Riehen, Im Januar 05

GALERIE HENZE & KETTERER & TRIEBOLD RIEHEN/BASEL Dr. Alexandra Henze Triebold – Marc Triebold Wettsteinstrasse 4 - CH 4125 Riehen/Basel Tel. +41/61/641 77 77 - Fax: +41/61/641 77 78 www.henze-ketterer.ch - [email protected]

FRITZ WINTER

Early Works – The Bauhaus and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

May 24th – September 21st 2019

Because of summer vacation our gallery is closed from July 21st to August 5th 2019.

We are taking part in the following art fair: MASTERPIECE London (June 27th - July 3rd 2019)

FRITZ WINTER Early Works – Bauhaus and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner May 24th – September 21st, 2019

Fritz Winter was born as the first of eight children to Friedrich and Berta Winter on September 22, 1905, in Altenbögge (formerly in the district of Hamm) in the Ruhr region. After completing grade school, he began an apprenticeship as an electrician at the Westphalia Mine, where he was taken on as a journeyman in 1924. Between 1925 and 1927 he then worked underground as a coal-miner. It was during this period that he undertook trips to Holland and Belgium, where he encountered works by van Gogh that he imitated. Against his parents’ conviction, for whom studying art meant that his father not only had to continue to support the large family but also had to finance his son’s education, and who thought that a course of study of this kind lacked prospects and was unprofitable, Winter enrolled at the Bauhaus, which presented him with an opportunity to receive artisanal training and earn a diploma. Despite financial restrictions, during his first two years at the Bauhaus Winter painted extensively in oil and mixed media, which for him meant a period of experiencing new possibilities, not only in his preliminary courses but in supplemental courses of instruction.

The works that Fritz Winter produced during his time at the Bauhaus bespeak unfettered, cheerful experimentation and already exhibit a very independent style divorced from the stimulus of his teachers. In the first semester, Winter attended the preliminary course taught by Joseph Albers and Wassily Kandinsky, and as early as the second semester participated in Paul Klee’s open painting class. He also went to nude and figure drawing as well as stage courses conducted by Oskar Schlemmer, and then to his course “Der Mensch” (the human being), which was divided into three complementary parts, “the formal, the biological, and the philosophical,” and ultimately united the concept of the human being. In his initial years at the Bauhaus, Winter’s preferred subject was the human being and the self-portrait, executed in rapid lines, the contours rather abstract and with little detail. He ignored physicality and the laws of proportion. Beginning in 1929, Paul Klee’s oeuvre began to have a stronger influence on Winter, and he produced oil drawings and monotypes of figures as well as of landscapes and structures, depicted abstractly and planarly. In terms of technique, he pursued Klee’s methods and created wet-on-wet watercolours as well as coloured oil drawings by means of silkscreen and decalcomania. The use of stencils, working with various tools such as palette knife, scraper, and stylus or comb-like utensils also stemmed from Klee; however, the differences between student and teacher predominated in terms of execution, in the motifs, which in Winter’s case emulated nature to a lesser extent and thus featured little mimesis. His contours seemed ornamental and rhythmizing, hardly forming body or depth. He was also inspired by Paul Klee’s view that when producing lines the artist should reproduce the creation of nature and thus freely compose abstract structures, whereby he used these parallel lines to heighten the contour and not to develop space. He additively joined together geometric figures. The monotypes produced during this period were characteristic of Fritz Winter’s early oeuvre; he likewise adopted Paul Klee’s technique. He applied oil to a sheet, laid this coloured side on a white sheet, and worked the upper white surface with a hard object, which resulted in the paint being pressed through. Also typical of the early Bauhaus years was the scratch drawing in oil. He applied coloured layers to the support and covered them with dark paint. Winter then used a hard object to scratch the motif into the surface so that the colour underneath the dark upper layer was exposed and the depiction resembled a relief. However, he could not relate to the aspiration of the Bauhaus to subordinate art to a specific purpose and use, and thus the artist increasingly alienated himself from what was being taught there.

Having been invited by Naum Gabo to come to Berlin, Winter took his fifth semester off; he also visited Ernst Ludwig and Erna Kirchner in Davos. It is difficult to assess the extent to which Gabo and Kirchner influenced Winter’s oeuvre, since which works he produced in Davos or Berlin cannot be clearly established. Gabo’s constructions probably had an influence on his ideas for abstracting works, with the result that he left behind the human being as a motif and from that

point onwards completely devoted himself to abstraction. It was above all the light and movement effects in Gabo’s constructions that prompted Winter to examine these. On the other hand, the teacher-student relationship between Kirchner and the young Bauhaus artist can be characterized as very emancipated – a lively and by all means mutually stimulating exchange. What the two shared was the belief in expressing an “inner vision” in art. From then on, Winter produced geometricizing shapes, one alongside the other, filled with colour and delimited by wide black lines, mostly in two to three strongly contrasting nuances. The composition now reached the edges of the support; the complete surface was used and painted. We recognize the greatest similarity between Kirchner and Winter precisely in this framework consisting of forms bordered by curved lines. What distinguishes the works by the two artists is that Kirchner impressed his with representation and expressive chromaticity. During this period, however, for both artists the wide, dark, rounded, self-contained lines give rise to the formal framework, in particular in the paintings and woodcuts by the Expressionist master in the so-called “new style”.

