Sale: 436 / Modern Art I, Dec. 10. 2016 in Munich Lot 258

 

258
El Lissitzky
Proun 5A, 1919.
Lithograph
Estimate:
€ 18,000 / $ 19,440
Sold:
€ 25,000 / $ 27,000

(incl. surcharge)
Proun 5A. 1919.
Lithograph, colored.
Signed on backing board. On simple smooth wove paper. 27.4 x 26.5 cm (10.7 x 10.4 in). Sheet: 28 x 27,1 cm (11 x 10,6 in).
The uncolored lithograph "Proun 5A" was released in the famous 1st Kestner portfolio, the so-called "Proun-portfolio", in 1921. One of the 6 known copies of this portfolio is in possession of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
The red coloring resembles the reversed image of El Lissitzky's painting "Proun 5A", which is in possession of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (inventory no. 650 (1977.103)).
Our sheet is a colored unique object.
This unique object has never been offered on the international auction market before.
Even the impression in black and white have only been offered twice
.

PROVENANCE: Fischer Fine Art, London.
Isselbacher Gallery, New York.
Helen Serger, Gallery La Boetie Inc., New York.
Private collection USA (acquired from aforementioned in 1987).

LITERATURE: El Lissitzky 1890-1941, Sprengel Museum, Hanover 24 January - 10 April 1988, cat. no. 37j, illu. 73 (different, uncolored copy).

"Proun" is a Russian acronym for "Project for the assertion of the new". El Lissitzky, whose thinking was three-dimensional owed to his profession as an architect, pursued the suprematist three-dimensional representation in his Proun works. Such a representation always was the result of a process in which abstract geometric forms describe their spatial relations. The interplay of painting and architecture is expressed through aspects of statics, volume, surface and line. El Lissitzky introduced a perspective into the aesthetics of art that was new and innovative. Today's digital technologies allow a three-dimensional simulation of the Proun drafts, as shown in the exhibition"The Golden Age of the Russian Avant-Garde" curated by Peter Greenaway and Saskia Boddeke (Manege Museum, Moscow 15 April - 26 May 2014. See: www.homage-to-el-lissitzky.com/proun-5a). The lithograph by El Lissitzky was released as part of the famous "Proun" portfolio, published by the Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover. Our sheet was additionally colored with black and red. The red coloring is the same as in the painting of the same name in possession of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. [EH]



258
El Lissitzky
Proun 5A, 1919.
Lithograph
Estimate:
€ 18,000 / $ 19,440
Sold:
€ 25,000 / $ 27,000

(incl. surcharge)