There at last: On 29 September 2001 Ketterer Kunst invites to the first auction in the new Hamburg domicile at Meßberg 1. The new auction Moderne & Gegenwart (Modern and Contemporary Art) replaces the former sale modern art on paper and now includes works on paper as well as paintings and sculptures. This increased range will provide more variety and a more comprehensive programme.
One of the highlights of the auction is a bronze sculpture. Gerhard Marcks’ Schäferin (Shepherdess) is the fourth of seven casts and documents the artist’s new ideas concerning patina. Marcks wrote in 1953: Previously there was too much patina. But we do not want to be more marinated than Marini. The foundry Barth developed a new alloy and patina for Marcks’ work. The bronze is 63 cm high and has a golden patina. It is estimated at DM 30,000 - 40,000.
The catalogue cover is adorned with Erich Heckel’s Bildnis Otto Mueller (Portrait of Otto Mueller) from 1933. The Brücke artist’s companion is portrayed in his favourite graphic technique which he himself developed to extreme mastery. The lithograph on Japan paper with complete edges is signed by both artists and estimated at DM 7,000 - 8,000.
A portfolio with 10 engravings by Max Klinger is from the collection of Heinrich Stinnes. The Opus VI, Ein Handschuh (A Glove) was made in 1878/1881 after the artist found a glove on a roller-skating rink. He designed the portfolio by using a pictorial strategy which could be referred to as a dream-analogue method. The prints are estimated at DM 18,000 – 20,000.
Alfred Kubin’s Kuss (Kiss) is also expected to cause quite a stir in the room. The ink drawing of 1903 is probably a reaction to the sudden death of the artist’s fiancé Emmy Bayer. The profound work on hand-made paper is estimated at DM 12,000 - 15,000.
Slightly higher is the estimate for a work by Gottfried Helnwein which was made around 1982 and is expected to fetch DM 18,000 – 20,000. One year earlier the artist began with a series about Helden (Heros) of today, which include the extraterrestrial E.T. from Steven Spielberg’s film. With his smoking E.T. Helnwein defies art by making a mass-media fantasy figure, the hero of countless children, into an object worthy of depiction.
Completely detached is Georges Braque’s Grand oiseau bleu floating in the sky. The colour lithograph is estimated at DM 14,000 - 16,000.
Estimated only slightly lower at DM 13,000 - 15,000 is Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s Green Power. The Austrian artist made the screens for this screen print of 1972 on board of Regentag in Venice.
The nearly 1000 lots offered at the auction include works by Otto Dix, Ida Kerkovius, Max Pechstein, Christian Rohlfs and many others.
A preview of all the works in the auction will be possible in Munich on 12 - 14 September from 11:00 - 17:00 in Ketterer Kunst’s new rooms in Prinzregentenstraße 61. Then the works will be taken to Hamburg, where they can be previewed on 21 September from 11:00 - 17:00, on 22 September from 11:00 - 15:00 and from 24 - 27 September from 11:00 - 17:00 at Meßberghof 1. The auction catalogue can be acquired for DM 30 at Ketterer Kunst Hamburg by phoning +49-(0)40-30-374961-0.
Since its foundation in 1954 Ketterer Kunst has established itself as one of the most important art and book auction houses. The leading role is played by the headquarters in the Munich Prinz-Alfons-Palais with two annual auctions of XXth Century Classics & Munich School, while the sale Moderne & Gegenwart (Modern and Contemporary Art), concentrating exclusively on modern art, takes place in the Hamburg Meßberghof four times a year. These sales are complemented by sales of Rare Books and autographs (two auctions per year), Old and New Masters (two auctions per year) as well as Maritime Art (two auctions per year, which all take place in Hamburg. In 1997 Ketterer Kunst also entered the Berlin art market with its auction of Contemporary Art after 1945, the Perspective. Ketterer Kunst is thus the only auction house offering its customers 13 auctions per year at three locations in Germany.
IMAGE:
Georges Braques
Grand oiseau bleu
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