Sale: 530 / Evening Sale / The Hermann Gerlinger Collection, June 10. 2022 in Munich Lot 1

 

1
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Badender Junge, 1904.
Woodcut
Estimate:
€ 4,000 / $ 4,320
Sold:
€ 9,375 / $ 10,125

(incl. surcharge)
Badender Junge. 1904.
Woodcut.
Dube H 21. Gerken 10. Signed and inscribed "Handdruck". Verso with the estate stamp of the Kunstmuseum Basel (Lugt 1570 b) and the stamp "unverkäuflich". On brownish laid paper. 20 x 14 cm (7.8 x 5.5 in). Sheet: 25,5 x 25,2 cm (10 x 9,9 in).


• One of to date only three known copies.
• For the first time on the international auction market.
• Made the year the "Brücke" was founded, the woodcut shows one of the group's later main themes: Plein-air nudes.
• "Badender Junge" is one of E. L. Kirchner's earliest artistic accomplishments
.

PROVENANCE:
Artist's estate (Davos 1938, Kunstmuseum Basel 1946).
Galerie Henze & Ketterer, Wichtrach/Bern.
Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Würzburg (with the collector stamp, acquired from the above in 2003).

EXHIBITION:
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Februars 9 - April 13, 1980; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, April 26 - June 8, 1980; Kunsthaus Zürich, June 20 - August 10, 1980; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, West-Berlin, November 29, 1979 - January 20, 1980, p. 49, illu. 23 (presumably different copy).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from Collection Hermann Gerlinger, until 2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE:
Hermann Gerlinger, Heinz Spielmann (editor), Brücke-Almanach 1999: Fritz Bleyl und die Frühen Jahre der "Brücke", Schleswig 1999, p. 14, illu. 4.
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (editor), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 282, SHG no. 639.

With the technique of the woodcut, Kirchner captured the essence of graphic art most vividly. The woodcut, in particular, forced him to use simple, concentrated formulations like it wasn‘t the case with any other technique, and it always meant a new challenge for him to overcome the resistance of the material in order to execute his ideas. At times, woodcuts were even more important to Kirchner than paintings. The works created in 1904 were still very much influenced by Art Nouveau. The motifs are cut out of the wood as a contrast between line and surface, black and white. Kirchner clearly processed suggestions from magazines such as "Insel", "Jugend", "Ver Sacrum" or "Simplicissimus", in which numerous decorative graphics with framing lines were shown at the time. With a few outlines, Kirchner cuts the contours of a pond landscape in front of a gentle embankment in the background. A slim, naked boy in bright sunlight stands in shallow, ankle-deep water, slightly moving forward. Supporting himself with his right hand on his thigh and his left hand on his hip, the boy appears to be moving out of the water towards the shore. This woodcut is one of Kirchner's earliest artistic works, which he produced while he was studying architecture at the Technical University in Dresden. [MvL]



1
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Badender Junge, 1904.
Woodcut
Estimate:
€ 4,000 / $ 4,320
Sold:
€ 9,375 / $ 10,125

(incl. surcharge)