Press releases 2016

With a spectacular 34 Million Euros Grisebach achieved its highest total sales in its thirty year history in four days – and across Germany since 1945.

In the auction “Selected Works” alone, artworks sold for a total of EUR 21.6 Million.

At the top stands Lyonel Feininger’s “Gelbe Gasse” from 1932. After a bidding war between the bidders in the room and on the telephones the price climbed from a low estimate of EUR 1,000,000 to EUR 3,535,000, finally awarded to a bidder from Switzerland. This was followed by Max Beckmann’s “Stilleben mit brennender Kerze”. After intense bidding and from a low estimate of EUR 700,000 it was eventually sold for EUR 2,950,000 to an American private collection. These two are the most expensive works of art sold in Germany so far this year.

In addition, there were three important paintings by Emil Nolde sold to various German collections. Two still lifes of flowers for EUR 985,000 sold respectively to German private collections and one spectacular ocean image of Nolde’s for EUR 1,225,000 to a collector from Northern Germany.

The current auction cycle also included the thus far most successful sale of “Contemporary Art”. At the very top stand a Joseph Beuys portrait by Andy Warhol, which sold for EUR 1,153,000; it was purchased by a collector in Hongkong. Sales totals, including contemporary prints, came to EUR 5.9 Million.

Bernd Schultz, founder of Grisebach, summarized: “Our anniversary auction could not have gone better. We are pleased that so many exceptional works of art were entrusted to us – and that the market is also prepared to pay remarkable prices for them, also in Germany. “

Micaela Kapitzky

All results inclusive of buyer’s premium

Auction No. 263
on November 30, 2016, 06:00 PM

About 200 photographs will be offered at Grisebach’s Modern and Contemporary Photography Auction on Wednesday, November 30.

Three vintage contacts documenting Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s legendary skyscraper projects come to auction from a French private collection. Mies’s 1921/1922 designs for the “Wabe” on Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse and the “Glass Skyscraper” (1922) are considered milestones in the history of architecture. Commissioned by Mies, Curt Rehbein made the prints, which are among the few pieces of contemporary evidence of the designs that have survived. They all bear the stamp of Atelier Mies van der Rohe on the reverse. In the photograph of the three-dimensional model of the “Glass Skyscraper” (estimate € 15,000/25,000) the interior of the radically new architectural construction is displayed in an impressive way. Two vintages of the “Wabe” project show a famous photomontage, the original of which is lost, and, seemingly, a draft for the charcoal drawing by Mies in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (each € 10,000/20,000).

In a rare pigment print of circa 1925 Czech photographer Frantisek Drtikol combines a female nude and a still life. The ingenious composition is testimony to Drtikol’s special approach between traditional and modern forms of artistic expression (€ 40,000/50,000). Only a few years later in his well-known “Bäumchen” (1929) Albert Renger-Patzsch created a masterwork of photographic precision and a highly artistic landscape composition. The print offered is an especially well-preserved vintage from the collection of Josef Dickerhoff (€ 20,000/30,000). The Modern Photography section includes furthermore the portfolio “Erste Landung/New York” with shots made by the artist George Grosz on his arrival by ship in New York in 1932. The prints were produced in 1977 by Gerd Sander after the original photographs (€ 10,000/15,000). Other important works in the section are by David Bailey, Erwin Blumenfeld, Elliott Erwitt, Andreas Feininger, Rudolf Koppitz, Heinrich Kühn, Helmar Lerski, Tata Ronkholz, Otto Steinert, among others.

More works, eleven intense images of landscapes and trees (1940s–1960s), by Albert Renger-Patzsch will be on offer from the collection of Adalbert and Thilda Colsman (from € 2,000/3,000 until € 3,000/4,000). They can be viewed in a special presentation in our galleries at Fasanenstrasse 25 until late November.

