Sale: 436 / Modern Art I, Dec. 10. 2016 in Munich Lot 251

 

251
Karl Hofer
Clown und Puppe, Um 1924.
Oil on cardboard
Estimate:
€ 35,000 / $ 37,800
Sold:
€ 43,750 / $ 47,250

(incl. surcharge)
Clown und Puppe. Um 1924.
Oil on cardboard.
Wohlert 580. Lower right monogrammed (in ligature). 44 x 29.8 cm (17.3 x 11.7 in).

PROVENANCE: Collection Dr. Richard Doetsch-Benziger, Basel.
Private possession, Berlin
Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett, Roman Norbert Ketterer, 35th auction, 20 May 1960, cat. no. 196 with illu. in black and white on plate 138 (verso with gallery label and cat no.).
Städtische Kunstsammlungen Ludwigshafen/ Rhine (acquired from aforementioned, verso with ownership note and inventory number).
Galerie Gmurzynska, Cologne (from aforementioned).
Private collection, Dusseldorf (acquired from aforementioned in1975).
Private collection (inherited in 2004).

EXHIBITION: Deutsche Expressionisten. Städtische Gemäldesammung Ludwigshafen/ Rhein. 1963, no cat. and no.
Deutsche Expressionisten aus dem Kunstbesitz der Stadt Ludwighafen/ Rhein, Vienna 1964, no. 105.

The circus world with its at times grotesque figures was popular with many artists. The clown as jester and as messenger of truths that common people would never dare to speak out, appears more often in Karl Hofer's oeuvre as one would guess. Karl Hofer intentionally put the clown at the center of his compositions, often flanked by harlequins or, as it is the case in this work, by a puppet man whom the clown is giving a stern lecture. The clown's insistent gesture suggests a truth the puppet man can only bear in humble posture. The pictorial aspect of this small composition is particularly remarkable. Reduced to a minmum, the atmospheric value of the expression is effectively underlined. [KD]



251
Karl Hofer
Clown und Puppe, Um 1924.
Oil on cardboard
Estimate:
€ 35,000 / $ 37,800
Sold:
€ 43,750 / $ 47,250

(incl. surcharge)