Sale: 533 / Modern Art Day Sale and Gerlinger Collection, Dec. 10. 2022 in Munich Lot 448

 

448
Cuno Amiet
Stillleben mit Äpfeln, 1906.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 30,000 / $ 32,400
Sold:
€ 106,250 / $ 114,750

(incl. surcharge)
Stillleben mit Äpfeln. 1906.
Oil on canvas.
Müller/Radlach 1906. 28. Lower left monogrammed and dated in lower right. Once more signed on the stretcher, barely legibly titled and inscribed "Kreide, Ei, Leimwasser, 1 Mal". 62 x 41 cm (24.4 x 16.1 in).

• In 1906, the year the present work was made, Cuno Amiet became an active "Brücke" member.
• Strong still life characterized by an airy fleetingness and grounded weight.
• From the acclaimed collection of Oscar Miller, an important collector of Swiss art.
• Cuno Amiet is one of the most important Swiss modern artists.
• This present work is one of the few paintings from this period that have been preserved – a fire in the Munich 'Glaspalast' in 1931 destroyed a better part of his oeuvre
.

PROVENANCE: Collection Oscar Miller and Else Miller-Sieber, Biberist (March 1917- September 1919).
Gustav and Corry Sieber, Küsnacht (obtained as farewell gift on September 10, 1919 from the above, with hand-written dedication on the reverse, presumably family-owned until 1981).
Private collection Basel (since 1981: Galerie Kornfeld, Bern).
Galerie Schloss Greifenstein, Staad near Rorschach.
Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp Lugt 6032, acquired from the above in 1988).

EXHIBITION: Presumably Kunst-Verein St. Gallen. Ausstellung im Vorsaal und im roten Saal des Kunst-Museums, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, April 4 - May 12, 1907, either no. 1, 5, 6, 7 or 8.
Presumably VI. Serie, Künstlerhaus Zürich, June 30 - July 18, 1907, no. 22 or 24.
Presumably Kunstausstellung. Gemälde von Cuno Amiet, Max Buri, Hans Emmenegger, Giovanni Giacometti, Ferdinand Hodler, Sigismund Righini, Aargauischen Kunstverein, May 10 - 31, 1908, no. 5 and 10.
Presumably January exhibition, Kunsthaus Zürich, January 8 - December 1, 1914, no. 22 (Weisse Blumen).
Cuno Amiet, Kunsthalle Bern, April 13 - May 18, 1919, no. 129.
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 2001-2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Cuno Amiet, Katalogisierte Bilder [hand-written catalog raisonné with drawings of the listed works in India ink and color pen, as well as with exhibition information].
Galerie Kornfeld, 175 ausgewählte Kunstwerke des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, auction 175, Bern, June 26, 1981, lot 65 (with illu.).
Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke, Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 250, SHG no. 357.
wohl Paul Müller, Oscar Miller. Sammler und Wegbereiter der Moderne, in: Solothurn 1998, pp. 13-45.
George Mauner, Cuno Amiet. Die Obsternten von 1912, Zürich 2002, p. 86 (with blacnd-and-white illu. B 33).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke, Inventory catalog Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 406, SHG no. 881.
Karoline Beltinger, Maltechnische Untersuchungen zu den Gemälden von Cuno Amiet, 1883-1914, Zürich 2015, pp. 28, 32f.

"With his large color fields Amiet was far ahead of us."
Schmidt-Rottluff, 1957

"O. Miller is one of the most passionate collectors of Swiss art, and an intellectual aesthetician on top. […] Accordingly, his collection is particularly impressive because of the fervent splendor of all of his works by Amiet […]. That's why the collection is not only a prime example for Switzerland but also far beyond it.“

Quoted after: Der Kunstwanderer: Zeitschrift für alte und neue Kunst, für Kunstmarkt und Sammelwesen 2.1920/21, p. 366.

Cuno Amiet was already 38 years old when he received a letter from a young artist named Erich Heckel. Amiet had already attained a certain fame as an artist, has international exhibitions and is considered a renowned artist of the avant-garde. He is half a generation older than the members of the "Brücke" and more the type an upper middle-class gentleman living a dignified life in the countryside near Bern. Young Heckel, on the other hand, belonged to the progressive group that wanted to change modern art for good. The young painters from Germany felt that the message in Amiet's works was somehow related to their own work. In September 1906, Erich Heckel invited him to join the group: "We have seen your works with admiration and enthusiasm, and we take the liberty of asking you if you would like to join our group 'Brücke'. Unanimously we have recognized you as one of us and we hope that you will support our cause as an aspiration for the same artistic goals". They became aware of him through an exhibition at Galerie Richter in Dresden in 1905. Cuno Amiet spontaneously accepted the invitation and joined the young artists group. Seeking artistic exchange, he remained a member until the group broke up in 1913. In 1892/93 Amiet had spent a year in the artists' colony Pont-Aven and found decisive impulses in the painting of Gauguin, van Gogh and Seurat. It may have been this experience that also made the "Brücke" so interesting.

In 1906 Cuno Amiet took part in the first first exhibition at Dresden lamp factory Seifert, showing three paintings and woodcuts. In addition to his artistic contributions, Amiet also became active in marketing the artist group. He recruited numerous passive members in Switzerland, including Oscar Miller, the first owner of "Stilleben mit Äpfeln". Oscar Miller was an important promoter of Swiss art, but also advocated the art of the "Brücke" in press releases as early as in 1907. Amiet also tried to help the "Brücke" to international renown by organizing a successful exhibition in Switzerland, while efforts to do the same in Paris failed.

"Stillleben mit Äpfeln" from 1906 impressively illustrates why the German expressionists were so fascinated by Amiet: In 1905 the Swiss artist introduced expressive lines, to which he was inspired by his time in Pont-Aven. These strong lines are concentrated in the lower part of the picture and form an exciting contrast to the light and airy upper part. This contrast is intensified by the play of delicate pastel colors and strong luminous hues. Amiet was one of the first painters in the German-speaking region to separate the color from the depicted objects so that they can unfold their own beauty. Thus he boldly placed turquoise contours around the delicate lemon-yellow blossoms, in order to model the flowers in the vase. Along with Ferdinand Hodler and Alberto Giacometti, Cuno Amiet was one of the most important Swiss artists of the modern era. [SM]



448
Cuno Amiet
Stillleben mit Äpfeln, 1906.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 30,000 / $ 32,400
Sold:
€ 106,250 / $ 114,750

(incl. surcharge)