Sale: 435 / Art of the 19th Century, Nov. 25. 2016 in Munich Lot 94

 

94
Artur Volkmann
Amazone, ihr Ross tränkend, Ca. 1920.
Relief
Estimate:
€ 1,000 / $ 1,080
Sold:
€ 1,000 / $ 1,080

(incl. surcharge)
Amazone, ihr Ross tränkend. Ca. 1920.
Relief. Carrara marble, partly in colors. Background with traces from gilding.
Left side of base inscribed "Arthur Volkmann Roma fec." and "Gebrüder Micheli / Berlin Carrarit". Verso inscribed "W". 26 x 30 x 4.5 cm (10.2 x 11.8 x 1.7 in).
Without reins.
Diminished and slightly modified replica after the monumental relief (ca. 200 x 100 cm). Executed by art foundry Gebrüder Micheli, Berlin, presumably during the artist's lifetime. [CB].

PROVENANCE: Private collection Southern Germany.

LITERATURE: Cf. for the monumenta relief:
Waldemar von Wasielewski, Artur Volkmann: Eine Einführung in sein Werk, Munich/Leipzig 1908, p. 34.
Franz Josef Neckenig, Das Problem der Form- und Inhaltsreduktion im künstlerischen Schaffen und theoretischen Denken deutscher Plastiker der Marées-Nachfolge - Adolf Hildebrand and Artur Volkmann, dissertation, Berlin 1982, p. 274.
Anette Niethammer, Wie auf den Tag das Abendsonnenlicht.. Hans von Marées' Meisterschüler Artur Volkmann (1851-1941), Nordhausen 2006, pp. 271ff. (illu. 46-49).

Artur Volkmann studied sculpting in Dresden and Berlin as of 1873. From 1876 on he spent two years in Rome, which would become his adopted home for the coming decades, on a scholarship. In Rome he became acquainted with the painter Hans von Marées. During the productive period in the 1880s he returned to Germany. He began to add colors to his marble sculptures and took part in the discussion about colored sculptures, which began in Germany at around that time. The ideality of classicist figures executed in white marble is given up for the benefit of more liveliness. Volkmann implemented Marées' concept of the sculpture that "creates the illusion of life" like no other artist. His art is a great example of his teacher's and friend’s principles.
In the late 1890s Volkmann executed the large-size marble relief of the Amazon watering her horse three times in two different versions. The idea presumably dates back to a draft by Marée from 1886, however, preliminary drawings by Volkmann are also in existence. The first version from 1896, which was executed only once, is in possession of a private collection in Dresden. One relief of the second, more detailed version from 1898 is in possession of the State Art Collection Dresden, the other is in possession of a gallery in Munich. The small-size replica in Carrara marble is presumably based on the first version.



94
Artur Volkmann
Amazone, ihr Ross tränkend, Ca. 1920.
Relief
Estimate:
€ 1,000 / $ 1,080
Sold:
€ 1,000 / $ 1,080

(incl. surcharge)