In the Contemporary Photography section William Wegman’s box “Letters, Numbers, Punctuation” stands out. In their known surreal way Wegman’s Weimaraners enact the letters of the alphabet, numbers and punctuation marks as “tableaux vivants” (€ 20,000/30,000). Further highlights are Elger Esser’s panoramic print, “Lyon II” (€ 12,000/15,000), Gunter Sachs’s “Ascot” (€ 20,000/30,000) or Steven Klein’s staged photograph of the actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in “Case Study #30” (€ 12,000/15,000). Other important works on offer are by Nobuyoshi Araki, Peter Beard, Helmut Newton, Walter Niedermayr, Jörg Sasse, Reinhart Wolf, Tom Wood, among others.

Franziska Schmidt

T 030 885915 27
franziska.schmidt@grisebach.com

Paintings by Emil Nolde, Otto Mueller and Adolph Menzel, with a result of more than one million euros each, were the highpoints of Grisebach’s spring auctions in Berlin. Of the three Emil Nolde’s “Weiße Wolken” of 1926 leads the auctions with a result of EUR 1.5 million* (estimate EUR 1.2-1.5 million). The painting came from the important collection of German Expressionist art assembled by Adalbert and Thilda Colsman. Presented in its own catalogue, the Colsman collection sold almost completely. Shortly afterwards EUR 1.225 million were achieved for Otto Mueller’s “Zwei Mädchen mit gegabeltem Baum” of 1916. The buyer was a Scandinavian museum. The two sales confirmed impressively Grisebach’s leadership in modern German art auctions. Another notable result in this category were EUR 325,000 (estimate EUR 180,000-240,000), paid by a German private collector after fierce bidding against German and international museums, for the iconic portrait of a gentleman, painted in 1921 by the Cologne artist Anton Räderscheidt —an international artist record.

Adolph Menzel’s pastel “Emilie in roter Bluse,” restituted to the heirs of Rudolf Mosse, sold for EUR 1.05 million, almost three times the estimate, to a Swiss private collector. Just before the auction Grisebach was fortunate to arrange the sale of Ludwig von Hofmann’s seminal painting, “Frühlingssturm,” to a private benefactor. The painting, another work from the Mosse collection, will be made available to the Mathildenhöhe Museum in Darmstadt. The “19th Century Art” auction achieved a total of EUR 3.1 million, almost doubling the median presale estimate.

Important collections that had been entrusted with Grisebach reaped the greatest success. Aside from the works from the Colsman, Mosse and Eugen Roth collections German post-war art from the Klütsch collection, mainly by concrete artists, sold outstandingly. With a median presale estimate of EUR 170,000 the collection achieved a total of more than EUR 460,000. The highest selling works were by Günther Uecker, Klaus Staudt and Adolf Luther. The leading lot in the very successful “Contemporary Art” auction was a late work by the Japanese painter Kazuo Shiraga. It sold for EUR 500,000 to a French private collector. A bricks-and-caviar painting by Georg Herold was the top-selling lot in the very successful suite of German art of the 1970s and 1980s. At an estimate of EUR 30,000 to 40,000 it brought EUR 87,000. The auction’s total was more than 3 million euros.

In four days and seven auctions 1,500 works of art sold for a total of 18.8 million. The median presale estimate was EUR 19.5 million.

This fall Grisebach will celebrate 30 years in business with a grand anniversary auction.

Micaela Kapitzky


* All results include buyer’s premium

In the spring auction of Modern and Contemporary Photography on Wednesday, June 1 “Negativ-Portrait Wera Meyer-Waldeck,” an extremely rare vintage print by Bauhaus photographer Gertrud Arndt, met increased interest and, after fierce bidding, sold to a private collector in Switzerland for the international artist record of EUR 52,500* (estimate EUR 10,000-15,000). Peter Beard’s portrait of pop artist Andy Warhol became the auction’s top-selling lot. It was bought by a German private collector for EUR 70,000* (estimate EUR 50,000–70,000). Peter Keetman’s unique “Konvolut für Bernd Lohse” sold to a British buyer for EUR 56,250* (estimate EUR 45,000-55,000).

