Hemdauszieher. 1969.
Bronzeplastic.
Rudloff 935. With artist's signet on plinth. With number 2/10 on rear of plinth and foundry mark "Guss Barth Rinteln". 41,5 x 18 x 9,5 cm (16,3 x 7 x 3,7 in).

We are grateful to Dr. Arie Hartog, Gerhard Marcks House, Bremen, for his kind support in cataloging this lot.

EXHIBITION: Gerhard Marcks - Handzeichnungen, Holzschnitte und Plastiken, Galerie Brumme, Frankfurt 1969, cat. no. 107. (presumably different copy)
Gerhard Marcks - Plastik und Handzeichnungen, Galerie Hauswedell, Baden-Baden 1970, cat. no. 18. (presumably different copy)
Gerhard Marcks, Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin 1971, cat. no. 43. (presumably different copy)
Gerhard Marcks - zum 85. Geburtstag, Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin 1974, cat. no. 77, (presumably different copy, with illu.).

The bronze ”Hemdauszieher“ (Man Taking Off Shirt) from 1969 is registered by Marcks under the number 697 in his work diaries. The motif of the figure taking off a shirt is a theme that inspired him to many variations. It first appeared in 1911, when the then just 22 years old artist made the gypsum plastic "Mann, Hemd über den Kopf ziehend" (Rudloff 22), which was about 1 meter tall. Later he made the two bronzes ”Hemdausziehendes Kind“ (1952, Rudloff 586) and the female figure ”Hemdausziehende“ (1967, Rudloff 877). The same year he made our work ”Hemdauszieher“ he also made a variation of a ”Hosenausziehers“ (Man Taking Off Pants, Rudloff 942), a motif that had already appeared in the sculptor’s early work (1912, Rudloff 24). With illustrations Marcks manages to illustrate the common gestures of getting dressed in his characteristic, reduced style and renders a timeless and plain impression that is almost touching. [KH/CB].