Karl Opfermann (Röding 1891 – Ahrensburg 1960). Female half-nude. Karl...
Karl Opfermann (Röding 1891 – Ahrensburg 1960). Female half-nude. Karl Opfermann (Röding 1891 – Ahrensburg 1960). Female half-nude. Circa 1920 or earlier. Cedar wood, carved, stained, flat back. Height: 50 cm. Signed KARL OPFERMANN on the back. Small stress cracks due to age. A female bust facing forward with a bare upper body; the calm, meditative facial expression contrasts with the expressive carving marks that enliven the surface. The bas-relief was most likely exhibited at Maria Kunde’s gallery in December 1920 alongside prints and paintings by Lasar Segall. Contemporary press reviews mention, among other things, “several bas-reliefs” (we thank Mr. Lutz H. Bastian-Wirtz for valuable information) - Provenance: A gift from Karl Opfermann to his fellow Hamburg artist Franz Reiche, who was able to save the sculpture from confiscation and destruction by the Nazis. After Franz Reiche’s death in 1942, it passed into the possession of his sister and has been in private hands ever since—German sculptor. After training as an ornamental artist, O. studied at the Hamburg School of Applied Arts under R. Luksch. In 1919, he joined the Berlin “November Group” and the Hamburg Secession. Museums: Hamburg (Kunsthalle), Schleswig. Lit.: Thieme-Becker, Vollmer, Der Neue Rump, and exhibition catalog: *Die Hamburgische Sezession 1919–1933*, Fischerhude 2003, pp. 130ff.
[ translate ]Karl Opfermann (Röding 1891 – Ahrensburg 1960). Female half-nude. Karl Opfermann (Röding 1891 – Ahrensburg 1960). Female half-nude. Circa 1920 or earlier. Cedar wood, carved, stained, flat back. Height: 50 cm. Signed KARL OPFERMANN on the back. Small stress cracks due to age. A female bust facing forward with a bare upper body; the calm, meditative facial expression contrasts with the expressive carving marks that enliven the surface. The bas-relief was most likely exhibited at Maria Kunde’s gallery in December 1920 alongside prints and paintings by Lasar Segall. Contemporary press reviews mention, among other things, “several bas-reliefs” (we thank Mr. Lutz H. Bastian-Wirtz for valuable information) - Provenance: A gift from Karl Opfermann to his fellow Hamburg artist Franz Reiche, who was able to save the sculpture from confiscation and destruction by the Nazis. After Franz Reiche’s death in 1942, it passed into the possession of his sister and has been in private hands ever since—German sculptor. After training as an ornamental artist, O. studied at the Hamburg School of Applied Arts under R. Luksch. In 1919, he joined the Berlin “November Group” and the Hamburg Secession. Museums: Hamburg (Kunsthalle), Schleswig. Lit.: Thieme-Becker, Vollmer, Der Neue Rump, and exhibition catalog: *Die Hamburgische Sezession 1919–1933*, Fischerhude 2003, pp. 130ff.
[ translate ]
