Sale: 590 / Evening Sale, June 06. 2025 in Munich 
Lot 125000223
Lot 125000223
Frame image
Raumbeispiel
125000223
Conrad Felixmüller
Bildnis der Mutter, 1915.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 120,000 - 150,000
$ 129,600 - 162,000
Information on buyer's premium, taxation and resale right compensation will be available four weeks before the auction.
Bildnis der Mutter. 1915.
Oil on canvas.
Signed “Felix-Müller” and dated at bottom center. Dated, titled and inscribed with the catalogue raisonné number on the stretcher, probably by a hand other than that of the artist, as well as on the reverse of the canvas. 70.5 x 55.5 cm (27.7 x 21.8 in). [JS].
• Felixmüller – shooting star of the Dresden and Berlin avant-garde of the late 1910s.
• In 1915, the young artist suddenly arrived at his mature, edgy style with works like “Bildnis der Mutter” and the “Selbstbildnis”.
• Colors and composition make this work an extraordinary avant-garde portrait of museum quality.
• Just one year after it was painted, the work was shown at the renowned Berlin gallery “Der Sturm”.
• In a Cubist dissection and an extreme pose, the human being was to remain Felixmüller's central motif.
• Extensive international exhibition history.
PROVENANCE: Titus Felixmüller, Hamburg (the artist's son, until after 1992).
Private collection, Germany (until 2018: Grisebach, November 29, 2018).
Private collection, Baden-Württemberg (since 2018).
Private collection, Hesse (inherited in 2019 from the above).
EXHIBITION: 42nd exhibition, Galerie “Der Sturm”, Berlin 1916, cat. no. 32 (with the fragmentarily preserved label on the reverse).
Der Sturm – Herwarth Walden und die Europäische Avant-Garde Berlin 1912-1932, Charlottenburg Palace, Orangery, Berlin 1961, cat. no. 112.
Conrad Felixmüller. Das frühe Werk, Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin 1965, cat. no. 16.
Conrad Felixmüller. Bilder der 20er Jahre, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Haus Salve Hospes, Brunswick 1066, cat. no.
Conrad Felixmüller. Gemälde - Zeichnungen - Graphik, Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich, 1966, cat. no. 2 (illustrated in b/w on p. 2).
Conrad Felixmüller. Gemälde und Graphik, Städtisches Museum, Wiesbaden, 1966, cat. no. 1.
Conrad Felixmüller. Malerei von 1913-1973, Ehemalige Nationalgalerie (Jebensstraße), Berlin, 1973, cat. no. 6 (illustrated in b/w).
Conrad Felixmüller. Gemälde - Aquarelle -Zeichnungen - Druckgraphik, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, Albertinum / Kunsthalle Rostock / Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (East) Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1975/76, cat. no. 8 (color plate 2).
Conrad Felixmüller 1897-1977, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund / Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden / Saarland Museum Saarbrücken, 1978/79, cat. no. 129.
Conrad Felixmüller 1897-1977, Interversa Hamburg, 1981, cat. no. 3.
A Retrospective Exhibition of the Works of Conrad Felixmüller 1897-1977, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hongkong, 1982, without cat. no. illustrated, no p.).
Conrad Felixmüller 1897-1977. Querschnitt durch sein Werk, Kunstverein Göttingen / Kunstverein Uelzen, 1986, cat. no. 1.
Conrad Felixmüller. Gemälde - Aquarelle - Zeichnungen - Druckgraphilk - Skulpturen, Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottdorf, Schleswig / Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf im Ehrenhof / Kunstverein Braunschweig / Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg, Halle, 1990/91, cat. no. 3 (illustrated on p. 70).
Conrad Felixmüller, Städtisches Kunstmuseum, Reutlingen 1991/92 (with the shipping label on the reverse).
Between Politics and Studio - Conrad Felixmüller, Leicestershire Museum, Leicester, 1994, cat. no. 6 (illustrated in b/w).
Conrad Felixmüller. His Dresden Years, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, 1995, cat. no. 4.
LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Titus Felixmüller (ed.), Conrad Felixmüller. Monograph and catalogue raisonné of paintings, Cologne 1996, cat. no. 67.
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Dieter Gleisberg, Conrad Felixmüller. Leben und Werk, Dresden 1982 (color plate 24).
Conrad Felixmüller, Menschen.. erlebt, gezeichnet, gemalt - ein autobiographisches Fragment, ed. by Guntram Vesper, Bremerhaven 1988 (illustrated in b/w on p. 9).
Grisebach, Berlin, Auktion Ausgewählte Werke, November 29, 2018, lot 26 (illustrated).
Oil on canvas.
Signed “Felix-Müller” and dated at bottom center. Dated, titled and inscribed with the catalogue raisonné number on the stretcher, probably by a hand other than that of the artist, as well as on the reverse of the canvas. 70.5 x 55.5 cm (27.7 x 21.8 in). [JS].
• Felixmüller – shooting star of the Dresden and Berlin avant-garde of the late 1910s.
• In 1915, the young artist suddenly arrived at his mature, edgy style with works like “Bildnis der Mutter” and the “Selbstbildnis”.
• Colors and composition make this work an extraordinary avant-garde portrait of museum quality.
• Just one year after it was painted, the work was shown at the renowned Berlin gallery “Der Sturm”.
• In a Cubist dissection and an extreme pose, the human being was to remain Felixmüller's central motif.
• Extensive international exhibition history.
PROVENANCE: Titus Felixmüller, Hamburg (the artist's son, until after 1992).
Private collection, Germany (until 2018: Grisebach, November 29, 2018).