High prices were also achieved for the large-format “Portrait A. Roters” by Thomas Ruff and for the light-modeled 1921 vintage “Sonnenblume” by Edward Steichen. Both sold to US collectors for EUR 31,250* (estimate EUR 25,000-30,000) and EUR 25,000* (estimate EUR 20,000–30,000), respectively. Two further works by Peter Beard, the oversize print “Large Tusker” and the small “Giraffes in Mirage” sold for EUR 23,750,* each, to German collectors (estimates EUR 20,000–30,000 / EUR 10,000-15,000). Hiroshi Sugimoto’s “Red Sea, Safaga” was bought by another German private collector for EUR 22,500* (estimate EUR 18,000-22,000 EUR).

Another auction record was achieved by two early works by Tata Ronkholz. The two “Trinkhallen” themed prints brought EUR 9,750 EUR* and EUR 9,375,* respectively, and went to a German buyer (estimate EUR 2,500-3,500, each).

The sale total was EUR 601,187.* The auction sold 84% by value.

FranziskaSchmidt

T 030 885915 27
franziska.schmidt@grisebach.com

* All results include buyer’s premium

We are pleased to announce that the heirs to Rudolf Mosse have agreed to let the painting "Frühlingssturm" by Ludwig von Hofmann return to the museum Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt. The masterpiece had been restituted to the heirs and was going to be sold at Grisebach in Berlin on June 1. Grisebach are pleased to have successfully arranged for the return of the painting after a German benefactor came forward offering his generous support. The benefactor has agreed to make the painting available to the museum as a permanent loan for an unlimited period of time. The collection of Rudolf Mosse, the great Berlin newspaper publisher and philanthropist of the 1910s and 1920s, was seized and sold in a forced auction in 1934. The work by Ludwig von Hofmann ended up in Darmstadt where it was on display as a seminal work of German Jugendstil for seven decades.

Eric Bartko, spokesperson for the Mosse heirs, comments: "We are pleased that this main work of German Jugendstil returns to the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt. The painting was of central importance to Rudolf Mosse — and it is of key importance for Darmstadt. We are grateful to Grisebach for waiving their right to present it for sale in an international auction and for arranging, together with the private benefactor, the return of the work to Darmstadt."

Micaela Kapitzky: "We are delighted to have found a way for this outstanding painting to remain accessible to the German public and thank the Mosse heirs for their cooperation and the benefactor for his generosity."

In its spring auctions on June 1-4 Grisebach is offering for sale 1,487 paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures and objects. The works in six categories are presented in eight catalogues: 19^th Century Art, Selected Works, Modern Art, Collection Adalbert and Thilda Colsman, Contemporary Art, Photography, ORANGERIE and Third Floor. The median pre-sale estimate of all the works and objects in the auctions is 19.5 million euros.

19^th Century Art

The 19^th Century Art department is pleased to present more than 130 lots, among these important works from the collections of Rudolf Mosse and Eugen Roth.

In 1934 the collection of Berlin newspaper publisher Rudolf Mosse was the first art collection to be sold in a forced auction. After intensive negotiations with museums in Germany and Switzerland three main works from the collection were restituted to the heirs of Rudolf Mosse who chose to entrust Grisebach with the sale.

They are important works of 19^th century German art: Adolph Menzel’s pastel, “Emilie in a Red Blouse” (estimate € 300,000-400,000), Wilhelm Leibl’s “Portrait of Appellationsrat Stenglein” (€ 120,000-150,000) and Ludwig von Hofmann’s “Spring Storm” (€ 200,000-300,000), one of the seminal paintings of German Art Nouveau (Jugendstil).

Eugen Roth (1895-1976) was not only a renowned German lyricist, famous above all for his “Humans (Ein Mensch)” poems. Throughout his life he was also an obsessive collector of 19^th century drawings, some of which lay untouched in his file cabinet for many years. Grisebach is pleased to offer a large group of important early German Romanticist drawings from the estate (estimates from € 1,000 to 30,000).

