Sale: 517 / Modern Art II, June 18. 2021 in Munich Lot 146

 

146
Albert Birkle
Begegnung in der Abenddämmerung, 1926.
Oil on firm board,
Estimate:
€ 25,000 / $ 27,000
Sold:
€ 81,250 / $ 87,750

(incl. surcharge)
Begegnung in der Abenddämmerung. 1926.
Oil on firm board,.
Lower right signed. Verso titled "Begegnung" presumably by Carl Birkle, the artist's father and inscribed "für Kunstfreunde zu zu Forst" presumbaly by the artist's first wife. 71.3 x 51.3 cm (28 x 20.1 in).
Birkle inscribed an archive photo of the painting with the date "1926". According to a hand-written note from the artist in the archive the painting was submitted for the 1931 Autumn Exhibition of the Prussian Academy of Arts, howver, according to the exhibition catalog it was not on display. [JS].
• Rare New Objectivity Berlin street scene with a figure staffage characteristic of the Roaring Twenties.
• Birkle stages the alienation and the silent interaction between man and the technical accomplishments of these times, among them street car and subway, in the artificial light of a street-lamp.
• Birkle's dissecting style of the Weimar days is one of the most spectacular rediscoveries on the art market.
• The painting "Der Bahnwärter" (1927), in which Birkle also examines issues revolving around man and technology, changed owners for 824,000 euro last year
.

Accompanied by a photo expertise issued by Viktor Pontzen, Albert Birkle archive and catalog raisonné, Salzburg, from March 28, 2021.

PROVENANCE: Neue Münchner Galerie Dr. Hiepe, Munich (on consignment as of May 1977).
Private collection Southern Germany (acquired from aforementioned in 1979).
Private collection Southern Germany.

"There's something that Birkle [..] does better than anyone else. [..] He's got a clear and sober persepective and he is obsessed. Even more, he's s got this inimitable verve that you either have or you don't; this fresh and bold line that is his very own product, and which we find in all of his pictures, be it his townscapes or landscpaes and even in his portraits."
Hans Bornmann, in: Hellweg - Zeitschrift für deutsche Kunst, 1927.




146
Albert Birkle
Begegnung in der Abenddämmerung, 1926.
Oil on firm board,
Estimate:
€ 25,000 / $ 27,000
Sold:
€ 81,250 / $ 87,750

(incl. surcharge)