Erwin Graumann
Sitzender Akt
1928/1929
Oil on canvas, mounted on wooden panel 94.9 x 70.2 cm Framed. Signed 'E. Graumann' in dark blue upper right and signed 'E. Graumann' in brush on the upper wooden frame bar and with dimensions. - Artist's address label Boulougne-sur-Seine verso in the centre.
"Sitzender Akt” presented here (referred to below as “Akt mit dem violetten Schenkel”) and the phase in the artist's oeuvre during which it was created are aptly characterised in the catalogue of the Graumann retrospective in Bielefeld: “[…] in his series of pictures from the years 1925 through 1930 - almost exclusively portraits and nude or clothed female figures - we recognise his highly idiosyncratic basic attitude. [...] The densely and emphatically applied areas of colour are surrounded by energetic and often entirely intentionally accentuated lines, which provide the contours with stability and clarity. This manner of painting is particularly striking in the pictures 'Akt Betty Wolff' (1927), 'Akt mit dem violetten Schenkel' (1928/29) or 'Frau im rosa Hemd (Tatjana)' (1928)” (R. v. Gindertael, in: Erwin Graumann: Malerei und Graphik, exhib. cat. Bielefeld 1966, pp. 3f.). The selection of tones disconnected from local colour and the rapid, dynamic brushstroke reinforce the energy-filled pose of the model.
Catalogue Raisonné
Syamken G 17
Provenance
Formerly private possession, Copenhagen; Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia
Literature
Georg Syamken (ed.), Erwin Graumann. Malerei und Grafik, exhib. cat. with catalogue raisonné, Städtisches Kunsthaus Bielefeld, Bielefeld 1966, G 17 with colour plate; Jacques Goldschmidt, Erwin Graumann, Paris 1977, with full-page colour illus. n. p.; Peter Barth (ed.), Erwin Graumann, Berlin-Paris. 100 Werke zum 100. Geburtstag, Galerie Remmert und Barth, Düsseldorf 2002, p. 14 with photograph of the Paris studio
Exhibitions
Copenhagen 1935 (A/S. Kunstudstillinger), Samleren, cat. no. 35; Bielefeld 1966 (Städtisches Kunsthaus), Erwin Graumann. Malerei und Graphik, without cat. no., with colour illus.; Düsseldorf 1990 (Galerie Remmert und Barth), 10 Jahre Remmert und Barth. 1980 -1990. Ausgewählte Werke, p. 115 cat. no. 65 with colour illus.