Lot Essay
This work will be included in the forthcoming Willi Baumeister Catalogue Raisonné being prepared by Mrs Felicitas Baumeister, Stuttgart.
Painted between 1954 and 1955, the Schwarzer Fels (Black Rock) series numbers only 25 works and as such ranks as one of Baumeister's smallest groupings of related pictures. As with the Montaru or Monturi paintings, the title was not intended to be descriptive of a specific geological formation but simply denotes the dominant black shape that is present throughout the series.
Unlike the large black "land-masses" in the Montaru paintings, which claustrophobically fill the canvas, this black form floats cloud-like alongside smaller coloured elements that seem to be loosely held together by small poles. There is an obvious resemblance between this compositional device and that of Baumeister's earlier Safer and Metaphysische Landschaften series. For this reason there were some who initially thought the Schwarzer Fels paintings were merely amalgamations of other more radical pictures.
In time this superficial analysis has proven to be groundless. Criticism would appear moreover to have been generated by the disappointment that some people felt towards these generally small, delicately balanced abstractions, especially after having been so recently confronted by the monumentality of the simultaneously painted Montaru, Monturi and Aru series.
Will Grohmann, biographer and close friend of Baumeister, was one of the few to understand the motivation behind the Schwarzer Fels pictures. He wrote: "Baumeister has been criticised for these composite designs, which some people consider a symptom of indigence. It would be more accurate to speak of economy, a husbanding of his strength, a desire not to let anything to be lost and disappear without reason. The idea of the black continent, or whatever it may be, pursued him through many new starts; every design contains unused possibilities, of which he took advantage when the opportunity arose for a peculiar arabesque or an accent of colour." (Will Grohmann, Willi Baumeister: Life and Work, London 1985, p.148)
The father of the present owners came across Schwarzer Fels mit Farben, Metaphysisch VI at a Baumeister exhibition at the Kunstkabinett Otto Stangl in Munich. "Twenty-two works were exhibited and dated from 1934 to 1955, the smallest measuring 12 x 18cm and the largest 35 x 60cm," reads his diary entry on 7 October 1956. "I should have bought one of the two Bluxao pictures; maybe my Montaru and Metaphysische Landschaft contributed to my choosing Schwarzer Fels mit Farben, 1955, 34 x 44cm. ... I had Montaru IIe set aside, but then let it go, as it cost DM4500!"
With so many wonderful choices available, the final decision to only buy Schwarzer Fels mit Farben seems to indicate that our intrepid collector was well aware of the affinity between this small elusive work and the two large paintings he already owned (Lots 260 and 262). Rather than seeing this similarity as a weakness inherent in the picture, he chose it precisely because he felt it was of high enough quality to hang proudly alongside his two indisputable masterpieces, and thereby add depth to all their meaning.
Painted between 1954 and 1955, the Schwarzer Fels (Black Rock) series numbers only 25 works and as such ranks as one of Baumeister's smallest groupings of related pictures. As with the Montaru or Monturi paintings, the title was not intended to be descriptive of a specific geological formation but simply denotes the dominant black shape that is present throughout the series.
Unlike the large black "land-masses" in the Montaru paintings, which claustrophobically fill the canvas, this black form floats cloud-like alongside smaller coloured elements that seem to be loosely held together by small poles. There is an obvious resemblance between this compositional device and that of Baumeister's earlier Safer and Metaphysische Landschaften series. For this reason there were some who initially thought the Schwarzer Fels paintings were merely amalgamations of other more radical pictures.
In time this superficial analysis has proven to be groundless. Criticism would appear moreover to have been generated by the disappointment that some people felt towards these generally small, delicately balanced abstractions, especially after having been so recently confronted by the monumentality of the simultaneously painted Montaru, Monturi and Aru series.
Will Grohmann, biographer and close friend of Baumeister, was one of the few to understand the motivation behind the Schwarzer Fels pictures. He wrote: "Baumeister has been criticised for these composite designs, which some people consider a symptom of indigence. It would be more accurate to speak of economy, a husbanding of his strength, a desire not to let anything to be lost and disappear without reason. The idea of the black continent, or whatever it may be, pursued him through many new starts; every design contains unused possibilities, of which he took advantage when the opportunity arose for a peculiar arabesque or an accent of colour." (Will Grohmann, Willi Baumeister: Life and Work, London 1985, p.148)
The father of the present owners came across Schwarzer Fels mit Farben, Metaphysisch VI at a Baumeister exhibition at the Kunstkabinett Otto Stangl in Munich. "Twenty-two works were exhibited and dated from 1934 to 1955, the smallest measuring 12 x 18cm and the largest 35 x 60cm," reads his diary entry on 7 October 1956. "I should have bought one of the two Bluxao pictures; maybe my Montaru and Metaphysische Landschaft contributed to my choosing Schwarzer Fels mit Farben, 1955, 34 x 44cm. ... I had Montaru IIe set aside, but then let it go, as it cost DM4500!"
With so many wonderful choices available, the final decision to only buy Schwarzer Fels mit Farben seems to indicate that our intrepid collector was well aware of the affinity between this small elusive work and the two large paintings he already owned (Lots 260 and 262). Rather than seeing this similarity as a weakness inherent in the picture, he chose it precisely because he felt it was of high enough quality to hang proudly alongside his two indisputable masterpieces, and thereby add depth to all their meaning.