Frame image
Raumbeispiel
216
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Gerti mit Maske und Weinglas, 1910.
Lithograph
Estimate:
€ 50,000 / $ 58,500 Sold:
€ 64,500 / $ 75,465 (incl. surcharge)
216
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Gerti mit Maske und Weinglas, 1910.
Lithograph
Estimate:
€ 50,000 / $ 58,500 Sold:
€ 64,500 / $ 75,465 (incl. surcharge)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
1880 - 1938
Gerti mit Maske und Weinglas. 1910.
Lithograph.
Signed and inscribed “Handdruck.” With the estate stamp of the Kunstmuseum Basel (Lugt 1570 b) and the handwritten registration number “L 78” on the reverse. One of only three known copies. On yellow wove paper. 38.4 x 32.7 cm (15.1 x 12.8 in). Sheet: 45,7 x 42 cm (18 x 16,5 in).
The artist immortalized the unknown “Gerti” in spontaneous, dynamic drawings in his sketchbook (see Presler, Skizzenbücher, Skb 8), the fully executed drawing “Girl with Half-Mask” (cf. Grohmann, Kirchner-Zeichnungen, Dresden 1925, plate 18) and on a postcard to Erich Heckel showing a very similar motif, accompanied by the words: “Beste Grüße vom Fasching. Dein ELK. Freundlichne Gruhs Gardi und viele, viele herzliche Grüße von der Doris” (cf. Dube-Heynig, E. L. Kirchner, Postkarten und Briefe an Erich Heckel, Hamburg 1984, cat. no. 26).
In addition, a print from 1907 also bears the title “Gerti” (cf. Gercken, vol. I, CR no. 145). The paintings “Maskenball” (1910, Pinakothek der Moderne, Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich, Gordon 219) and “Zwei Mädchen mit Masken” (c. 1909, Gordon 76, location unknown) also take up this theme. [CH].
• A rare print from the Dresden “Brücke” period.
• Hand-printed by the artist.
• One of only three known copies, one of which is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
• The first copy of this lithograph to appear on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).
• “Best regards from Carnival. Yours, ELK“: a very similar motif appears again in the same year on a painted postcard from E. L. Kirchner to Erich Heckel.
• From 1907 onward, ‘Gerti’ appears in several of the artist’s prints: Kirchner’s studio was at that time the living and working space of the ”Brücke" and a meeting place for numerous female amateur models.
We are grateful to Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerd Presler for his expert advice and kind support in cataloging this lot.
PROVENANCE: Galerie Utermann.
Olbricht Collection, Essen/Berlin (acquired from the above in 2004).
EXHIBITION: Lebenslust & Totentanz, Kunsthalle Krems, July 18–November 7, 2010.
LITERATURE: Günther Gercken, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Kritisches Werkverzeichnis der Druckgraphik, vol. 2 (1909–1911), Bern 2013, CR no. 395 (illustrated)
Gustav Schiefler, Die Graphik Ernst Ludwig Kirchners, vol. 1 (until 1916), Berlin-Charlottenburg 1926, CR no. L 78.
Annemarie and Wolf-Dieter Dube, E. L. Kirchner. Das graphische Werk, Munich 1967, CR no. L 143.
1880 - 1938
Gerti mit Maske und Weinglas. 1910.
Lithograph.
Signed and inscribed “Handdruck.” With the estate stamp of the Kunstmuseum Basel (Lugt 1570 b) and the handwritten registration number “L 78” on the reverse. One of only three known copies. On yellow wove paper. 38.4 x 32.7 cm (15.1 x 12.8 in). Sheet: 45,7 x 42 cm (18 x 16,5 in).
The artist immortalized the unknown “Gerti” in spontaneous, dynamic drawings in his sketchbook (see Presler, Skizzenbücher, Skb 8), the fully executed drawing “Girl with Half-Mask” (cf. Grohmann, Kirchner-Zeichnungen, Dresden 1925, plate 18) and on a postcard to Erich Heckel showing a very similar motif, accompanied by the words: “Beste Grüße vom Fasching. Dein ELK. Freundlichne Gruhs Gardi und viele, viele herzliche Grüße von der Doris” (cf. Dube-Heynig, E. L. Kirchner, Postkarten und Briefe an Erich Heckel, Hamburg 1984, cat. no. 26).
In addition, a print from 1907 also bears the title “Gerti” (cf. Gercken, vol. I, CR no. 145). The paintings “Maskenball” (1910, Pinakothek der Moderne, Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich, Gordon 219) and “Zwei Mädchen mit Masken” (c. 1909, Gordon 76, location unknown) also take up this theme. [CH].
• A rare print from the Dresden “Brücke” period.
• Hand-printed by the artist.
• One of only three known copies, one of which is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
• The first copy of this lithograph to appear on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).
• “Best regards from Carnival. Yours, ELK“: a very similar motif appears again in the same year on a painted postcard from E. L. Kirchner to Erich Heckel.
• From 1907 onward, ‘Gerti’ appears in several of the artist’s prints: Kirchner’s studio was at that time the living and working space of the ”Brücke" and a meeting place for numerous female amateur models.
We are grateful to Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerd Presler for his expert advice and kind support in cataloging this lot.
PROVENANCE: Galerie Utermann.
Olbricht Collection, Essen/Berlin (acquired from the above in 2004).
EXHIBITION: Lebenslust & Totentanz, Kunsthalle Krems, July 18–November 7, 2010.
LITERATURE: Günther Gercken, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Kritisches Werkverzeichnis der Druckgraphik, vol. 2 (1909–1911), Bern 2013, CR no. 395 (illustrated)
Gustav Schiefler, Die Graphik Ernst Ludwig Kirchners, vol. 1 (until 1916), Berlin-Charlottenburg 1926, CR no. L 78.
Annemarie and Wolf-Dieter Dube, E. L. Kirchner. Das graphische Werk, Munich 1967, CR no. L 143.
"Kirchner created this striking, large-scale lithograph shortly after attending a masquerade ball in Dresden in early 1910. Impressed by the exhilarating moment and the beauty and elegance of a young woman wearing a conspicuous mask, he reached for his sketchbook and captured the scene “in the ecstasy of first sight” (Presler Skb 8-1,4). The fascinating apparition went by the name of “Gerty” or “Gardi.”
Who she really was, and whether Kirchner ever met her again—we do not know. But the event, in all its fleetingness, had touched him—him, the painter. Soon after, he sketched the mysterious beauty on a postcard, which he sent on March 13, 1910, to his “Brücke” friend Erich Heckel. And then, as if to perfect the style and intensity, this lithograph was created—of which only three copies are known to exist to date."
Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerd Presler
E. L. Kirchner, Postkarte an Erich Heckel, 1910, farbige Kreiden, Altonaer Museum, Hamburg.
Who she really was, and whether Kirchner ever met her again—we do not know. But the event, in all its fleetingness, had touched him—him, the painter. Soon after, he sketched the mysterious beauty on a postcard, which he sent on March 13, 1910, to his “Brücke” friend Erich Heckel. And then, as if to perfect the style and intensity, this lithograph was created—of which only three copies are known to exist to date."
Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerd Presler
E. L. Kirchner, postcard to Erich Heckel, 1910, colored chalk, Altonaer Museum, Hamburg.
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