Sale: 466 / Modern Art II, June 07. 2018 in Munich Lot 39

 

39
Otto Mueller
Zwei Zigeunerkinder vor der Hütte, 1926/27.
Lithograph in colors
Estimate:
€ 18,000 / $ 19,440
Sold:
€ 17,500 / $ 18,900

(incl. surcharge)
Zwei Zigeunerkinder vor der Hütte. 1926 /27.
Lithograph in colors.
Presumably Karsch 162 II A (of III B). One of ca. 60 copies. On brownish-gray machine-made laid paper. 70 x 50 cm (27.5 x 19.6 in) , size of sheet.
Sheet 3 from the series "Zigeuner" (Gypsies), published by Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf, Berlin.
One of the particularly rare sheets from the "Zigeuner-Mappe" (Gypsy Portfolio), which is highly sought-after on the international auction market.

PROVENANCE: Estate Otto Mueller (verso with the stamp (Lugt 1829d)
Sotheby's Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc., New York, May 1969, auction 2856 (since famuily property).

The gypsy portfolio, as the series "Zigeuner" (Gypsies) is commonly called, was Otto Mueller's last great graphic achievement. Severely ill at that time, Mueller hoped to complete the portfolio and to sell it successfully, which, however, did not turn out to be the case. For economic reasons the sheets were sold individually, even after Otto Mueller had passed away. Very few complete portfolios are still in existence and even fewer make it onto the market (cf. Ketterer auction 227, autumn 1998). Otto Mueller put a lot of heart into the series, from which some sheets are quite frequently offered while others are hardly offered at all. His interest in the gypsy scene was widely known and his works deliver proof thereof. "I am quite involved with the color lithos, they will be beautiful. I have already completed two of them and still have to make another seven for the portfolio. The work offers me ever new aspects. I will send you [some] trial proofs once I am done", wrote Otto Mueller to Maschka, his first wife (quote after: Günther Buchheim, Otto Mueller - Leben und Werk, Feldafing 1963, p. 184).



39
Otto Mueller
Zwei Zigeunerkinder vor der Hütte, 1926/27.
Lithograph in colors
Estimate:
€ 18,000 / $ 19,440
Sold:
€ 17,500 / $ 18,900

(incl. surcharge)