Lempertz · Lot 398
Die Holzarbeiter
Tempera
Original catalogue wording
Die Holzarbeiter
tempera
Auction date : 2019-11-30
Published result : 32240 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 25000
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Wilhelm Morgner
The German painter and graphic artist Wilhelm Morgner, associated with Expressionism, was born in Soest, Westphalia, on 27 January 1891 and died in combat at Langemark, West Flanders, on 16 August 1917, during the First World War. According to the artist’s remarks as reported by Friederike Weimar, he sought to capture visually the spiritual forces he perceived in the material world; whether he worked figuratively or non-figuratively mattered less to him than this pursuit.
Die Holzarbeiter, painted in 1911, offers a concrete point of reference: this tempera on cardboard measures 56.5 × 60.2 cm and is listed as number 77 in the Tappert catalogue and as 77 a in the Weihs/Tappert catalogue. In a letter to Georg Tappert dated 10 November 1911, Morgner refers to the intense physical sensations and the hard-to-name impression that accompany the creation of his paintings. The sale listing for Die Holzarbeiter notes a few small losses of paint and specifies that the left and upper edges were trimmed in 1945 due to war damage.
The published provenance of this work lists Kunsthandlung Thiell, in Soest, in 1979, followed by a private collection in North Rhine-Westphalia. The cited bibliographic references include the volume by Will Frieg published in Leipzig in 1920, illustrated with the work before it was trimmed; a collection of letters and drawings published in Soest in 1984 under the direction of Christine Knupp-Uhlenhaut; and the catalogue of the 2015 Hamburg exhibition devoted to his painting from 1910 to 1913.
This profile brings together identity references for Wilhelm Morgner and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
Documented auction references
3auction references
1auction house
3documented results with prices
Lempertz
References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.
Works recorded at auction
Lempertz · Lot 207
Weg mit kahlen Bäumen
Oil on cardboard
Original catalogue wording
Weg mit kahlen Bäumen
Öl auf Karton
Auction date : 2016-12-02
Published result : 68200 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 55000
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Lempertz · Lot 315
Komposition mit Feldarbeiter
Öl auf Malkarton, auf Hartfaser
Auction date : 2016-06-03
Published result : 173600 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 120000
View the lot at the auction house ↗Sources and references
- Reference record
- LoC · Reference link only; institutional text and images are not reproduced.
- Documentary source
- Documentary source
SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
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