Reinhard Piper (1879-1953) started his famous publishing house in Munich in 1904 at the young age of twenty-four. One of his first major projects was the publication of the novels of Dostojweski and the large edition of Schopenhauers works. In 1910 the purchase of a woodcut by Franz Marc brought the two personalities together and with Kandinsky they conceived one of the most innovative publications in the history of German Expressionism: The Blaue Reiter Almanach is an anthology of works by various artists, compromising articles on folk art and primitive art as well as articles on literature, music and contemporary art. The following lots offer the rare opportunity to examine various letters, postcards and designs for the Blaue Reiter Almanach which document Reinhard Piper's relationship with Marc and Kandinsky and the birth of the avantgarde in Germany. Reinhard Piper also published Kandinsky's Klänge and Über das Geistige in der Kunst. During his professional life over four decades he published over 1,000 new titles. His profession as a publisher brought him together with other great 20th Century artists such as Max Beckmann, whose graphic oeuvre he published and of whom he owned a large print collection and Alfred Kubin. The Piper publishing house is today run by the third generation and still follows the credo of its founder :"Ich war sehr glüchklich daran, denn ich habe grosse Aufgaben in meinem Leben gefunden, die noch nicht gelöst waren". (R. Piper, Mein Leben als Verleger, Munich, 1991, p. 3).

Franz Marc (1880-1916)

Nach Norden (Dampfschiff bei schwerer See)

細節

Franz Marc (1880-1916)
Nach Norden (Dampfschiff bei schwerer See)
inscribed 'JULIUS MEIER-GRAEFE NACH NORDEN Eine Episode' (upper center) and 'MUNCHEN R.PIPER & C. VERLAG'(lower right)
gouache, watercolour and brush with black ink on paper
8 7/8 x 6 1/8 in. (22.5 x 15.5 cm.)
Executed in 1911

來源

Given by the Artist to Reinhard Piper in 1911, and thence by descent.

出版

K. Lankheit, Franz Marc - Katalog der Werke, Cologne, 1970, no. 892 (illustrated p. 289).

拍品專文

The present watercolour is a design the cover of a novel written by Julius Meier-Graefe which Reinhard Piper commissioned in 1911. According to a letter written by the Artist to Piper on 13 June 1911, it was sent to the publisher together with an alternative cover design (see lot 158) for the same novel. Neither designs were ever used and have remained in the Piper family until today.