It is considered one of his most beautiful portraits ever: Max Beckmann's "Female Head in Blue and Grey - The Egyptian Woman". Painted in exile in Amsterdam in 1942, it was acquired from the studio in the same year and has been owned by Beckmann experts Erhard and Barbara Göpel ever since. The painting, estimated at € 1,500,000 to € 2,000,000, will be auctioned in Berlin on 31 May and is likely to attract great national and international interest.
Other highlights of the modernist offering include a highly haunting "Self-Portrait with Closed Eyes" by Käthe Kollwitz (estimate € 80,000 / 120,000), an early Murnau landscape by Gabriele Münter from 1908 (€ 350.000 / 450,000), Paula Modersohn-Becker's "Mädchen in Dämmerung mit karierter Bluse" (€ 300,000 / 400,000) and Karl Hofer's enchanting "Putzmacherin" from 1922 (€ 280,000 / 350,000). Gert Wollheim's striking portrait of Heinrich George also deserves special attention, which can be seen alongside the famous portraits of the legendary actor by Otto Dix and Max Beckmann (€ 80,000 / 120,000).
The Contemporary Art department can boast the highest-value offer since the department was founded: at the top are two high-calibre works: Anselm Kiefer's "für Velimir Chlebnikow" (€ 700,000 / 1,000,000) and Günther Uecker's "Interferenzen" (€ 500,000 / 700,000). With an abstract photograph from Wolfgang Tillmans' "Freischwimmer" series (€ 250,000 / 350,000), the offer also includes a rare example from the currently most sought-after group of works by Germany's most important photographic artist. With paintings by Konrad Klapheck and Arnulf Rainer as well as a cushion painting by Gotthard Graubner and numerous other works, the department has a total lower estimate of €4.7 million.
At the centre of the 19th century auction are two works by the two greatest German artists of the 19th century, Adolph Menzel and Caspar David Friedrich. Menzel's large-format pastel "Die Schlitt-schuhläufer", long lost and now visible again for the first time in sixty years, is estimated at € 250,000 / 350,000. A museum watercolour by Caspar David Friedrich from the 1820s, a poetic "Mittelgebirgslandschaft", is estimated at € 200,000 / 300,000.
The ORANGERIE celebrates the provenance of outstanding works of art from all eras: from the console of Russia's Tsarina Catherine the Great (€ 35,000 / 45,000), Prince Albert's gold brooch for "his" Queen Victoria of England (€ 12.000 / 15,000), the life-size equestrian portrait of King Frederick of Sweden (€ 60,000 / 80,000) and the stone Chinese guardian lions by the publisher King Rudolf Mosse (€ 60,000 / 80,000). These are contrasted by design icons by Marianne Brandt and Dieter Rams as well as Hollywood Regency pieces by Tommy Parzinger (€ 15,000 / 17,000).
With an estimate of € 300,000 / 500,000, the Modern and Contemporary Photography auction is delighted to offer the most expensive photograph ever offered on the German auction market, thus ushering in the upcoming Bauhaus year 2019: the photogram by László Moholy-Nagy, created in 1923/25 during his time at the Weimar Bauhaus. In addition, further experimental works by Man Ray, Theodor Roszak and Thomas Ruff, among others, provide an exciting contextualisation of this rarity.
Large prints by Alfred Renger-Patzsch from the estate of architect Fritz Schupp, as well as a "Composition" by František Drtikol and three iconic works by Peter Beard are the auction's top lots.
A total of over 1,500 works of art with a total lower estimate of € 18.3 million will be auctioned at the spring auctions from 30 May to 2 June. Previews in Berlin will begin on 25 May and end on 29 May at three locations in Fasanenstrasse (25, 27, 73).
Micaela Kapitzky
Previews
Berlin, 25 to 29 May 2018
Grisebach, Fasanenstrasse 25, 27 and 73
Fri to Mon 10 am to 6 pm, Tue 10 am to 3 pm
Auctions
30 May 2018, 3 pm: 19th century art
30 May 2018, 3 pm: 19th century art
30 May 2018, 3 pm: 19th century art. Century Art
30 May 2018, 6 pm: Modern and Contemporary Photography
31 May 2018, 11 am: ORANGERIE Selected Objects
31 May 2018, 6 pm: Selected Works
1 June 2018, 11 am: Modern Art
1 June 2018, 6 pm: Contemporary Art
2 June 2018, 11 am/15 pm: Third Floor - Estimates up to € 3,000