Lot 532 Dα

Mosaic 97 x 197 x 4 cm, framed with metal bars. Unsigned. - Good original condition. With few inconspicuous blemishes and occasional tiny losses of colour to the gilding on few stones.

With a photo-certificate from Christiane Heiser, Cologne, dated 11 October 2013

Provenance
Former collection Dr. Gustav Stein, Honrath; private possession, Rhineland

In 1923, Thorn-Prikker was named professor of monumental art at the academy of arts in Düsseldorf. Here he was able to fulfil a long-term wish of his, to have his own glass painting and mosaic studio. In 1926, the artist moved to Cologne at the invitation of Richard Riemerschmid, where he became head of the newly established department for mosaic, glass painting and mural design at the progressive "Kölner Werkschulen" in Cologne. His many, mainly architecturally bound works show Thorn-Prikker's mastery of the mosaic technique. He was not only perfectly skilled in the use of the material, but also produced varied and high quality works in an unconventional style full of symbolic significance. It was his achievement not only to revive a technique which had been known since antiquity, but also to use and develop it as a modern artistic form of expression.

The present mosaic is made up of autonomous lines and rhythmically arranged planar forms. Although the depiction seems primarily ornamental, the irregularly arranged squares appear as spotlights emitting diagonal, dynamic beams of light - the spatial and planar structures change like in a picture puzzle. Through this quality and the use of transparent or gleaming gold mosaic stones, the image acquires a transcendental character. The clever use of light and reflection makes heavy forms appear light, and suggests a reconciled feeling of man's unity with nature and the cosmos.

Thorn-Prikker created two mosaics "Der Tag" (The Day) and "Die Nacht" (The Night), as well as a glass window for the corner pavilions in the Düsseldorf Ehrenhof in 1925. They were made in Thorn-Prikker's own studio under the direction of Otto Wiegmann (cf. Christiane Heiser/Mienke Simon Thomas/Barbara Til [ed.], Johan Thorn-Prikker. Mit allen Regeln der Kunst. Vom Jugendstil zur Abstraktion, Rotterdam/Düsseldorf 2010, p.224). The present piece is also part of the mosaic “Der Tag“, presumably also carried out under Otto Wiegmann (Christiane Heiser in her certificate; cf. Paul Wember, Johan Thorn-Prikker, mit einem Werkverzeichnis von Johannes Cladders, Krefeld 1966, p. 130 with illus. p. 131).