Sale: 551 / Collection Hermann Gerlinger: woodcuts, June 10. 2023 in Munich Lot 546

 

546
Otto Mueller
Knabe zwischen Blattpflanzen, 1912.
Woodcut
Estimate:
€ 2,000 / $ 2,160
Sold:
€ 10,795 / $ 11,658

(incl. surcharge)
Knabe zwischen Blattpflanzen. 1912.
Woodcut.
Karsch 2/II (of III). Signed. One of a few signed hand-amde proofs of the 2nd printing state before the edition of 400 copies posthumously printed by Eugen Meyerhof. On a light copper plate printing paper. 27.9 x 37.3 cm (10.9 x 14.6 in). Sheet: 44 x 56,8 cm (17,3 x 22,3 in).
Printed by Otto Mueller and Maschka Mueller. [JS].
• One of just 5 woodcuts in Mueller's œuvre.
• Owing to its formal reduction, it is reminiscent of the eleganca of Egyptian reliefs.
• One of the extremely rare hand-made proofs from the 2nd state with the signature, the cracks in the wooden printing block in right and with the scratched monogram.
• To date only 3 to 4 other copies from this state have been offered on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).
• After he had made ca. 10 prints of the first state, Mueller used the printing block as a decorative element on his graphic cabinet, which explains the notches on the side.
• Another copy from this state is in the collection of the Städelsche Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt a. M.
.

PROVENANCE: Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin (with the inventory number on the reverse)
Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp on the reverse Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 251, SHG no. 358 (with illu.).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 410, SHG no. 886 (with illu.).

"Before Mueller came in contact with the "Brücke", he had never used the woodcut technique, which was so fundamental for the founding members. It is clearly not a coincidence that five of the six sheet he created this way are from 1912."
Christian Rathke, in: Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 410



546
Otto Mueller
Knabe zwischen Blattpflanzen, 1912.
Woodcut
Estimate:
€ 2,000 / $ 2,160
Sold:
€ 10,795 / $ 11,658

(incl. surcharge)