Vente: 532 / 19th Century Art 10 décembre 2022 à Munich Lot 326

 

326
Wilhelm Busch
Die Bestrafung der unartigen Kinder (Max & Moritz), Um 1870/80.
India ink drawing and watercolor
Estimation:
€ 3,000 / $ 3,240
Résultat:
€ 22,500 / $ 24,300

( frais d'adjudication compris)
Die Bestrafung der unartigen Kinder (Max & Moritz). Um 1870/80.
India ink drawing and watercolor.
On Vergé. 17.3 x 22.1 cm (6.8 x 8.7 in), the full sheet.

We are grateful to Dr. Ruth Brunngraber-Malottke, Wilhelm Busch Museum, Hanover, for her kind expert advice.

PROVENANCE: Private collection North Rhine-Westphalia.

Featuring such iconic characters as Max and Moritz, Wilhelm Busch’s illustrative work and the poetic writing that usually accompanied it have shaped many a child’s imagination. Busch created his idiosyncratic worlds with a quick and nimble talent for drawing, filling several sketchbooks in the course of his life. Looking at the motifs he set his eyes on, it seems that his drawings flowed naturally and effortlessly from his hand, reflecting a continuous preoccupation with the reality around him. A big hodgepodge, the sheets of his sketchbooks contain studies of figures and characters, robes, individual limbs and precise anatomical studies along with preparatory sketches of scenes, but also glimpses of simple objects like brooms in a corner or kitchen utensils, as well as landscapes. Busch effectively created an archive of objects, spaces, and figures, which he thus appropriated through drawing and occasionally incorporated into his illustrations and paintings. At his father’s request, Wilhelm Busch initially studied mechanical engineering in Hanover, but later switched to painting in 1851, studying at the art academies in Düsseldorf and Antwerp. In the year 1854, he lived in Munich for a while where he studied at the Munich Academy and joined the “Jung München” art association. After the death of his sister Anna in 1858, he dedicated himself fully to drawing and painting, in particular to anatomical studies and nudes, and became a contributor to the “Fliegende Blätter” and “Münchner Bilderbogen” magazines. Following a two-year sojourn in Frankfurt, where he had his own studio, he returned to his native Wiedensahl and subsequently embarked on a tour of Italy and the Netherlands in 1872. By 1884, he had published some of his most famous stories, including “Max and Moritz” in 1865, “Helen Who Couldn’t Help It” in 1872, and “Fips the Monkey” in 1879. Busch’s prolific output of humorous illustrated stories and his literary talent made him world famous. “Max and Moritz” was translated into ten languages during his lifetime, including Japanese in 1887. [KT]



326
Wilhelm Busch
Die Bestrafung der unartigen Kinder (Max & Moritz), Um 1870/80.
India ink drawing and watercolor
Estimation:
€ 3,000 / $ 3,240
Résultat:
€ 22,500 / $ 24,300

( frais d'adjudication compris)