Sale: 530 / Evening Sale / The Hermann Gerlinger Collection, June 10. 2022 in Munich Lot 27

 

27
Otto Mueller
Hockendes Mädchen, Um 1912.
Watercolor over ink brush drawing
Estimate:
€ 15,000 / $ 16,200
Sold:
€ 62,500 / $ 67,500

(incl. surcharge)
Hockendes Mädchen. Um 1912.
Watercolor over ink brush drawing.
Von Lüttichau/Pirsig-Marshall P1912/18 (636). On light board. 12.1 x 12 cm (4.7 x 4.7 in), the full sheet.
[AM].

• From the important Brücke era.
• Unpublished illustration for the novel "Van Zantens glückliche Zeit". A "Liebesroman von der Insel Pelli" by Laurids Bruun.
• A then typical characterization of foreign cultures.
• Otto Müller takes his conception of the nude in nature to an exotic ambiance
.

PROVENANCE: Collection Paul Eipper, Lochham (bis 1964).
Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Würzburg (with the collector stamp, acquired from the estate of the above in 1998: Neumeister, November 13, 1998).

EXHIBITION: Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle (Saale), permanent loan from Collection Gerlinger (2002-2017).
Die Brücke in der Südsee - Exotik der Farbe, Saarlandmuseum Saarbrücken, October 22, 2005 - January 8, 2006 (with color illu on p. 22).
Expressiv! Die Künstler der Brücke. Die Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Albertina Vienna, June 1 - August 26, 2007, cat. no. 235 (with color illu.).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried am Starnberger See, permanent loan from Collection Gerlinger (2017-2022).
Brückenschlag: Gerlinger - Buchheim, Buchheim Museum der Phantasie, Bernried am Starnberger See, October 28, 2017 - February 25, 2018, p. 174 (with color illu.).

LITERATURE: Neumeister auction house Munich, auction on November 13, 1998, lot 286.
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (editors), Die Maler der Brücke. inventory catalog Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 409, SHG no. 885.
Brückenschlag: Gerlinger - Buchheim! Museumsführer durch die "Brücke"-Sammlungen von Hermann Gerlinger und Lothar-Günther Buchheim, Feldafing 2017, p. 174 (with illu. on p. 175).
Werner Murrer, Lisa Marei Schmidt, Daniel J. Schreiber, Unzertrennlich. Rahmen und Bilder der Brücke-Künstler, ex. cat. Brücke Museum Berlin, November 2019 - March 2020/ Buchheim Museum, Bernried, March 2020 - July 2020, p. 397 with illu.

In terms of motif, design and format, this watercolor is directly related to the woodcut "Van Zantens glückliche Zeit" (Karsch, Holzschnitte, No. 1, ill.). This woodcut, unfinished by Otto Mueller - the title is just vague - is an illustration, perhaps even a design, for the title page of Laurids Bruun's novel "Van Zantens glückliche Zeit", with the caption “Liebesroman von der Insel Pelli", the German translation published by S. Fischer Verlag in 1911. The Danish writer Laurids Bruun, who wrote under the pseudonym Pieter Adrian van Zanten, lived in Batavia (Jakarta), worked in his uncle's trading company and traveled, among other places, the South Seas. Before the woodcut of a young couple enjoying itself, Otto Mueller made another delightful scene (ill.). In this context, the watercolor "Hockendes Mädchen“ (Squatting Girl) with the dark-skinned girl sitting under exotic trees, smiling at the viewer with her mouth open and showing white teeth, was also created. In the background, a wide landscape – typical of the artist – with a body of water and pointed mountains reminiscent of dunes, unfolds. The inspiration for this illustration probably came from Paul Eipper, who worked for S. Fischer Verlag at the time and commissioned artists like Mueller to provide illustrations for new publications. The watercolor "Hockendes Mädchen" comes from Paul Eipper's estate, which confirms this assumption. Incidentally, Otto Mueller was in contact with the 'literary circle' around S. Fischer Verlag. The novel was published in Denmark as early as in 1908 and was released by S. Fischer in 175 editions between 1911 and 1925. In any case, Otto Mueller's illustrations were not accepted. [MvL]



27
Otto Mueller
Hockendes Mädchen, Um 1912.
Watercolor over ink brush drawing
Estimate:
€ 15,000 / $ 16,200
Sold:
€ 62,500 / $ 67,500

(incl. surcharge)