In the spring auctions from 1 to 4 June 2016, Grisebach is offering 1487 paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures and objects. The works are divided into six sections in eight catalogues: 19th Century, Selected Works, Modern Art, Adalbert and Thilda Colsman Collection, Contemporary Art, Photography, ORANGERIE and Third Floor. The median estimate for all works and objects up for auction is 19.5 million euros.
Art of the 19th century
The 19th century art department presents over 130 lots, including important works from the Rudolf Mosse and Eugen Roth collections.
The art collection of the Berlin newspaper publisher Rudolf Mosse was the first to be forcibly auctioned off by the National Socialists in 1934. After intensive negotiations, three major works from the collection were restituted from German and Swiss museums to the heirs of Rudolf Mosse and handed over to Grisebach by the Rudolf Mosse community of heirs.
These are important works of 19th century art that are now being auctioned at the Berlin auction house: Adolph Menzel's pastel "Emilie, the artist's sister, in a red blouse" (estimate € 300,000-400,000), Wilhelm Leibl's "Portrait of the Councillor of Appeal Stenglein" (€ 120,000-150,000) and Ludwig von Hofmann's "Spring Storm" (€ 200,000-300,000), one of the central paintings of German Art Nouveau.
Eugen Roth (1895-1976) was not only a renowned poet who is particularly famous for his "Ein Mensch" poems. He also obsessively collected 19th century drawings throughout his life. They lay untouched in Eugen Roth's graphics cabinet for many years. Grisebach will be auctioning a large group of important early Romantic prints from his estate (estimated prices between € 1,000 and € 30,000).
Selected Works, Modern Art and
Special Catalogue Colsman Collection
In a special catalogue for the spring auctions, Grisebach is bringing together 20 works from the collection of Adalbert and Thilda Colsman, including Emil Nolde's "White Clouds" (€ 1,200,000 - 1,600,000) and Christian Rohlf's "Blue Mountains" (€ 120,000 - 150,000). The silk manufacturer Adalbert Colsman had a unique approach to art that had a lasting influence on him: as the brother of Gertrud and brother-in-law of Karl Ernst Osthaus, he and his wife Thilda lived in the immediate neighbourhood of the founder of the Folkwang Museum, the first museum in the world to focus primarily on contemporary art. The collector couple maintained friendly contact with Christian Rohlfs, Ewald Mataré, Otto Dix and other artists. They were closely associated with Ada and Emil Nolde for over 50 years. The Colsmans supported the painter and his wife with purchases in difficult times and granted asylum to some of Nolde's paintings during times when painting was banned.
Other highlights in the field of modern art include works by Otto Mueller, Lovis Corinth, George Grosz, Anton Räderscheidt and Konrad Klapheck.
Otto Mueller's work "Two Girls with a Forked Tree", circa 1916/17, valued at € 1,000,000 to 1,500,000, was first exhibited at the Berlin Secession in 1917 and is characteristic of Otto Mueller's painting.
During his time in Munich from 1891 to 1901, Lovis Corinth often met Max Halbe and painted the playwright and his family. The portrait of Berta Heck, the sister of Halbe's wife Luise, dates from this period (€ 280,000 - 340,000). Here, Corinth combines a close-up view of the sitter with a sweeping landscape panorama.
George Grosz reported to his friend Mark Neven DuMont in 1925 after a long journey that he was now working diligently on "water colours". One of these works, the watercolour "Drinnen und Draußen", which is now being offered at Grisebach for € 200,000 - 300,000, was already a highly regarded work in the years following its completion and was shown in exhibitions at the Kunsthaus Zürich and the Flechtheim Gallery in 1930, among others.
Anton Räderscheidt's painting "Young Man with Yellow Gloves" from 1921 (€ 180,000 - 240,000) comes from the central phase of the artist's work, with which he became one of the most important representatives of "Magical Realism" in Germany.
Eduardo Chillida, creator of grandiose monumental sculptures such as the "Wind Combs" on the cliffs near San Sebastián and the "Berlin" sculpture group in front of the Federal Chancellery in Berlin, was also a master of the small scale. This is demonstrated by the work "Óxido 61" made of fired clay from 1981, which is priced at € 200,000-300,000 by Grisebach.
In addition to the total of around 270 lots from this area, Konrad Klapheck's "Vergebliches Warten" (€ 90,000 - 120,000), which was first shown in a solo exhibition at the Kestner-Gesell-schaft in Hanover in 1966, will also be on offer. At that time, the artist had only been working for eleven years. Today, these works by Klapheck, in which man and object merge, are considered international art treasures.
Contemporary art
At the top of this section with around 140 lots and an estimated price of € 500,000 - 700,000 is Kazuo Shiraga's "KINKO. As colourful as autumn leaves". No other artist was as much of a body painter as the Japanese artist. Shiraga's art of volcanic colour flows combines the discipline of Zen painting with the gestural Informalism that defined Western art in the post-war era.
