Lot Essay
Fritz Klimsch (d. 1960) exhibited his bronze version of Schlangenbändigerin (Snake Charmer) at the Berlin Grossen Kunst-Austellung in 1898 (no. 1381), the same year in which he co-founded the Berliner Secession movement along with Max Liebermann and Walter Leistikow. Unlike many of his other works which were edited in bronze by the Noack foundry, presumably due to casting complexities the present model appears to have been reproduced only in spelter. Another spelter cast sold Van Ham, Cologne, 22 March 1995, lot 1127 (18,000 DM) and is documented in H. Braun, Fritz Klimsch, Eine Dokumentation, Cologne, 1991, pp. 303-4.