Sale: 517 / Modern Art II, June 18. 2021 in Munich Lot 147

 

147
Arthur Segal
Kain und Abel (Zyklus Altes Testament), 1918.
Oil on burlap
Estimate:
€ 60,000 / $ 64,800
Sold:
€ 68,750 / $ 74,250

(incl. surcharge)
Kain und Abel (Zyklus Altes Testament). 1918.
Oil on burlap.
Herzogenrath/Liska 175. Signed and dated in lower left. Verso with inscription "103". 69 x 90 cm (27.1 x 35.4 in). 89 x 110 cm (35 x 43,2 in).
, incl. the original frame.
• Rare early example of Segal's "Grid Pictures" which are characterized by displaying several simultaneous scenes.
• The story of Cain and Abel, prototype of a fatal dispute, exemplarily stands for Segal's artistic recommencement in Swiss exile during World War I.
• The painting "Hafen in Bornholm" from 1928 is in possession of Tate Modern, London
.

PROVENANCE: Estate Marianne Segal, the artist's daughter (until 1970, Sotheby’s April, 1970).
Private collection (acquired from the above).

EXHIBITION: Kollektiv-Ausstellung Arthur Segal, Kunstsalon Wolfsberg, Zürich, January 18 - February 16, 1919, cat. no. 2.
Kollektivausstellung von Arthur Segal, Fraenkel & Co. / Josef Altmann, Kunsthandlung und Antiquariat, Lötzowufer, Berlin, January 13 - February 28, 1921, cat. no. 18.
II. Exhibition Arthur Segal Collection, Permanent Exhibition, 1 England’s Lane, London, May 1962 - February 1963, cat. no. 9.

LITERATURE: (Selection)
Neue Züricher Zeitung, February 3, 1919.
Züricher Post, February 6, 1919.
Sotheby’s, London, auction on April 16, 1970, lot 3 (with illu.).
Max Osborn, Blätter des Jüdischen Frauenverbands, offprint, August - September 1927.

Arthur Segal, born in Romania, quickly made contact with the artistic avant-garde in the capital Berlin from 1907. Segal studied the painting of the "Brücke" and the "Blauer Reiter" as well as the "Münchner Künstlervereinigung". Artists such as Heckel, Kirchner and Schmidt-Rottluff provided important inspiration for the artist's early work. In 1914, however, Segal had to emigrate when the war began and found his new adopted home in Ascona. At the time, Ascona was the artistic center of the emigrated Bohème, a popular refuge for artists and intellectuals, and so painters such as Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, Paul Klee, Hugo Ball and Hans Arp also lived in the city at that time. Segal's house "Casa all’Angelo" soon become a popular meeting place for the artists mentioned as well as for others. Segal was shocked by the barbarism of the war and lost his faith in art: "At that time I was angry with art as it could not prevent the war from happening and considered its efficacy as dead." (Quote from: Herzogenrath / Liska p. 29). From that point on Segal increasingly turned to philosophy and religion, around 1915 he wrote two manuscripts in which he examined issues regarding interpersonal relationships. In "Tagebuch eines Schwachen" (Diary of a Weak) he was occupied with the complete reversal of the distribution of strength and weakness, and in 1916 he finally completed three religious murals, including "The Last Judgment", on the buildings of the Ascona cemetery. In this spiritual context, Segal must inevitably have dealt with the biblical theme of "Cain and Abel" as the prototype of a fatal human dispute, which provides the basis for this early, narrative "Grid Painting". Starting in 1917, Segal's first characteristic "Grid Paintings" came into existence. They were based on the simultaneous depiction of medieval frescoes. "Cain and Abel" is a characteristic example of this unique pictorial form, which Segal conceived during a special time and in a special environment and which he continued until 1924. What is particularly beautiful are the harmonious colors with which Segal succeeds in merging the four narrative scenes. The painted artist frame adds to extraordinarily harmonious unity. In 1920 Arthur Segal returned to his former hometown Berlin and participated in numerous exhibitions. In 1933 Segal had to flee Germany again because of his Jewish origins. At first found a new home in Spain, three years later he went to London where he died in 1944. [JS]



147
Arthur Segal
Kain und Abel (Zyklus Altes Testament), 1918.
Oil on burlap
Estimate:
€ 60,000 / $ 64,800
Sold:
€ 68,750 / $ 74,250

(incl. surcharge)