Page 51 - Studio International - March 1966

Art Prices Current

• The Rarity of Kirchner by George Savage

• Those who scan the sale-room reports in the Times much-abused Utrillo, will often be the cause. Few by another exhibition organized by Rosenberg's
and the Daily Telegraph will be familiar with the kind dealers are very happy about a painting which comes Kampfbund für Deutsche Kultur, when modern
of prices generally realized for the more important on to the market out of the blue without a previous figurative art was displayed alongside photographs of
works of fashionable modern masters. Minor works, history. When poor quality is added to an absence of clinical monstrosities. The lesson, however, was lost
however, rarely find their way into these lists, and the supporting information the effect on price can be on Hermann Goering, who diverted some of the
general lack of description and absence of critical catastrophic. proscribed paintings to his own collection in defiance
comment does not help to assess the meaning of the
The rarity of the appearance of major works by some of the party line. Over five hundred of Kirchner's
prices quoted, although in these days one may safely artists makes it more than usually difficult to estimate paintings were expropriated, some were burned, and
guess that the trend has been upward. what price something of the kind is likely to fetch. some were sold for the Nazi Government by auction in
Upward movements by themselves, however, do not This is the case with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880- 1939 by Theodor Fischer of Lucerne.
mean very much. Often they are no more than a 1938), and the prices which follow are for lesser Outstanding among the German artists represented
• reflection of the devaluation of money, and constant works in various media—paintings, drawings, and in this sale were Marc, Nolde, Klee, Hofer, Kokoschka,
revisions in an upward direction are taking place in graphic art—offered for sale in Switzerland in 1963. Beckmann, Pechstein, Kirchner, Grosz, Schmidt-
almost every field of human activity for this reason They are, therefore, somewhat lower than one might Rotluff, Heckel, Modersohn, Macke, Corinth, Lieber-
• alone. To judge whether price increases are a sign of a expect to be asked for comparable works today. mann, Feininger, Lehmbruck, and Barlach—work
genuinely greater interest in the work of a particular Born in Aschaffenburg, Kirchner studied architecture which has been much sought in Germany since the
man we need first to know what a painting realized at at the Dresden Technical High School. After a short ending of the war.
a previous sale (or the result of the sale of something
period in Munich he returned to Dresden in 1905 as a Nazi venom was especially directed against the
closely comparable) and then to be able to determine founder-member of the influential Brücke group which Brücke group, the Blaue Reiter artists, and the
the relationship of the increase to price-movements also included Schmidt-Rotluff, Heckel, and Bleyl. He Expressionists. Both Kirchner and Kokoschka were
for the work of other artists. This is principally why the went to Berlin in 1911 where he became one of the on the Nazi Black List, with every prospect of an
market for paintings is so difficult to assess. Unlike the foremost of the Expressionists. It was in Berlin that unpleasant end if they crossed the frontier. That these
• market for porcelain or silver, where virtually identical he painted his characteristic pictures of city life, which attacks, and the destruction of his work, had a pro-
objects exist, comparison is rarely easy and in many are rarer than one might suppose. found effect on Kirchner can hardly be doubted, and
cases virtually impossible. Service in the Kaiser's war brought a breakdown in they certainly contributed to his death—he committed
• Prices which seem lower than average are nearly health which compelled Kirchner to go to a Swiss suicide in an alpine hut in 1938.
always the result of poor quality, an unpopular subject, sanatorium. Here he devoted himself largely to More than any other member of the original Brücke
an awkward size, or (if the price is especially low) a landscape. group, Kirchner adhered strongly to the principles of
• lack of confidence in the attribution. This does not Twenty-five of his paintings were included in the Expressionism throughout his life. He also destroyed
necessarily mean that the consensus of informed notorious Munich Exhibition of Degenerate Art in a good deal of his own work, and what remains must
• opinion considers a work to be a forgery. Absence of 1937, which was later shown in Berlin and elsewhere now be what he considered most representative of
documentation, especially in such cases as that of the in Germany. This had been preceded as early as 1929 his talent.