Private collection, Baden-Württemberg (since 2018).
Private collection, Hesse (inherited in 2019 from the above).
EXHIBITION: 42nd exhibition, Galerie “Der Sturm”, Berlin 1916, cat. no. 32 (with the fragmentarily preserved label on the reverse).
Der Sturm – Herwarth Walden und die Europäische Avant-Garde Berlin 1912-1932, Charlottenburg Palace, Orangery, Berlin 1961, cat. no. 112.
Conrad Felixmüller. Das frühe Werk, Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin 1965, cat. no. 16.
Conrad Felixmüller. Bilder der 20er Jahre, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Haus Salve Hospes, Brunswick 1066, cat. no.
Conrad Felixmüller. Gemälde - Zeichnungen - Graphik, Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich, 1966, cat. no. 2 (illustrated in b/w on p. 2).
Conrad Felixmüller. Gemälde und Graphik, Städtisches Museum, Wiesbaden, 1966, cat. no. 1.
Conrad Felixmüller. Malerei von 1913-1973, Ehemalige Nationalgalerie (Jebensstraße), Berlin, 1973, cat. no. 6 (illustrated in b/w).
Conrad Felixmüller. Gemälde - Aquarelle -Zeichnungen - Druckgraphik, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, Albertinum / Kunsthalle Rostock / Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (East) Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1975/76, cat. no. 8 (color plate 2).
Conrad Felixmüller 1897-1977, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund / Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden / Saarland Museum Saarbrücken, 1978/79, cat. no. 129.
Conrad Felixmüller 1897-1977, Interversa Hamburg, 1981, cat. no. 3.
A Retrospective Exhibition of the Works of Conrad Felixmüller 1897-1977, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hongkong, 1982, without cat. no. illustrated, no p.).
Conrad Felixmüller 1897-1977. Querschnitt durch sein Werk, Kunstverein Göttingen / Kunstverein Uelzen, 1986, cat. no. 1.
Conrad Felixmüller. Gemälde - Aquarelle - Zeichnungen - Druckgraphilk - Skulpturen, Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottdorf, Schleswig / Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf im Ehrenhof / Kunstverein Braunschweig / Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg, Halle, 1990/91, cat. no. 3 (illustrated on p. 70).
Conrad Felixmüller, Städtisches Kunstmuseum, Reutlingen 1991/92 (with the shipping label on the reverse).
Between Politics and Studio - Conrad Felixmüller, Leicestershire Museum, Leicester, 1994, cat. no. 6 (illustrated in b/w).
Conrad Felixmüller. His Dresden Years, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, 1995, cat. no. 4.
LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Titus Felixmüller (ed.), Conrad Felixmüller. Monograph and catalogue raisonné of paintings, Cologne 1996, cat. no. 67.
- -
Dieter Gleisberg, Conrad Felixmüller. Leben und Werk, Dresden 1982 (color plate 24).
Conrad Felixmüller, Menschen.. erlebt, gezeichnet, gemalt - ein autobiographisches Fragment, ed. by Guntram Vesper, Bremerhaven 1988 (illustrated in b/w on p. 9).
Grisebach, Berlin, Auktion Ausgewählte Werke, November 29, 2018, lot 26 (illustrated).
The year 1915, one year after the outbreak of World War I, marked a decisive turning point for Felixmüller: He was only 18 years old when he left the Dresden Academy of Art to become a freelance artist. In the following years, he spent a lot of time in Berlin, where he painted in Ludwig Meidner's studio and worked for Herwarth Walden's expressionist magazine “Der Sturm” and the avant-garde weekly “Die Aktion”. It was also the year that the young artist liberated himself from academic constraints and, through his examination of contemporary art movements in “Bildnis der Mutter” and “Selbstbildnis” (private collection, Berlin), also painted in 1915, he arrived at a firm, self-confident and mature artistic position. Henceforth, Felixmüller fused expressionist and cubist elements to create his clear, sharp-edged, and, at the same time, vibrant, colorful style. His dissecting eye for characters and people made Felixmüller, along with Otto Dix, one of the most important portrait artists of his time. The fledgling artist soon became part of the Berlin avant-garde and was in close contact with Raoul Hausmann, the founder of the Berlin Dada Club in 1918. In 1920, Felixmüller captured the Dadaist, who, along with Otto Dix, was one of Felixmüller's closest friends on canvas. In a grandiose portrait, Felixmüller emphasized the sitter's personality with jagged facial features and sharp-edged shoulders. The captivating picture “Otto Dix Malend” (Nationalgalerie Berlin) also dates from 1920. Given Felixmüller's artistic talent, which had already become apparent in 1915, it is little surprising that the young artist soon found himself represented by the most important avant-garde galleries in Dresden and Berlin: the Emil Richter art salon (1915) and Herwarth Walden's legendary Berlin gallery 'Der Sturm' (1916). Felixmüller's “Bildnis der Mutter” (Portrait of the Artist's Mother) is both a fascinating document of the young artist's gift and a harbinger of what to expect, not least for the strict geometric fragmentation of the facial features, the bold color contrasts, and the exaggerated pose of the hands and face. It is one of the few paintings that Walden exhibited in 1916 that still exists today. The bulk of them, however, are now thought to have been destroyed or are listed in the catalog raisonné with “unknown whereabouts”. However, the remarkable “Bildnis der Mutter” has stood the test of time and has regularly featured in major international solo exhibitions. [JS]
125000223
Conrad Felixmüller
Bildnis der Mutter, 1915.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 120,000 - 150,000
$ 129,600 - 162,000
Information on buyer's premium, taxation and resale right compensation will be available four weeks before the auction.
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