Sigmar Polke's "Untitled (Münster 1973)" shows a couple in the centre of the picture during sexual intercourse. Although the nude is depicted statically with a few lines, the colour tone of the composition is emotionally charged. It is as if Sigmar Polke has worked his way from the outside inwards to the centre of the action (estimated price € 120,000 - 150,000).
It is the great mastery of Neo Rauch that he plunges the viewer into complete uncertainty. In "Garten im Sturm" (estimated price € 100,000 - 150,000), Rauch uniquely shows an archaic battle between the spheres for the sovereignty of interpretation.
Dark moods, dreams, the unconscious, the abysmal, mysticism, mythical creatures, pale skin - Martin Eder's fascinating painting "Die Schlaflosen" (€ 50,000 - 70,000) was clearly created in the course of an exploration of Black Romanticism.
The collecting activities of the Saarland entrepreneur Dietmar Klütsch began in the mid-1980s and focus on important examples of concrete art and the Zero movement. The selection at Grisebach includes works by Günther Uecker, Adolf Luther, Klaus Staudt, Leo Erb, Hermann Bartels and Raimer Jochims. The Klütsch Collection was most recently honoured in a comprehensive exhibition at the Museum Haus Ludwig für Kunstausstellungen Saarlouis.
The "World Receiver" from 2015 goes back to an eventful year in the life of Isa Genzken: in 1982, the artist took part in the Venice Biennale and the documenta in Kassel. And it is the year in which she placed a conventional radio set, a world receiver, on a white plinth and declared it a work of art. "Weltempfänger" (estimate: € 20,000-30,000) is a donation from the artist. The proceeds will go to KINDerLEBEN - Verein zur Förderung der Klinik für krebskranke Kinder e.V. (Association for the Promotion of the Clinic for Children with Cancer).
Photographie
Over 230 lots of modern and contemporary photography alone will be auctioned at Grisebach's spring auctions.
Among the rarities on the auction market are vintage prints by Gertrud Arndt, Edward Steichen, André Kertész and Iwao Yamawaki, among others. The "Negative Portrait Wera Meyer-Waldeck", created by Gertrud Arndt in 1930 using black and white reversal, is one of the "classics" of Bauhaus photography (€ 10,000 - 15,000). Absolute precision and concentrated lighting characterise Edward Steichen's study of a sunflower from 1921 (€ 20,000 - 30,000), while the Hungarian photographer André Kertész discovered the unusual moments and encounters in everyday life on his forays through Paris (€ 20,000 - 25,000). A unique compilation of major works is offered by Peter Keetman's "Konvolut für Bernd Lohse", which the photographer selected himself in the 1970s and donated to the publicist Bernd Lohse (€ 45,000 - 55,000). Vintages by Erwin Blumenfeld, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Tata Ronkholz, Otto Steinert, Josef Sudek and Fred Zinnemann will also be auctioned.
Originally from the collection of Tom Jacobson are rare photographs by the Japanese architect and photographer Iwao Yamawaki, who studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau from 1930 to 1932. His photographs of modern architecture were taken during this time (estimated prices from € 3,000 to € 5,000).
Among the highlights from the field of contemporary photography are four works by Peter Beard, including a portrait of Andy Warhol in a unique version (€ 50,000 - 70,000) and an oversized print of "Large tusker" (€ 20,000 - 30,000). Also worth highlighting are two Diasec works by Thomas Ruff (€ 22,000 - 28,000 / 25,000 - 30,000), the portfolio "Aktion in einem Kreis" by Günter Brus (€ 6,000 - 8,000) and works by Robert Mapplethorpe, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Deborah Turbeville.
ORANGERIE Selected objects
The catalogue of the "ORANGERIE Selected Objects" section presents the fine arts in a magazine-like crossover and describes their "conversational qualities" in texts by Gesine Schwan, Margit J. Mayer, Simon Strauss and Wolfgang Uchatius. The almost 90 lots also include objects from the estate of the composer Hanns Eisler (1898-1962). On behalf of his heirs, Grisebach is presenting his personal gifts from artist friends such as Gustav Seitz and Fritz Cremer, including the bust of Eisler's best friend Bertolt Brecht. The death mask and the composer's grand piano combine art and cultural history.
Highlights of the ORANGERIE include a writing cabinet by Hendrik van Soest (around 1700, estimate: € 100,000 - 120,000) and a cylinder bureau by Abraham Roentgen (around 1770, estimate: € 50,000 - 70,000). In bright red tortoiseshell on the one hand and the fragrant noblesse of mahogany on the other, this is top furniture of its time and synonymous with quality, innovation and the highest luxury.
The ORANGERIE at Grisebach aims to show extraordinary objects and open new doors to the applied arts. To this end, the works of art are shown in an inspiring mix: They range from painted Kunstkammer pieces by Daniel Fröschel, to eye illusions made of Italian faience, prototypes of Ron Arad's design classics, the rediscovery of the "Ringer" sculpture by Reinhold Begas and the woven hashish visions from the Moroccan Atlas Mountains - in the form of Berber carpets from the 1970s.