Sale: 500 / Evening Sale, July 17. 2020 in Munich Lot 214

 

214
Otto Dix
Fischerkneipe, 1922.
Mixed media. India ink, watercolor and color chalk
Estimate:
€ 50,000 / $ 54,000
Sold:
€ 60,000 / $ 64,800

(incl. surcharge)
Fischerkneipe. 1922.
Mixed media. India ink, watercolor and color chalk.
Pfäffle A 1922/156. Signed, dated and inscribed "187" in lower right. Titled "Kneipe" in lower left on verso. On wove paper. 37 x 48.5 cm (14.5 x 19 in), the full sheet.

• Rousing depiction of an erotically charged and sultry bar scene
• Only one other sheet in the artist's oeuvre resembles "Fischerkneipe" in terms of theme and style
• From the Collection Heinrich Stinnes, Cologne
.

We are grateful to Mr. Rainer Pfefferkorn for the kind support in cataloging this lot.

PROVENANCE: Collection Dr. Heinrich Stinnes, Cologne (verso with the stamp (Lugt 4437)).
Private collection, probably Mannheim (until at least 1973).
Private collection North Rhine-Westphalia (as of 1978).

EXHIBITION: Kronprinzenpalais, Berlin 1924
(solo show Otto Dix: watercolors and drawings).
Exhibition of Watercolors at Kölner Kunstverein in December 1924.

LITERATURE: Ketterer Kunst A 10, November 11 - 24, 1973, lot 322a
Lempertz, Cologne A 556, December 1976, lot 178 with illu. on plate 11
Lempertz, Cologne A 568, December 1978 lot 194.

Apart from the atrocities of war and themes such as battle, death, injury and mortality, Dix was increasingly occupied with the depiction of human abysses in his generation in the post-war period – just as it is the case in this work which is characterized by his typical strong veristic Realism. Dix became a critical chronicler of a distressed society after World War I and hence declared the morally alarming aspects of human existence and the omnipresent financial dire straits and lack of prospects worthy motifs. Entirely free from any educational undertone, Dix created both remarkable visual contemporary documents, and art-historically relevant works characterized by a poised line and a brutally honest look at reality. In a unique combination of India ink, chalk and watercolor Otto Dix created a visually and haptically perceptible depiction of this tavern scene. [EH]



214
Otto Dix
Fischerkneipe, 1922.
Mixed media. India ink, watercolor and color chalk
Estimate:
€ 50,000 / $ 54,000
Sold:
€ 60,000 / $ 64,800

(incl. surcharge)