus.; Frankfurt 2010 (Museum Giersch), Die Bildhauer August Gaul und Fritz Klimsch, p. 272 with full-page colour illus. no. 144