Selected Works, Modern Art and Collection Colsman

20 works from the Collection of Adalbert and Thilda Colsman are grouped in a separate catalogue. Works include Emil Nolde’s “Weiße Wolken” (€ 1,200,000–1,600,000) and Christian Rohlfs’s “Blaue Berge” (€ 120,000–150,000). Adalbert Colsman, a silk manufacturer, gained privileged access to the art of his time through his sister, Gertrud, and brother-in-law, Karl Ernst Osthaus, founders of the Folkwang Museum, the world’s first museum predominately devoted to contemporary art. Adalbert and his wife, Thilda, lived in close proximity to the Osthauses who were to shape their worldview. They were on friendly terms with Christian Rohlfs, Ewald Mataré, Otto Dix and other artists and shared a close friendship with Ada and Emil Nolde for more than 50 years. In difficult times and while he was officially banned from painting the Colsmans supported Nolde and his wife and helped protect the artist’s work by offering a safe storage place.

Other highlights in the modern art category include works by Otto Mueller, Lovis Corinth, George Grosz, Anton Räderscheidt and Konrad Klapheck.

 “Zwei Mädchen mit gegabeltem Baum” by Otto Mueller from circa 1916/17 was first exhibited at the Berlin Secession in 1917. A signature work by the artist, it comes with an estimate of € 1,000,000-1,500,000.

During his years in Munich, from 1891 until 1901, Lovis Corinth frequented the playwright Max Halbe whom he portrayed as well as other family members. The portrait of Berta Heck, the sister of Halbe’s wife’s, Luise, (€ 280,000-340,000) was executed during that time. Corinth combines in this painting a close-up view of the sitter with a panoramic view of the surrounding wide landscape.

In 1925 after extended travels George Grosz reported back to his friend, Mark Neven DuMont, that he was now busy working on “water colours.” One of these watercolours, “Drinnen und Draußen,“ which Grisebach is pleased to offer at an estimate of € 200,000–300,000, became a well-received work shortly after it was created. It was exhibited, among others, in shows at the Kunsthaus Zürich and, in 1930, at Galerie Flechtheim.

Anton Räderscheidt’s painting, “Junger Mann mit gelben Handschuhen,” of 1921 (€ 180,000–240,000) belongs to the artist’s most important work period. Through works like these Räderscheidt became one of the leading exponents of “Magic Realism” in Germany.

Eduardo Chillida, who created majestic monumental sculptures such as the “Wind Combs” at the cliff line of San Sebastián or the work “Berlin” for the German Federal Chancellery, was a master of the small scale, too. Proof is the fired clay sculpture, “Óxido 61,” of 1981, offered by Grisebach at an estimate of € 200,000–300,000.

Aside from the roughly 270 lots in the modern art category there is also Konrad Klapheck’s “Vergebliches Warten” (€ 90,000–120.000). The painting was first exhibited in 1966 in a monographic show at Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hanover, an important recognition awarded to an artist with only 11 years of practice. Klapheck’s paintings of everyday objects that he combines with human attributes have found international acclaim.

Contemporary Art

With an estimate of € 500,000–700,000 the leading lot in this category with 140 works is Kazuo Shiraga’s “KINKO. Colourful like autumn leaves.” As a body painter the Japanese artist compares to no one else. In his art of volcanic paint streams Shiraga unites the discipline of Zen painting with the gestural Informalism predominant in Western art in the post-war period.

A couple having intercourse is placed at the center of Sigmar Polke’s “Ohne Titel (Münster 1973).” The scene, rendered in a sparse line drawing, feels as static as the surrounding colour composition feels emotional. It appears as if Polke worked himself to the center of the action from the outside to the inside (estimate € 120,000–150,000).

The mastery of Neo Rauch’s painting is to leave the beholder in a state of complete uncertainty. In his “Garten im Sturm” (estimate € 100,000–150,000) a singularly archaic struggle of spheres over the prerogative of interpretation is displayed.

Dark moods, dreams, the unconscious, the abysmal, mysticism, legendary creatures, deathly pale skin – in his fascinating painting, “Die Schlaflosen” (€ 50,000–70,000), Martin Eder seems to reference elements of Dark Romanticism.

