Sale: 530 / Evening Sale / The Hermann Gerlinger Collection, June 10. 2022 in Munich Lot 12

 

12
Erich Heckel
Fränzi mit Decke, 1909.
Watercolor and gouache
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 86,400
Sold:
€ 106,250 / $ 114,750

(incl. surcharge)
Fränzi mit Decke. 1909.
Watercolor and gouache.
Lower right belatedly signed and dated. Lower left titled by Siddi Heckel. On smooth paper. 22.2 x 28.3 cm (8.7 x 11.1 in), the full sheet.

• Unique in terms of condition and freshness.
• The sheets that Kirchner and Heckel made at the Moritzburg Lakes count among the most remarkable documents of Expressionism.
• Expression of the artist's dream of an uncoerced life in nature.
• The work shows the favorite model Fränzi
.

The work is listed in the Erich Heckel Estate, Hemmenhofen on Lake Constance. We are grateful to Mrs Renate Ebner and Mr Hans Geissler for their kind support in cataloging this lot.

PROVENANCE: Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Würzburg (with the collector stamp).

EXHIBITION: Erich Heckel 1883-1970. Aquarelle, Zeichnungen; Ausstellung zum 100. Geburtstag des Malers. Städtische Galerie Würzburg, July 3 - September 11, 1983, cat. no. 11, with color illu.
Schleswig-HolsteinischesLandesmuseum Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 1995-2001).
Frauen in Kunst und Leben der "Brücke“, Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloß Gottorf, Schleswig, September 10 - November 5, 2000, cat. no. 41 (with color illu. on p. 128).
Die BRÜCKE in Dresden 1905-1911, Galerie Neue Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, October 20, 2001 - January 6, 2002, cat. no. 278 (with color illu.).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 2001-2017).
Expressiv! Die Künstler der Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Albertina, Vienna, June 1 - August 26, 2007, cat. no. 77 (with colro illu.).
Der Blick auf Fränzi und Marcella. Zwei Modelle der Brücke-Künstler Heckel, Kirchner und Pechstein, Sprengelmuseum Hanover, August 29, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Foundation Moritzburg, Kunstmuseum des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt, Haale (Saale), February 6 - May 1, 2011, cat. no. 75 (with color illu.).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 2017-2022).
Brückenschlag: Gerlinger - Buchheim, Buchheim Museum der Phantasie, Bernried am Starnberger See, October 28, 2017 - February 25, 2018, p. 198 (with color illu.).

LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (editor), Die Maler der Brücke. Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 179, SHG no. 203.
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (editor), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 168, SHG no. 377 (with illu.).
Meike Hoffmann, Natur kollektiv erleben. Goethe, Steiner, Lipps und die Badeszenen der "Brücke"-Künstler, in: Franz Schwarzbauer, Andreas Gabelmann (editors), Im Rhythmus der Natur, Ostfildern 2006, p. 41 (with illu.).
Katja Schneider (editor), Moderne und Gegenwart. Das Kunstmuseum in Halle, Munich 2008, p. 120 (with color illu.).
Gerd Presler, Fränzi. Ende eines Irrtums. Drei "Brücke"-Maler - ein Modell, no place [Weingarten] 2015, color illu. on p. 98.
Brückenschlag: Gerlinger - Buchheim! Museumsführer durch die "Brücke"-Sammlungen von Hermann Gerlinger und Lothar-Günther Buchheim, Feldafing 2017, p. 198 (with illu. on p. 199).

"Whenever we went out to the Moritzburg Lakes we didn't just go because of the scenic backdrop, but mostly because of the nativeness of human motion, we brought our canvasses and painted right in front of nature."
Erich Heckel in an interview with R. N. Ketterer 1958, in: Dialoge. Vol. 2, Stuttgart 1988, p. 48.

Fränzi, and again and again Fränzi! "Fränzi lying", "Fränzi standing", "Fränzi crouching", "Fränzi bathing" . or like here sitting in a comfortable position on a towel (?), pulling a blanket over her legs with both hands, in front of a background that suggests a stay at the Moritzburg ponds in the summer of 1909. The popularity of the still childlike girl among Heckel, Kirchner and Pechstein seems to have been enormous, her fresh, boyish demeanor sparked enthusiasm in the artists, which is reflected in the works, especially in the works of Heckel and Kirchner. In 1945/46 Max Pechstein remembered still obviously impressed: "When we were together in Berlin, I agreed with Heckel and Kirchner that the three of us should work on the lakes around Moritzburg near Dresden [.] When I arrived in Dresden and descended into the old shop in Friedrichstadt, we discussed the realization of our plan. We had to find two or three people who were not professional models and therefore guaranteed us movements without studio training. I remembered my old friend, the caretaker at the academy [.] He referred us to the wife of a deceased artist and her two daughters. I explained to her our serious artistic intentions. She visited us in our shop in Friedrichstadt, and since she found a milieu there that was familiar to her, she agreed that their daughters should come with us to Moritzburg [.] We lived, worked and bathed in perfect harmony. If we were short of a male model as counterpart, one of us jumped in. Every now and then the mother would appear as a frightened hen to convince herself that nothing bad had happened to her ducklings swimming on the pond of life." (Max Pechstein, Erinnerungen, ed. by Leopold Reidemeister, Wiesbaden 1960, pp. 41-43 .)

There are many stories about the existence of Fränzi, Lina Franziska Fehrmann, as her real name is, including encounters of an erotic nature with the artists, which one can guess from the countless sketches, drawings, watercolors and paintings. that not only a book chapter was dedicated to this girl and her sister, but also an entire exhibition (Der Blick auf Fränzi und Marcella, Zwei Modelle der Brücke-Künstler Heckel, Kirchner und Pechstein, edited by Norbert Nobis, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Hanover 2010) Here, Heckel sketches Franzi's yellowish-toned body with a few contour lines. The use of deep black ink, which characterizes the hair and clearly sets the figure of Fränzi out of the landscape and sets it apart from her surroundings, is powerful and yet economical. Heckel devoted his attention to her alone here, giving her the brief moment of great admiration in the apparent fleetingness. [MvL]



12
Erich Heckel
Fränzi mit Decke, 1909.
Watercolor and gouache
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 86,400
Sold:
€ 106,250 / $ 114,750

(incl. surcharge)