Sale: 529 / Post War / Contemporary Art, June 10. 2022 in Munich Lot 205

 

205
Rainer Fetting
Mann und Eule (Dawn), 1984.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 25,000 / $ 27,000
Sold:
€ 92,500 / $ 99,900

(incl. surcharge)
Mann und Eule (Dawn). 1984.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, dated, titled and inscribed with the work number "A164" on the reverse. 152.5 x 162 cm (60 x 63.7 in).
[AM].
• In this work we find the male nude, a key theme in Fetting's art, in a particularly fascinating and complex version.
• Paintings from the 1980s are among Rainer Fetting's most sought-after works on the international auction market.
• Works by the artist from the 1980s are in possession of many international museums like Tate Gallery, London and the 'Berlinische Galerie Museum für Moderne Kunst', Berlin
•The Vincent van Gogh Huis in Zundert, Netherlands, hosts the exhibition "Rainer Fetting ziet van Gogh" until July 3, 2022
.

This work's authenticity has kindly been confirmed by the artist.

PROVENANCE: Galerie Thomas, Munich (with the label on the reverse).
Private collection Southern Germany.

Rainer Fetting studied at the Berlin University of the Arts from 1972 to 1978 and, while still a master student, he founded the gallery at Moritzplatz together with Helmut Middendorf, Salomé and Bernd Zimmer. He is considered one of the main representatives of the "Young Wild Ones". In 1978 Fetting moved to New York. Over the following years he made pictures depicting metropolitan subculture, of homelessness and of mostly dark-skinned male nudes. Fetting's isolated nudes from those years seem heightened into impressive symbols of loneliness and beauty. In "Mann und Eule" Fetting depicts the male nude in an almost ornamental manner in an exciting, artistic contortion and combines it with the owl, the symbol of the night, whereby the positioning on the naked body simultaneously plays with the viewer's sexual associations. Through the pose of the muscular nude, which can only be held for a short time, Fetting also succeeds in depicting the melancholic connection between beauty and transience.



205
Rainer Fetting
Mann und Eule (Dawn), 1984.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 25,000 / $ 27,000
Sold:
€ 92,500 / $ 99,900

(incl. surcharge)