Sale: 457 / Modern Art II, Dec. 07. 2017 in Munich Lot 56

 

56
Erich Heckel
Rosen, 1921.
Gouache
Estimate:
€ 18,000 / $ 19,440
Sold:
€ 21,250 / $ 22,950

(incl. surcharge)
Rosen. 1921.
Gouache and watercolor over pencil.
Lower right signed and dated, lower left titled. On paper. 64 x 47.2 cm (25.1 x 18.5 in) , the full sheet. [KD].

Brilliant composition from the 1920s, the person who seems to be sleeping in the background is Siddi Heckel, the artist's wife, which makes this work a very intimate document.
With a photo expertise from Renate Ebner M.A., estate Erich Heckel, Hemmenhofen, dated November 23 2016. The work is registered at the archive.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Germany.
Private collection (inherited from aforementioned in 1958).

Erich Heckel’s works from the transition period in the 1920s still show the strong impulses from the days of Expressionism. Forms are more compact, the brushstroke more energetic. Only the choice of colors has become softer and is already suggestive of Heckel’s late work. As far as his subjects are concerned Heckel remained true to himself. The slightly unusual combination of a dominant still life and a sleeping woman in the background is characteristic of its date of origin. The simple motif dominates the foreground. All narrative elements, if present at all, take a back seat. The closeness to New Objectivity, which had decisive influence on German art of the twenties, is slightly suggested in this work. What is interesting is the mix of watercolor and gouache and the work’s painting-like quality, which Heckel later abandoned in favor of the pure watercolor. [KD]



56
Erich Heckel
Rosen, 1921.
Gouache
Estimate:
€ 18,000 / $ 19,440
Sold:
€ 21,250 / $ 22,950

(incl. surcharge)