Beschaulichkeit. 1924.
Bronze with a golden brown patina.
Braun 121. With the monogram in ligature on the sole of the left foot and with the foundry stamp "H. Noack Berlin". Height: 31.6 cm (12.4 in).
Hermann Braun was able to reconstruct the date “before 1924” on the basis of the fact that a nephew of Fritz Klimsch acquired a cast of “Beschaulichkeit” in 1924 (cf. Hermann Braun, Fritz Klimsch. Eine Dokumentation, Cologne 1991, p. 359).
Cast by the art foundry Hermann Noack, Berlin (with the foundryman's stamp). Casting date unknown, probably 1960s. [JS].

• Together with Georg Kolbe, Fritz Klimsch is one of the most important German sculptors of the first half of the 20th century.
• "Beschaulichkeit" is one of the artist's most famous bronzes.
• This is the first work in which Klimsch accomplished a complex introspective movement motif, which the artist would later use in his depictions of nudes.
• Like Kolbe's “Sitzende” (1928/29), Klimsch's “Beschaulichkeit” personifies an internalized, contemplative expression.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Norther Germany.

LITERATURE: (Selection)
Hermann Braun, Fritz Klimsch. Werke, Hanover 1980, pp. 50f., no. 17, illu. (different copy).
Die Bildhauer August Gaul und Fritz Klimsch, Frankfurt a. Main 2010, p. 250, cat. no. 128 (different copy).

"What is striking about Klimsch's oeuvre is that many of his sculptures vary a theme in new ways - for example, the standing, reclining, or seated nude. Some of these works show completely different gestures, while others are separated only by nuances of movement that only become apparent upon closer inspection. An example is the sculptures 'Am Strand' [..] and 'Beschaulichkeit' [..], which were created around the same time - one in 1926, the other around 1924. [..] Despite the bodies appearing constructed and complicated at first glance, both sculptures emanate a great deal of serenity and seem introverted. [..] The sculptures show how much Klimsch was occupied with a single movement and how even the smallest changes in the depiction would spark his interest in the motif again."
Sophia Dietrich, Der weibliche Akt und Variationen der Sitzenden, in: Die Bildhauer August Gaul und Fritz Klimsch, Frankfurt a. Main 2010, p. 245.

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