SOTHEBY'S ANNOUNCES SALE OF THE BECK COLLECTION
GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART
Zwei Frauen vor dem Hutladen by August Macke
--- A remarkable and unknown collection of German Expressionist and
Modern Art The most comprehensive collection of 20th century German art
ever to come on the market acquired by two generations of one family --SOTHEBY'S is proud to announce the sale of The Beck Collection of
German Expressionist and Modern Art to be held at Sotheby's in London on
October 8 and 9, 2002. Estimated to make in excess of £13.5 million ($20
million), the collection comprises major German and Austrian paintings by
artists ranging from August Macke, Wassily Kandinsky and Alexej von
Jawlensky to Willi Baumeister, Oskar Schlemmer and Ernest Wilhelm Nay. It
also includes hundreds of drawings, watercolours and prints by artists such
as Alfred Kubin, Käthe Kollwitz, Paul Klee, Max Beckmann and Max
Pechstein, plus a comprehensive group of works by the Stuttgart artist Adolf
Hölzel.
The Beck Collection was amassed by two generations of the Beck family
who were based in Stuttgart and ran a successful business specializing in
heating systems. Paul Beck (1887-1949) built up the business without any
formal training and through its financial success, he was able to start buying
works of art at the start of the 20th century. From an early age he was
passionate about literature and art and a defining moment came when he
met the Karlsruher painter, Hans Thoma. He also met with a number of artists
in their studios and was able to buy works directly from them or their families,
following their deaths. He developed close friendships with many artists such
as Käthe Kollwitz, Willi Baumeister and Oskar Schlemmer. On one occasion
in exchange for installing central heating for the heirs of Adolf Hölzel, he
received a large part of the artist's estate.
Paul Beck opposed the Nazi regime and was a staunch supporter of many of
the modern artists whose work was banned under the regime and labelled
"degenerate", such as Kandinsky and Schlemmer. Many of his key
acquisitions date from this period.
His son Dr Helmut Beck (1919-2001) originally a doctor and then a
successful businessman systematically added to the existing collection with
new acquisitions of Expressionist art. In addition he developed the collection
by exploring the abstract component of Expressionism, its late 19th century
roots and also African Tribal art. Among others he built up an extensive group
of works by Kandinsky, Baumeister, Nay and Kubin and his collection
extends towards works from the early 1950s.
Like his father, Helmut Beck developed close friendships with artists. An
example of this is when he was in Paris and met regularly with Kandinsky and
his wife Nina, from whom he acquired the majority of the works in the
collection. Furthermore many of the contemporary art historians frequented
his house, such as Will Grohmann, Werner Hoftmann and Kurt Leonhard.
Helmut Beck also built up an important collection of Illuminated Manuscripts
which Sotheby's sold in June 1997 for £11,158,415, at the time a record
price for a collection of manuscripts at auction.
The collection is almost entirely unknown to the international public as it has
never been the subject of a major exhibition. Divided now between seven
heirs, the dispersal of the collection at auction was an inevitability.
Helena Newman, Senior Director and Head of the Impressionist and Modern
Art Department in Sotheby's London said: "The collection provides a
revelatory insight into art in Germany in the first half of the 20th century. It is
unique because of the extraordinary range of works; it includes major
paintings by internationally renowned artists such as August Macke, Alexej
von Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky, Max Beckmann and Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner, but also rare, high-quality works by artists who are yet to enjoy
widespread international acclaim, such as the Stuttgart artist, Adolf Hölzel,
who influenced Nolde and Kandinsky. Interest in German and Austrian 20th
century art is at an all-time high, as witnessed at Sotheby's in London in June
when Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Akte in der Sonne, Moritzburg, sold for a
record price of £3,526,650. The appearance of this major totally fresh
collection at auction will cause a sensation among international collectors."
The evening sale includes approximately 40 highlights of the collection. Of
particular importance are three exceptional works by the Blauer Reiter artist,
August Macke (1887-1914). Zwei Frauen vor dem Hutladen (Two Women in
Front of the Hat Shop) of 1913, is one of the most accomplished and
complete paintings from Macke's celebrated series of Schaufenster (Window
Display) executed between 1912 and 1914. It was whilst he was living in
Switzerland in 1913 that he developed a fascination for ladies looking into
the windows of boutiques and milliners. This painting is one of a number of
works on this theme and is estimated at £1,500,000-2,000,000. Other
celebrated paintings from this series are in the Westfälisches Landesmusem
für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster and in the Karl-Ernst-OsthausMuseum, Hagen.
