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KARL SCHMIDT-ROTTLUFF 1884-1976

Rottluff, Germany 1884 – 1976 Berlin (German)

Title: Landscape with Sun I Landschaft mit Sonne, 1915

Technique: Original Hand Signed Drypoint on Etching Board

Paper size: 33.6 x 42.8 cm. / 13.2 x 16.9 in.

Image size: 18.9 x 22.7 cm. / 7.4 x 10.9 in.

Additional Information: This original drypoint is hand signed in pencil by the artist “S. Rottluff” at the lower right margin. It is also dated by the artist “1915” in pencil at the lower right margin. It is also inscribed with the work number “156” at the centre of the lower margin.

Note: This is an extremely rare drypoint, with only one other impression coming to the open market in recent years, Provenance: The Collection of Wilhelm Niemeyer

Note: The art historian and poet Wilhelm Niemeyer (1874-1960) built one of the finest and most comprehensive collection of works by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff ever assembled, including paintings, prints and decorative art objects. A visitor to Niemeyer’s flat in Hartwicusstrasse in Hamburg later described what he had seen: ‘Who ever entered the flat […] had the chance to experience the power of images. A dark corridor led into a suite of three large, elegantly furnished rooms. On the walls painted in light-grey, perl-grey and dark green glowed the most beautiful early Schmidt-Rottluff’s ever to be united in a private collection.’ (Wietek, Schmidt-Rottluff in Hamburg und Schleswig-Holstein, p. 14 ff.) This collection also included the complete graphic works of Schmidt-Rottluff from 1906 to 1921.

Wilhelm Niemeyer along with Rosa Schapire worked closely with Karl Schmid-Rottluff to further the merits of German Expressionism through both graphic and literary works. This was manifest in the foundation of Die Kündung at the Art Federation of Hamburg (Kunstbund Hamburg). This impression was formerly in the Collection of Wilhelm Niemeyer and is in magnificent condition considering the age of the work and the type of etching card used. It was produced six years before the inaugural edition of Die Kündung. Niemeyer’s collection was not simply amassed – it was the result of a ten-year relationship between the artist and the collector. Each purchase was preceded by long and penetrating conversations between two intelligent and intense personalities.

The collection concludes with work from 1921, a year that saw the closest collaboration between artist and collector. Schmidt-Rottluff worked on the design of the expressionist magazine Kündung, and painted a portrait of his patron (now in the Nationalgalerie, Berlin) which he also turned into a woodcut. But, tragically, Niemeyer rejected the portrait and the friendship ended abruptly and in bitterness.

Literature: Schapire, R. & Rathenau, E. (1987). Karl Schmidt-Rottluff: Das Graphische Werk Bis 1923. Berlin: Vormals Euphorion Verlag.

Reference: Schapire R. 16

Condition: Excellent condition.