Sale: 591 / Day Sale, June 07. 2025 in Munich 
Lot 125000374
Lot 125000374 
Raumbeispiel
125000374
Oskar Schlemmer
Knabenfigur von der Seite, Um 1930.
Watercolor and pencil
Estimate:
€ 40,000 - 60,000
$ 45,200 - 67,800
Information on buyer's premium, taxation and resale right compensation will be available four weeks before the auction.
Knabenfigur von der Seite. Um 1930.
Watercolor and pencil.
On wove paper, with fragments of a Bauhaus print that Schlemmer had developed for his class “Der Mensch” on the reverse. 37.1 x 21.9 cm (14.6 x 8.6 in), the full sheet.
In a letter by Dieter Keller, Schlemmer's former estate administrator, dated October 7, 1949, a copy of which is kept in the Oskar Schlemmer Archive at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, a watercolor labeled 'Knabenfigur von der Seite, 1930' is listed under no. 60, which can be identified as the present work. [CH].
• Perfect harmony of figure and space, delicate watercolor glazes, and striking graphic elements.
• Posture, body, and color scheme show parallels to the central figure in Schlemmer's painting “Fünfzehnergruppe” (1929).
• In 1930, his works were included in the XVII Venice Biennale, and a year later he was represented in the major retrospective exhibition “Modern German Painting and Sculpture” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
• Comparable watercolors are part of prestigious museum collections, including the Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, the Albertina in Vienna, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, and the Busch-Reisinger Museum of the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, MA.
• The human head in profile is particularly characteristic of Oskar Schlemmer's visual language and also adorns the Bauhaus logo he designed in 1922.
PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate (until 1949).
Galerie Ruhstrat and estate of Galerie Ruhstrat, Hamburg.
Private collection.
Galerie Rieder, Munich (with a gallery label on the back of the frame).
Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (acquired from the above in 2007, Ketterer Kunst, Munich).
EXHIBITION: Der Weg (The Way). Oskar Schlemmer Memorial Exhibition, Galerie Ruhstrat, Hamburg 1949, cat. no. 60.
Der Mensch als Bild der Seele (Man as Image of the Soul). Munch, Jawlensky, Schlemmer, Galerie Rieder, Munich, 2000, p. 55 (illustrated in color).
LITERATURE: Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 221st auction, 19th and 20th century art, part I, June 19, 1998, lot 142 (with full-page illustration).
Ketterer Kunst, Munich, 330th auction, Modern Art / Post War Art, December 5, 2007, lot 154 A (with full-page illustration).
Watercolor and pencil.
On wove paper, with fragments of a Bauhaus print that Schlemmer had developed for his class “Der Mensch” on the reverse. 37.1 x 21.9 cm (14.6 x 8.6 in), the full sheet.
In a letter by Dieter Keller, Schlemmer's former estate administrator, dated October 7, 1949, a copy of which is kept in the Oskar Schlemmer Archive at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, a watercolor labeled 'Knabenfigur von der Seite, 1930' is listed under no. 60, which can be identified as the present work. [CH].
• Perfect harmony of figure and space, delicate watercolor glazes, and striking graphic elements.
• Posture, body, and color scheme show parallels to the central figure in Schlemmer's painting “Fünfzehnergruppe” (1929).
• In 1930, his works were included in the XVII Venice Biennale, and a year later he was represented in the major retrospective exhibition “Modern German Painting and Sculpture” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
• Comparable watercolors are part of prestigious museum collections, including the Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, the Albertina in Vienna, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, and the Busch-Reisinger Museum of the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, MA.
• The human head in profile is particularly characteristic of Oskar Schlemmer's visual language and also adorns the Bauhaus logo he designed in 1922.
PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate (until 1949).
Galerie Ruhstrat and estate of Galerie Ruhstrat, Hamburg.
Private collection.
Galerie Rieder, Munich (with a gallery label on the back of the frame).
Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (acquired from the above in 2007, Ketterer Kunst, Munich).
EXHIBITION: Der Weg (The Way). Oskar Schlemmer Memorial Exhibition, Galerie Ruhstrat, Hamburg 1949, cat. no. 60.
Der Mensch als Bild der Seele (Man as Image of the Soul). Munch, Jawlensky, Schlemmer, Galerie Rieder, Munich, 2000, p. 55 (illustrated in color).
LITERATURE: Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 221st auction, 19th and 20th century art, part I, June 19, 1998, lot 142 (with full-page illustration).
Ketterer Kunst, Munich, 330th auction, Modern Art / Post War Art, December 5, 2007, lot 154 A (with full-page illustration).
125000374
Oskar Schlemmer
Knabenfigur von der Seite, Um 1930.
Watercolor and pencil
Estimate:
€ 40,000 - 60,000
$ 45,200 - 67,800
Information on buyer's premium, taxation and resale right compensation will be available four weeks before the auction.
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We will inform you in time.