The Saarland entrepreneur Dietmar Klütsch began collecting art in the mid-1980s focusing on important examples of the concrete art and ZERO movements. Grisebach’s selection includes works by Günther Uecker, Adolf Luther, Klaus Staudt, Leo Erb, Hermann Bartels and Raimer Jochims. The Klütsch Collection was last celebrated in a comprehensive exhibition at Museum Haus Ludwig für Kunstausstellungen Saarlouis.

Isa Genzken’s “Weltempfänger“ of 2015 is a reference to an eventful year in the artist’s life: It was in 1982 that she participated in both, the Venice biennial and documenta in Kassel. It was also the year in which she positioned a generic radio set, a multi-band radio, on top of a pedestal and declared it a work of art. “Weltempfänger” (estimate: € 20,000–30,000) is a donation by the artist. The work will be sold to benefit Verein KINDerLEBEN - Verein zur Förderung der Klinik für krebskranke Kinder e.V.

Photography

In Grisebach’s photography auction alone 230 works of modern and contemporary photographs will be presented for sale.

Vintage prints are rare on the auction market by such artists as Gertrud Arndt, Edward Steichen, André Kertész and Iwao Yamawaki. Gertrud Arndt’s innovative 1930 “Negativ-Portrait Wera Meyer-Waldeck” where the artist utilized the negative copy technique is considered one of the “classics“ of Bauhaus photography (€ 10,000-15,000). While Edward Steichen’s 1921 study of a sunflower emanates the artist’s hallmark precision and focused lighting (€ 20,000-30,000), the Hungarian photographer André Kertész, on his forays into Paris, captured the unusual moments and chance encounters of daily life such as in his 1929 photograph of dismounted wooden carousel horses (€ 20,000-25,000). “Konvolut für Bernd Lohse” is a unique arrangement of main works by Peter Keetman, selected by the artist and presented as a gift to the picture editor and publisher, Bernd Lohse, in the 1970s (€ 45,000-55,000). Other vintages offered in the auction include works by Erwin Blumenfeld, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Tata Ronkholz, Otto Steinert, Josef Sudek and Fred Zinnemann, among others.

A group of rare photographs by the Japanese architect and photographer Iwao Yamawaki, who studied at the Bauhaus from 1930 to 1932, originally comes from the collection of Tom Jacobson. The photographs of mainly modern architecture were shot during those years (estimates from € 3,000 until € 5.000)

Among the highlights of the contemporary photography auction are four works by Peter Beard, one is a portrait of Andy Warhol with unique additions (€ 50.000-70.000), another one an over-size print of the “Large Tusker” (€ 20.000-30.000). Other top lots are two Diasec works by Thomas Ruff (€ 22.000-28.000 / 25.000-30.000), the portfolio “Aktion in einem Kreis” by Günter Brus (€ 6.000-8.000) as well as works by Robert Mapplethorpe, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Deborah Turbeville.

ORANGERIE Selected Objects

The “ORANGERIE Selected Objects” catalogue presents, in the manner of magazine features, the fine and decorative arts in a cross over style. Essays were contributed by Gesine Schwan, Margit J. Mayer, Simon Strauss and Wolfgang Uchatius, who each describe one of the objects’ “conversational qualities.” Among the just short of 90 lots are objects from the estate of the composer, Hanns Eisler (1898–1962). On behalf of the heirs Grisebach is pleased to offer personal gifts by his artist friends, such as Gustav Seitz and Fritz Cremer, which include a portrait bust of Eisler’s best friend, Bertolt Brecht. The composer’s death mask and grand piano combineart and cultural history.

The ORANGERIE’S leading lots are a writing cabinet by Hendrik van Soest (circa 1700, estimate € 100.000-120.000) and a cylinder bureau by Abraham Roentgen (circa 1770, estimate € 50.000-70.000). One shimmers in a luminous red tortoise shell, the other in the translucent noblesse of mahogany. These are furniture pieces from the leading cabinetmakers of their time and standing, synonymously, for quality, innovation and utmost luxury.            

