Sale: 424 / Modern Art, June 11./13. 2015 in Munich Lot 23

 

23
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Königin Sivali und ihre Dienerinnen (nach Ajanta-Fresko), Um 1910.
Pencil drawing
Estimate:
€ 8,000 / $ 8,640
Sold:
€ 10,000 / $ 10,800

(incl. surcharge)
Königin Sivali und ihre Dienerinnen (nach Ajanta-Fresko). Um 1910.
Pencil drawing.
Verso with estate stamp of Kunstmuseum Basel (Lugt 1570b) and with hand-written registration number: "KO 142". Upper right presumably inscribed by Kirchner at a later point and presumably dated earlier: "Indische Malerei 1904 copiert". On laid paper. 48 x 33.8 cm (18.8 x 13.3 in), the full sheet. [KD].

Important drawing, as it marks the introduction of a new style at the beginning of the artist's years in Berlin.

PROVENANCE: Private collection London.

EXHIBITION: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner zum 120. Geburtstag. Die Faszination des Exotischen. Munich, 30 June - 11 August, 2000, p. 11 (with illu.).

Around 1911 Kirchner made drawings after the Ajanta frescoes, which are documents of his intensive occupation with non European art. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made the poster for an exhibition of paintings by Gauguin at Galerie Arnold in Dresden. Inspired by his works from the South Seas, he became occupied with literature about non European art. He was especially fond of John Griffith's 'The Paintings in the Buddhist Cave-Temples of Ajanta, Kandesh, India' with its splendid illustrations, of which he copied several: "These works almost make me helpless with delight. I feel that I will never be able to reach such an unbelievably unique mode of illustration with such a monumental sereneness of form...I copied so much from these images, just in order to find my own style" (Kirchner in his Swiss diary, quote after: Magdalena M. Möller, 'Höhepunkt des Expressionismus: Kirchners Berliner Stil der Jahre 1911-1914', in: 'Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik. Eine Ausstellung zum 60. Todestag', Munich 1998, p. 26).



23
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Königin Sivali und ihre Dienerinnen (nach Ajanta-Fresko), Um 1910.
Pencil drawing
Estimate:
€ 8,000 / $ 8,640
Sold:
€ 10,000 / $ 10,800

(incl. surcharge)