Many of the following paintings came from the artist's Kleine Berglandschaft (Davos) Baume und Busche am Strand 1912
DM 3500 (£311)
studio after his death. (A small mountain landscape) 1917-18 11 3/8 x 16 1/8, in.
9 7/8 x 10 5/8 in. Water-colour. DM 4500 (£400) Woodcut. Fine impression, signed.
Liegende Frau (Reclining woman)
11 7/8 x 13 3/8 in. DM 1200 (£107) Dorf im Taunus 1916 Siesta 1911-12
An early charcoal drawing of 1902. 14 7/8 x 12 5/8 in. DM 7000 (£622) 14 3/8 x 18 5/8 in. DM 2000 (£178)
Water-colour. Dorf, in the Taunus mountains, where Fine example, rare.
Sitzende Frau mit Hut (Seated woman with hat) Kirchner went to recover from an illness.
16 3/8 x 13 3/8 in. DM 1600 (£142) Kokotten bei Nacht
Charcoal drawing of about 1907. Partie aus Konigstein im Taunus 1916-17 (Prostitutes in the night) 1914-15
14 3/8 x 21 5/8 in. DM 8000 (£711) 19 3/8 x 12 5/8 in. DM 1500 (£133)
Baume am Strand (Fehmarn) (Trees on the shore) View of part of the town of Konigstein in the Taunus Artist's proof, signed. Very rare.
1912 10 3/8 x 12 7/8 in. DM 5500 (£489) mountains. Water-colour.
The Baltic Island of Fehmarn where Kirchner spent Ins Meer Steigende Mann
much of his time immediately before 1914. Stilleben mit Fruchtschale und Katze (Man entering the sea) 1913-14
(Still-life with fruit bowl and cat) 1926 25 5/8 x 20 7/8 in. DM 10500 (£933)
Badende zwischer Steinen (Fehmarn) 13 7/8 x 19 5/8 in. Coloured chalks. DM 3000 (£267) Colour lithograph. Very fine example, extremely rare.
(A bather between two rocks) 1912
13 3/8 x 16 7/8 in. DM 6000 (£537) Self-portrait in profile 1923 Stilleben (Still-life) 1910
Water-colour and pencil. 12 3/8 x 10 1/8 in. Pen drawing. DM 2300 (£205) 14 x 13 1/2 in. $550 (£198)
One of ten impressions. Artist's proof. Extremely rare.
Badende Mädchen mit Hutern am Fehmarnstrand Bahnhof mit Eisenbahn, Davos (Parke-Bernet, New York).
(Bathing girls with hats on beach) 1912 (Davos railway station) 1925-26
23 3/8 x 18 3/8 in. Pencil drawing. DM 2500 (£222) 20 7/8 x 19 5/8 in. DM 5500 (£489) All these prints are recorded by Schiefler, a friend of
Coloured chalk drawing and some painting (mixed the artist who catalogued them during Kirchner's
Sitzender Ruckenakt mit Band im Haar technique). lifetime.
(Seated nude with a band in her hair) 1912
13 3/8 x 14 3/8 in. Pen drawing. DM 1800 (£160) Kind mit Blumen (Child with flowers) 1923 The two following prices were recorded about the
19 5/8 x 13 3/8 in. DM 8500 (£756) same time as the remainder in the auction-room of
Portrait of Gerda Schilling Water-colour, signed. Ernst Hauswedell in Hamburg:
(Sister to Frau Kirchner) 1913
20 5/8 x 15 3/8 in. Pen drawing. DM 3000 (£267)
The Brücke group, particularly Kirchner, helped to Frauenakt auf violettem grund
Fehmarnküste mit gelben Akt revive interest in the woodcut especially, and some (Nude woman against a violet ground)
DM 6000 (£537)
(Fehmarn coast with a yellow nude) 1913 prices for Kirchner's graphic art follow: Water-colour and chalk.
17 7/8 x 23 3/8 in. DM 7500 (£667)
DM 3600 (£323)
A fine water-colour of 1913, signed. Die Geliebte (The Beloved) 1915-16 People in a village
17 3/8 x 11 5/8 in. DM 5000 (£444) Water-colour of 1926-9, signed.
Mädchen im Raum (Girl in a room) 1913 Colour woodcut, a seated nude. Proof, from the Except where otherwise stated all prices are those
17 3/8 x 11 5/8 in. Water-colour. DM 7500 (£667) artist's studio. asked by R. N. Ketteret, Campione bei Lugano, 1963.
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