(openPR) - Munich, 8 November 2007 (kk) - Not all that long ago, a record-breaking € 2 580 000* for the Emil Nolde portrait “Nadja” was achieved at Ketterer Kunst. Robert Ketterer has pulled two more Nolde paintings on a single canvas and carrying an estimate of € 400 000-600 000 from the sack to be sold at auction in Munich on 5 December at 3.30 pm.
On one side is the painting “Im Alter” [“In Old Age”], dating from 1918, when Nolde was at his most productive. At that time the artist was concentrating on portraiture. In this he was concerned more with the universals of humanity rather than the personalities of his sitters as individuals. The old man with his white beard is memorable as exemplifying old age and transience yet does not represent a memento mori. The composition and palette, dynamic as they are, are at the opposite extreme to the subject matter; the high cap seems to be all that is holding the man’s torso upright.
The other side of the canvas, which measures 62 x 41 cm, features a crocodile and two Kachina figures, masked dolls made by the North American Pueblo Indians. Painted in 1912, this work was entered as No. 402 by Emil Nolde in his own inventory of his paintings under the title “Fetisch” [“Fetish”]. In the 1930 inventory, however, the work is listed as “selbst vernichtet” [“destroyed by me”]. Not until 1990 was the overpainting removed to reveal the painting again.
Alongside such important works as August Mackes “Blondes Mädchen mit Buch” [“Blonde Girl with Book”] (estimate: € 300 000-500 000), Vladimir Georgiyevich Bekhteyev’s “Zirkusszene” [“Circus Scene”] (estimate: € 180 000-240 000), portfolio works from Marc Chagall (estimate: € 180 000-200 000) and the Bauhaus masters (estimate: € 150 000-170 000) as well as Gabriele Münter’s “Bäume am Hagenweg, Abend” [“Trees along Hagenweg, Evening”] (estimate: € 100 000-150 000) - see the separate press release on this - the Modern Art division is featuring Wilhelm Morgner’s oil painting “Mann mit Karre” [“Man with Wheelbarrow”] (estimate: € 100 000-150 000).
Two works by Oskar Schlemmer will certainly be of equal interest: While his 1930 watercolor “Knabenfigur” [“Figure of a boy”] will be called with an estimate of € 50 000-70 000, his pastel “Konzentrische Gruppe mit Rückenfigur” [“Concentric Group”] is estimated at € 130 000-180 000.
In the Contemporary Art division, which is represented by a separate catalogue under the heading of Post War, Enrico Castellani’s 1965 “Superficie argento” is an eyecatcher. Using nails, that he deployed in two separate work phases, the artist created raised and depressed areas on the silvery surface, thus staging the interrelationship of light and space with the simplest of means yet achieving the utmost in sophistication. Physical and sensory presence has thus been reduced to a minimum while the lively rhythm of the monochrome surface is foregrounded. This visually vibrating surface, measuring 120 x 100 cm, carries an estimate of € 150 000-250 000.
For € 80 000-120 000, a 1964 Roy Lichtenstein one-off might be yours. The Lichtenstein collage “Untitled (Seascape)” is one of the very first of his works using Rowlux foil, whose iridescent reflecting surface suggests both depth and movement. Today only about 100 Lichtensteins in this technique are known.
A shiver of excitement should grip the auction room when the following works are called: “Pflockkreuz” [“Cross of Stakes”] by Joseph Beuys (estimate: € 80 000-120 000) and especially Gerhard Richter’s “Sich Ankleidende” [“Woman Dressing”] (estimate: € 150 000-250 000) and
“Peinture 127 cm x 99 cm, 23 septembre 1977” by Pierre Soulages (estimate: € 120 000-150 000), not even to mention works by Horst Antes, Jörg Immendorff and Markus Lüpertz (see separate press release).
A high point of the auction is definitely, apart from the established special auction Side lines of the German Avant-garde with nearly 90 works by Josef Eberz, Carlo Mense, William Straube, Arnold Topp, Max Unold and other distinguished artists, the extraordinary Professor Robert Häusser Collection, to which a separate catalogue is also devoted.
Professor Robert Häusser, one of the few internationally acclaimed German photographers of the early post-war era, amassed a superlative collection of contemporary art from the 1960s to the 1980s. Exhibitions of Häusser’s photographic works attracted the attention of artists such as Winfried Gaul, Gotthard Graubner, Gerhard Hoehme and Georg Meistermann. Karl Fred Dahmen and Karl Otto Götz were among the first artists to seek direct contact to Professor Häusser to have their works photographed. Thus many ties of friendship were forged that would greatly influence the photographer’s collecting activity. Some 30 works from the Professor Robert Häusser Collection, that have never been on the market before, are to go under the hammer at the special auction.
Pre-sale viewings have been scheduled in Germany for the following dates and times:
Since it was founded in 1954, Ketterer Kunst has been firmly established in the front ranks of auction houses dealing in art and rare books. While our Munich headquarters in the Prinz-Alphons Palais is responsible for the two traditional annual auctions of Modern Art & Post War, the Meßberghof in Hamburg is the venue for two traditional auctions a year, each based on the following fields: Old Masters and 19th-Century Art /Marine Art and Rare Books - Autographs - Manuscripts - Decorative Prints as well as Modern Art & Post War, with a focus on works on paper. In addition, exhibitions, special and benefit auctions for charity as well as live auctions online are regular events at Ketterer Kunst.
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