Sale: 539 / Modern Art Day Sale, June 10. 2023 in Munich Lot 359

 

359
August Macke
Sonnige Straße mit Hund, 1911.
Watercolor on paper, laid on cardboard
Estimate:
€ 50,000 / $ 54,000
Sold:
€ 63,500 / $ 68,580

(incl. surcharge)
Sonnige Straße mit Hund. 1911.
Watercolor on paper, laid on cardboard.
Heiderich Aquarelle 136. Vriesen A 61-62. 28 x 34 cm (11 x 13.3 in), the full sheet.
[AR].

• Powerful watercolor in which the great colorist August Macke captured the warmth of the sunlight.
• When the work was made in 1911, he was one of the first members of the "Blauer Reiter".
• With its colorful two-dimensional forms, the work testifies to the influence of his close friend Franz Marc.
• Comparable watercolors from 1911 are very rare on the international auction market (source: artprice.com)
.

With a certificate of authenticity from Dr. Wolfgang Macke, August Macke Estate, Bonn, from September 14, 1966, on the reverse.

PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate (with the stamp on the reverse).
Prof. Friedrich Brie, Freiburg i. Breisgau (Elisabeth Erdmann-Macke's brother-in-law).
Dr. Renate Brie, Freiburg i. Breisgau (1957, the above's daughter).
Private collection Northern Germany (acquired around 1960, ever since family-owned).

EXHIBITION: August Macke-Aquarelle, Städtisches Kunsthaus, Bielefeld, June/July 1957, cat. no. 61.
Deutsche Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, Augustiner Museum, Freiburg i. Breisgau, 1962, cat. no. 74.

August Macke succeeded in capturing the atmosphere of a sunny afternoon in the present watercolor with great mastery. In a scene taken from real life, he shows a mother walking with her child, while a watchful dog in the foreground gets ready to jump and a farm wagon slowly rolls up in the background. One of the best-known German expressionist painters was born in Meschede in the Sauerland in 1887. August Macke left school against his father's will in 1904 and began training at the Royal Art Academy in Düsseldorf and simultaneously took classes at the Düsseldorf School of Applied Arts, however, he left the academy early in November 1906. On a trip to the French capital in 1907, Macke came into contact with the Parisian savoir-vivre. He studied people idly strolling streets and parks and was occupied with the different centers of a composition and the two-dimensional account of spatial depth. The visible brushstrokes are subordinate to reduced surface forms, making his depictions mature visual spectacles. In Paris, Macke also encountered impressionist painting, which fascinated him so much that it had a lasting impact. Especially the paintings of Henri Matisse and the "Fauves" encouraged Macke to pursue his endeavor to create a visual reality of its own. The present watercolor is a beautiful example in which Macke's principles come together in a most beautiful way.
Just two years later, in 1909, Macke met Franz Marc, with whom he developed a fruitful artistic friendship. In 1911 Macke joined the Munich artist group "Der Blaue Reiter" and in the same year he created the watercolor "Sonnige Straße mit Hund” (Sunny Street with Dog). Macke skillfully combined the principles of color and construction that he had learned to create a moving scenery. Almost mysteriously, Macke opens up a world in which a story of its own begins to develop in the mind of the viewer and the moment of the sunny afternoon becomes tangible. The only 27-year-old August Macke died much too early on the western front in France in 1914 and his oeuvre is limited to just ten years, but what remains is a legacy in which form and color exist in perfect harmony. [AW]



359
August Macke
Sonnige Straße mit Hund, 1911.
Watercolor on paper, laid on cardboard
Estimate:
€ 50,000 / $ 54,000
Sold:
€ 63,500 / $ 68,580

(incl. surcharge)