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Lot Essay
Schlemmer left the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1929 to take up a professorship at the Silesian Art Academy in Breslau. He stayed in Breslau for three years, a period which was amongst the most productive and intense of his career and the works of this period are unquestionably his finest.
His good spirits for his work during this Breslau period was reflected in his pictures: the formats grew larger, and the compositions more complex.
Viergruppe mit Grau is essentially not a figurative painting it is more an exercise in pictoral balance; a balance of curve and volume, light and shade, human and concrete. The last of these is pivotal, as Viergruppe mit Grau belongs to a series of works which investigate the theme of modern man and his relationship with modern architecture.
Unusually for Schlemmer, there are very few related compositions to the present work. Unlike other subjects, Schlemmer does not seem to have worked up this horizontal watercolour from a series of other studies over a number of years. The closest related work seems to be a watercolour of almost the same dimensions entitled Frauenköpfe of 1928 (A.361) which has destroyed during the war. Our composition of 1930 is a purer, more distilled version of the earlier piece.
This work has been re examined by Dr Karin von Mauer, Curator of the Saatsgalerie Stuttgart and author of the Oskar Schlemmer catalogue raisonné. Dr Von Mauer has confirmed that the work has been given a very light spray varnish, perhaps by the artist or by his brother Carl. However, contrasting to the statement in the catalogue raisonné this varnish has not badly discoloured and actually lifts the colours of the piece. Similar, but heavier varnishes are known to have been applied to two other works of the period, namely Gruppe mit Kopfen und Figuren (A.340) and Begegnung im Raum(A.345). The latter of these works, previously in the Smooke Collection was sold at Phillips, New York in November of this year.
His good spirits for his work during this Breslau period was reflected in his pictures: the formats grew larger, and the compositions more complex.
Viergruppe mit Grau is essentially not a figurative painting it is more an exercise in pictoral balance; a balance of curve and volume, light and shade, human and concrete. The last of these is pivotal, as Viergruppe mit Grau belongs to a series of works which investigate the theme of modern man and his relationship with modern architecture.
Unusually for Schlemmer, there are very few related compositions to the present work. Unlike other subjects, Schlemmer does not seem to have worked up this horizontal watercolour from a series of other studies over a number of years. The closest related work seems to be a watercolour of almost the same dimensions entitled Frauenköpfe of 1928 (A.361) which has destroyed during the war. Our composition of 1930 is a purer, more distilled version of the earlier piece.
This work has been re examined by Dr Karin von Mauer, Curator of the Saatsgalerie Stuttgart and author of the Oskar Schlemmer catalogue raisonné. Dr Von Mauer has confirmed that the work has been given a very light spray varnish, perhaps by the artist or by his brother Carl. However, contrasting to the statement in the catalogue raisonné this varnish has not badly discoloured and actually lifts the colours of the piece. Similar, but heavier varnishes are known to have been applied to two other works of the period, namely Gruppe mit Kopfen und Figuren (A.340) and Begegnung im Raum(A.345). The latter of these works, previously in the Smooke Collection was sold at Phillips, New York in November of this year.