Grisebach’s ORANGERIE presents extraordinary objects with the intent of opening new ways of appreciation for the decorative arts. The mix of works is meant to inspire: A painted Kunstkammer piece by Daniel Fröschel is juxtaposed to trompe l’oeils of Italian faience ware and proto types of Ron Arad’s design classics. The rediscovery of Reinhold Begas’ “Wrestler” sculpture is highlighted with the same devotion as the woven hashish visions from the Moroccan Atlas mountains that were given form in a group of Berber carpets of the 1970s.

The art collection of the Berlin newspaper magnate Rudolf Mosse (1843-1920) was the very first one to be sold off at forced auction by the Nazis in 1934.  After intensive negotiations, a decision was reached to return three main works of the collection held by German and Swiss museums to the heirs of Rudolf Mosse.  These works are scheduled to be offered at auction on June 1^st, 2016, at the Berlin auction house Grisebach.  All three are significant paintings from the 19^th century: Adolph Menzel’s pastel “Emilie Menzel, die Schwester des Künstlers, in roter Bluse“ (Emilie Menzel, the Artist’s Sister, Wearing a Red Blouse) (estimated price: € 300,000 – € 400,000), Wilhelm Leibl’s “Bildnis des Appellationsrates Stenglein” (Portrait of the Appellate Judge Stenglein) (€ 120,000 – € 150,000), and Ludwig von Hofmann’s “Frühlingssturm” (Spring Storm) (€ 200,000 – € 300,000), one of the key works of the German Art Nouveau movement, the Jugendstil.  

Eric Bartko, spokesman for the Mosse Art Restitution Project commented, “It is very clear that the Berlin of today is a cosmopolitan, politically progressive capital to a socially and politically progressive nation such as Rudolf Mosse and Theodor Wolff actively lobbied for in the pages of the Berliner Tageblatt.  Berlin today is not the capital it was under the National Socialists, and the socially and politically progressive positions that it represents in Europe today reflect the socially and politically progressive positions the Mosse heirs continue to hold.  This is why it is also important to us that, before then being sold at auction, these three works from the collection of Rudolf Mosse will once again be shown in the same city in which they were kept on public view for many decades.”

In recent years, Grisebach has already built up a track record of successfully auctioning off valuable works of art that had been returned to the collections of Alfred Sommerguth, Max Liebermann, and Hermann Pächter, or that were being offered for sale with the express consent of their former owners.  Grisebach’s managing director Micaela Kapitzky on this new opportunity, “We are very pleased that the heirs of Rudolf Mosse have entrusted us with the task of preparing these important works for public sale following their restitution.  We are well aware of our special responsibility in this context.

As part of the Photo Weekend Düsseldorf, Grisebach will host a double exhibition in its Düsseldorf showroom. On show will be works by Michael Wolf from his highly regarded series Tokyo Compression as well as a selection of works by Seiichi Furuya, who documented the former GDR, East Germany, a few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The location of the exhibition was chosen with intent, as, due to a large expat community, Japanese culture is lived more authentically in Düsseldorf than in any other German city.

With In and / or out, Grisebach aims at uniting two opposing perspectives: The German photographer Michael Wolf, who moved to Hong Kong in 1994, has documented and continues to explore the individual’s existence in Asian metropoles. His impressive series Tokyo Compression examines people coping with the daily problems of commuting, often at the verge of exhaustion.

The Japanese photographer Seiichi Furuya, who moved to East Germany in 1984 as an interpreter, documented the slowly declining GDR from a radically personal point of view, capturing the population’s situation in his images.

In this exhibition, Grisebach presents a juxtaposition of urban life from two unique perspectives.

Daniel von Schacky
T +49 211 8629 2199
daniel.schacky@grisebach.com

Exhibition
13 February–1 April 2016
Bilker Strasse 4–6, 40213 Düsseldorf
Opening: Friday, 12 February 2016, 6 pm–9 pm
Opening hours: Mo–Fr, 10 am–6 pm