Vente: 533 / Modern Art Day Sale and Gerlinger Collection 10 décembre 2022 à Munich Lot 485

 

485
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Fränzi vor Wandbehang, 1911.
Colored chalk drawing and India ink over pencil
Estimation:
€ 40,000 / $ 43,200
Résultat:
€ 67,500 / $ 72,900

( frais d'adjudication compris)
Fränzi vor Wandbehang. 1911.
Colored chalk drawing and India ink over pencil.
On light board. 14 x 9 cm (5.5 x 3.5 in), the full sheet.
Postcard to Ms Maschka Müller, with the Dresden postage stamp from February 3, 1911 and E. L. Kirchner's greeting: "Unsere Jüngste beim Tanz, sehr interessant, würde Ihnen auch gefallen. Viele Grüße, lassen Sie bald hören. Bett bald lästig. Ihr Ernst Ludwig Kirchner". [CH].
• The very essence of the "Brücke" on one postcard: Created by E. L. Kirchner for Maschka Mueller (Otto Mueller's wife), the postcard shows Fränzi dancing, she was the favorite "Brücke" model in Dresden and in Heckel's studio with the flamboyant wall hanging, which Heckel also depicted in his iconic woodcut "Fränzi" (1910).
• From the heyday of the "Brücke".
• Over the following years, dance and motion were key themes in Kirchner's oeuvre.
• Today the painted postcards of the "Brücke" artists are considered an independent work group with a strong art-historical relevance.
• Other postcards from E. L. Kirchner are at, among others, the Kupferstichkabinett of the State Museums Berlin and the Brücke-Museum in Berlin
.

The work is documented in the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archive, Wichtrach/Bern.

PROVENANCE: Maschka Mueller, Berlin.
Private collection Gemany (until 1971: Stargardt).
German art trade (1971).
Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 1995-2001).
Frauen in der Kunst und Leben der "Brücke", Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, September 10 - November 5, 2000, cat. no. 58 (with illu., p. 142).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale permanent loan from the Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 2001-2017).
Die Brücke in Dresden 1905-1911, Galerie Neue Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, October 20, 2001 to January 6, 2002, cat. no. 244 (with color illu.).
Expressiv! Die Künstler der Brücke. Die Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Albertina, Vienna, June 1 - August 26, 2007, cat. no. 149 (with color illu.).
Der Blick auf Fränzi und Marcella. Zwei Modelle der Brücke-Künstler Heckel, Kirchner und Pechstein, Sprengelmuseum Hanover, August 29, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Stiftung Moritzburg, Kunstmuseum des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle (Saale), February 6 - May 1, 2011, cat. no. 88 (with color illu., pp. 21, 32 and 55).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Collection Hermann Gerlinger, 2017-2022).
Brückenschlag: Gerlinger - Buchheim, Buchheim Museum Bernried, October 28, 2017 - February 25, 2018, pp. 212f. (with color illu.).

LITERATURE: J. A. Stargardt Antiquariat, catalog no. 597, Autographen aus allen Gebieten, Marburg, November 23/24, 1971, lot 920 (with illu.).
Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 155, SHG no. 151 (with illu.).
Ulrich Pfarr, Zwischen Ekstase und Alltag. Zur Rezeption der Lebensform in der künstlerischen Praxis der "Brücke", in: Die Lebensreform. Entwürfe zur Neugestaltung von Leben und Kunst um 1900, vol. 1, Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt 2001, pp. 251-256 (with illu.).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Collection Hermann Gerlinger, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 319, SHG no. 719 (with illu.).
Hanna Strzoda, Die Ateliers Ernst Ludwig Kirchners. Eine Studie zur Rezeption 'primitiver' europäischer und außereuropäischer Kulturen, Petersberg 2006 (with illu., no. 223).
Hans Delfs (ed.), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Der gesamte Briefwechsel. 'Die absolute Wahrheit, so wie ich sie fühle Zürich 2010 (with illu. on p. 54).
Regina Klein, Ganz nah dran. Porträts von Fränzi und Marzella, in: Magdalena M. Moeller (ed.), Fränzi und Marzella - Wer sie waren und wie sie sind. Auf Spurensuche im Brücke-Museum, Heidelberg 2014, pp. 90-94 (with illu., no. 1).
Gerd Presler, Fränzi – Ende eines Irrtums. Drei "Brücke"-Maler – ein Modell, Ettlingen 2015.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner sketched this vivacious studio scene on a postcard and sent it to Maschka Mueller, Otto Mueller's wife, on February 3, 1911, noting "Our youngest dancing." "Our youngest?" That's Fränzi, and always Fränzi! "Fränzi reclined", "Fränzi standing", "Fränzi squatting", "Fränzi bathing" .. or as here dancing on a carpet in front of two figures in Erich Heckel's studio. In the background, a landscape scene with the characteristic pine trees, a creative exploration of "Etruscan art" during the trip to Italy in 1909. Heckel used this striking background for the black, red and green color woodcut "Stehendes Kind", which was published in the artist group’s annual edition in 1911. (Fig.)

Heckel, Kirchner and Pechstein were fascinated by still childlike girl. Her unspoiled, boyish appearance provided the artists with infatuated inspiration, which is reflected in their works, especially in those of Heckel and Kirchner. In 1945/46, Max Pechstein recalled still clearly impressed: "When we were together in Berlin [1909], Heckel, Kirchner and I agreed that the three of us would work on the lakes around Moritzburg near Dresden [..] When I arrived in Dresden and stayed in the old store in Friedrichstadt, we discussed how to put our plan into practice. We had to find two or three people who were not professional models and would hence movements unadulterated by previous studio experience. I remembered my old friend, the janitor at the Academy [..] He established contact to the wife of a deceased artist and her two daughters. I explained her our serious artistic intentions. She visited us in our store in Friedrichstadt, and since she found a setting she was familiar with, she allowed her daughters to ge to Moritzburg with us [..] We lived in absolute harmony, worked and bathed. If a male model was missing as a counterpart, one of us would step in. Now and then the mother showed up to convince herself nothing bad would happened to her ducklings swimming in the pond of life." (Max Hermann Pechstein, Erinnerungen, ed. by Leopold Reidemeister, Wiesbaden 1960, pp. 41-43.)

Scores of stories grow around the existence of Fränzi, including those of erotic encounters with the artists, as the countless sketches, drawings, watercolors and paintings of her suggest. They are so strong in numbers that a book and an exhibition were dedicated to her and her sister. (Der Blick auf Fränzi und Marcella, Zwei Modelle der Brücke-Künstler Heckel, Kirchner und Pechstein, published by Norbert Nobis, Sprengel Museum Hanover, 2010) Through her presence, Fränzi achieved something extraordinary: She was the reason why the artists of the "Brücke" - except for Schmidt-Rottluff, who was staying in Dangast at the time - painted together and rendered their views of what was happening at the Moritzburg Ponds and in the studio in such strong resemblance, that Fränzi lives on in the pictures and is still considered the icon of the "Brücke" style around 1910 today. [MvL]



485
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Fränzi vor Wandbehang, 1911.
Colored chalk drawing and India ink over pencil
Estimation:
€ 40,000 / $ 43,200
Résultat:
€ 67,500 / $ 72,900

( frais d'adjudication compris)