A second painting by Macke is Sonnenuntergang nach dem regen (Leute im
Park) (Sunset After the Rain - Figures in the Park) which belongs to the
artist's last major series of paintings, executed in the summer of 1914, shortly
before his untimely death in September of that year. These works are
characterised by a remarkable artistic maturity and confidence, and above all
by their extraordinary effects of light and colour. The use of bright, radiant
tones and their application in wide, spontaneous brush strokes show
Macke's debt to the Fauve painters. It is estimated at £1,000,000-1,500,000.
The sale also includes a further important painting by August Macke, the
landscape, Waldspaziergang (Forest Walk), from 1914 which reflects his
modern, cubo-futurist style. It is estimated at £1,500,000-2,000,000.
Among the works by Alexej von Jawlensky (1864-1941) is Halbakt (HalfNude), painted in 1912 at the time when the artist produced some of his
strongest and most expressive portraits. This painting draws on a rich
tradition of modernist painting, including the art of, among others, Van Gogh,
Matisse and Van Dongen. It is estimated at £900,000-1,200,000. Another
strong expressionist portrait by Jawlensky, Blauer Schal (Blue Shawl), from
1912 is estimated at £800,000-1,200,000.
Wassily Kandinsky's (1866-1944) Schwarzes Dreieck (Black Triangle) of
1923 is one of the most important watercolours that the artist executed in the
mid-1920s, during the height of the artist's Bauhaus period. It is expected to
fetch £500,000-700,000.
The sale includes 24 works by the leading post-war abstract artist, Willi
Baumeister (1889-1955) and also Ernst Wilhelm Nay (1902-68). One of the
highlights to be sold in the evening sale is Eidos VII, the last of the seven
most important panels and canvases which form the core of the Eidos series,
the final group of paintings which the artist embarked upon before war broke
out in Europe in 1939. It is estimated at £200,000-300,000.
Volumes II, III and IV of the Beck Collection will be sold the following day. Part
II will feature further paintings, drawings and sculpture by German and
Austrian-based artists such as Erich Heckel, Carl Hofer, Wassily, Kandinsky,
Käthe Kollwitz, Gerhard Marcks and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. One of the
highlights is a group of 24 drawings and watercolours by the Austrian artist
Alfred Kubin, 1877-1959. Das Seegespenst (The Sea Monster), executed
circa 1902-03 is a wonderful example of the artist's profound magical
Symbolism and the exploration into his personal, mystic fantasy world. It is
estimated at £25,000-35,000.
Volume III will consist of the works of the important Stuttgart artist Adolf Hölzel
and his circle. Of particular importance is a group of approximately 40 works
by Hölzel, including his largest format abstract pastels and two of the early
abstract "ornaments" from 1898, which were trail-blazing icons for abstract
art. The effects of Hölzel's teaching are reflected in the works of his pupils
such as Willi Baumeister, Oskar Schlemmer, Otto Meyer-Amden and Ida
Kerkovius, which are included in the sale. Estimates range from £800 to
£40,000.
Volume IV, the German Expressionist and Modern Prints includes
approximately 250 lots. Among the highlights is a major portfolio by Max
Beckmann, Die Hölle (The Hell), from 1911 comprising 11 lithographs
estimated at £150,000-200,000; Paul Klee's haunting etching Drohendes
Haupt from 1905, a superb impression of this very rare early print estimated
at £60,000-80,000 and Emil Nolde's woodcut, Mann und Weibchen (Man and
Woman) from 1912, an extremely rare woodcut estimated £12,000-15,000.
The Beck Collection will be offered for sale in London during the same week
as Sotheby's major sale of German and Austrian Art.
TRAVELLING EXHIBITION
Zurich - last week of August
Frankfurt - September 2-3
Hamburg - September 5-6
Berlin - September 9-10
Cologne - September 12-13
Munich - September 16-17
Vienna - September 19-21
New York - week of September 23
For further information and images,
please contact
Helen Griffith, Sotheby's Press Office,
London
Tel: *44 20 7293 6000 or Selei
Nassery, Sotheby's Press Office,
Germany
Tel: *49 69 740780
Halbakt by Alexej von Jawlensky