Drei Clowns. 1937.
India Ink, with wash.
Lower right signed, dated and titled "3 Clowns". On laid paper. 53 x 42.5 cm (20.8 x 16.7 in), size of sheet.
[AR].
• Clowns and the world of the circus were among Erich Heckel's favorite themes.
• The subtly executed drawing from 1937 was made under the increasing oppression through the Nazis
• The same year they imposed an exhibition ban on him, and he would not revisit the motif before 1947.

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

PROVENANCE: Erich Heckel Estate, Hemmenhofen.
Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (acquired from the above in 1972, with the collector's stamp, Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Erich Heckel 1883-1970. Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Ausstellung zum 100. Geburtstag des Malers, Städtische Galerie Würzburg, July 3 - September 11, 1983, Würzburg 1983, cat. no. 84 (with illu.).
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Erich Heckel. Einfühlung und Ausdruck, Buchheim Museum, Bernried, October 31, 2020 – March 7, 2021, p. 343 (with illu).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Ernest Rathenau, Erich Heckel. Handzeichnungen, Berlin 1973, no. 96.
Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, pp. 332f., SHG no. 523 (with color illu.).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 245, SHG no. 547 (with color illu.).

In good condition. With small isolated brownish spots, a bit stronger in lower right. Faint creases in margins and with a small split in lower left (ca. 1 cm).