Sale: 457 / Modern Art II, Dec. 07. 2017 in Munich Lot 154

 

154
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Buchtausläufer nach Westen, 1960.
Colored chalk
Estimate:
€ 10,000 / $ 10,800
Sold:
€ 11,250 / $ 12,150

(incl. surcharge)
Buchtausläufer nach Westen. 1960 s.
Colored chalk over India ink drawing.
Lower right signed. Verso titled and inscribed by a hand other than that of the artist. On creme wove paper. 40 x 54 cm (15.7 x 21.2 in) , the full sheet.

This work presumably is one of the rare illustrations of the Baltic coast made in Sierksdorf on the Bay of Lubeck, where Karl and Emy Schmidt-Rottluff had their summer residence between 1952 and 1971.
This work is registered in the archive of the Karl and Emy Schmidt-Rottluff Foundation, Berlin.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Southern Germany.

When Karl Schmidt-Rottluff was in his eighties by the mid 1960s he had to give up painting in oil for health reasons. Henceforth he focussed on watercolors, chalk and India ink drawings, which led to ever new perspectives with regards to motif, form and colors in his late period of creation - our powerful and expressive coastal landscape is a remarkable example thereof. In this work Schmidt-Rottluff rendered the black contour lines onto the paper with masterly perfection, creating exciting balance between the colored and blank parts of the paper with remarkable graphic poise. The landscape's high horizon, as well as the expressive coloring, increases the composition's level of abstraction. This landscape composition is an outstanding example of the poise the great expressionist showed in his late creations. His oeuvre, including the works on paper, covers a period of more than 70 years and was of groundbreaking importance for Modernism. [JS]



154
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Buchtausläufer nach Westen, 1960.
Colored chalk
Estimate:
€ 10,000 / $ 10,800
Sold:
€ 11,250 / $ 12,150

(incl. surcharge)