Segelschiff

Following the devastation of the First World War, technology and machinery became symbolic beacons of a more optimistic future for interwar Europe. They began to appear as subjects in their own right within various art movements – Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, and perhaps most vibrantly in Walter Dexel’s brightly coloured Constructivist paintings. These technical subjects populated his artworks of the early 1920s, as he confronted modern inventions such as steam ships, locomotives and airplanes in his distinctive avant-garde style. Amongst these works, only five are known to represent sailing boats.

Dexel breaks down the sailing boat in Segelschiff into a rhythmic interplay of geometric structures, bright colours and pulsating blue lines of water. ‘Contemporary critics emphasised the pleasant colouring of Dexel’s compositions. Willi Wolfradt speaks of his “chromatic delicacy”, Will Grohmann in 1924 of “pink and yellow forms of child-like cheerfulness and naivety”, which Albert Kranoldt described as “an abstract spirituality and sensuous beauty of colour and harmony … that is wonderfully balanced and conveys something endlessly soothing.” It is this point that marks his bold contemporariness. His compositions are neither cold nor stark. The viability of the forms lies in their pleasant balance. Wolfradt describes Dexel as “no Constructivist pedant and no Constructivist impostor”’ (R. Wöbkemeier, W. Vitt & W. Hofmann, Walter Dexel 1890-1973: Werkverzeichnis, Gemälde, Hinterglasbilder, Gouachen, Aquarelle, Collagen, Ölstudien, Entwürfe zu Bühnenbildern, Heidelberg, 1995, p. 60). This rendering of the subject in such a way that it is simultaneously both identifiable and abstracted calls to mind the art of one of Dexel’s personal artistic idols, Paul Cezanne.

The Hinterglassbild technique which Dexel pioneered required intense skill and precision. The present work appears to be the perfect synthesis of the artist’s most celebrated painting skills. The beautifully bright palette, declined through an intricate juxtaposition of smaller and larger elements is reminiscent of some of his major canvas paintings, such as Segelschiff I, 1922; while the sense of rigour and precision lent by his masterful use of this incredibly complex medium makes the work one of the best examples of his series of ‘glass paintings’. The oval format lends an intimacy to the subject, as though it is a portrait of a family member hung on the wall in a domestic space, channelling Dexel’s goal of elevating everyday modernity into the realm of fine art.