Lot Essay
Alfred Maurer, a New York artist, was an important figure in the history of American Modernism. In 1919, Maurer began to concentrate on heads, and these images are considered to be his most "signature" works, as they represent a theme that would occupy the artist, in various stylistic forms, for the remainder of his life. Maurer, between 1925 and 1928 began experimenting with greater abstraction-- cubist elements appear in the heads, contours of the figures become increasing geometric and the background becomes significant, taking on a patterned structure suggestive of a curtain. Sisters is typical of the artist's images of dual heads dating from the late 1920s.
The present work retains an original Max Keuhne frame.
The present work retains an original Max Keuhne frame.