After receiving his Bauhaus diploma in 1931, Winter moved to Halle to accept a teaching position at the educational academy there. Unfortunately, this did not mean financial independence, and it was his companion, Margarete Schreiber-Rüffer, who supported him. After the seizure of power in 1933, Winter could no longer teach or exhibit. This loss of income prompted him to resettle in Karlsfeld-Allach in Bavaria, where he escaped the direct effects of National Socialism and the economic depression. He sought refuge in internal exile, lived in seclusion amid nature with his family, and created art for his “repository.” These were difficult years without artistic or economic recognition. He remained loyal to his abstract formal language, did not align himself to the National Socialist period style. He opted for inward emigration until 1937, when he was banned from painting and could not officially buy paint or canvas, was no longer permitted to participate in exhibitions, and was constantly subjected to tight control. The artist’s formal language expanded during this period, and innovative constructions joined the additive works mentioned above. Winter began staggering frameworks of wide lines one above the other; ovals, rectangles, and more open geometric outlines were placed over other geometrically arranged areas, resulting in an element of depth in the paintings. The black line sometimes developed a life of its own to become calligraphic characters.

Most of the works that Fritz Winter produced during this period were deliberately given no title, or only a very general one that mentioned a prominent colour or a dominant form. The artist did not want to commit himself to a motif in order to not counteract possible ambiguity. He left complete freedom of interpretation to the viewer. Winter’s teachers recognized and acknowledged the artistic freedom that characterized him during his training at the Bauhaus. The fact that he did not blindly follow his teachers was emphasized and praised. Winter broke away from the Bauhaus guidelines and did not work in the spirit of the official school doctrine, which frowned on pure painting and only wanted to use it for stage decoration, as interior design in the service of architecture. Open painting classes nevertheless developed at the Bauhaus in which pure painting was encouraged without having to subordinate itself to technical achievements, functionality, or structural precision, something that agreed with Winter. He expressed himself with restraint in terms of colouration: brown, black, and shades of gray dominate during this period. This reflects the world of the coalmines that surrounded him, but could also be accounted for by the increasingly dark circumstances of the time. He worked primarily on paper, often in oil as well, because he could not afford canvases for his numerous variations. It was not until later, after World War II, that he mounted these on canvas.

Alexandra Henze Triebold (Translation by Rebecca van Dyck)

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (3 Figuren) (Untitled (three figures)) Ohne Titel (3 Personen) (Untitled (3 persons))

Chalk, 1929. Chalk and pencil, 1928. On silk paper. Monogrammed and dated on the lower On handmade paper. Signed on the lower right. left. 60 x 44 cm. 62 x 47 cm. Item Id: 74675 Item Id: 74652

Daniel Spoerri Guerrieri della notte - Krieger der Nacht: Einzelner Krieger (Warrior of the Night)

Bronze, polished, 1982. Single Bronze from the group, in each case: copy «III/V» (of 8 + 1 copies). Each is engraved, signed and numbered on the head. Height: 90 - 140 cm. Item Id: 75161

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (männlicher Akt) (Untitled (Male Nude)) Ohne Titel (weiblicher Akt) (Untitled (Female Nude)) Ink on semi-cardboard, around 1928. Reverse: Ohne Titel (denkende Frau) (Untitled Oil and ink, 1928. (Thinking Woman) On semi-cardboard. 67 x 50 cm. 67 x 50 cm. Item Id: 74655 Item Id: 74656

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Untitled) Ohne Titel (Untitled) Kniende (Kneeling Woman)

Coloured monotype, 1928. Monotype in black and red-brown, Monotype, 1929. On Japan paper. Monogramed and 1929. Cat. Marbach 17. On Japan On satined semi-cardboard. dated on the lower right. paper. Mongramed and dated Monogramed on the lower right, 45 x 31 cm. on the lower right. dated and marked «z.H.16». Item Id: 67844 60 x 45 cm. 50,5 x 33 cm. Stickers of Item Id: 67390 Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim and Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Kassel on the verso. Item Id: 67845

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (4 Figuren) Ohne Titel (Häuser) (Untitled Ohne Titel (weibliche Figur) (Untitled (4 figures)) (Houses)) (Untitled (Woman))

Monotype, 1929. Monotype, 1929. Monotype, 1929. On satined paper. Monogramed On satined paper. Monogramed and On satined paper. Monogramed, and titled on the lower right. dated on the lower right. dated and marked «H 78» on the Item Id: 74679 59 x 44 cm. lower right. 59,5 x 45 cm. Item Id: 74677 Item Id: 74678

Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (fliegender Drachen) (Untitled (Flying Dragon))

Pencil, chalk and tempera, 1928. On cardboard. Monogramed and dated on the lower right. 50,5 x 65 cm. Reverse: Ohne Titel (Untitled) Monotype on cardboard, 1928. Signed and dated on the lower centre. Marked on the lower right (illegible). Item Id: 74658

Paul Klee Der Fürst und seine Stadt (The Prince and his Town).

Watercolour and pen in ink, partially sprayed on french Ingres paper mounted on backing cardboard. The upper and lower margin: Pen in metal-colour, 1925. Catalogue Raisonné: 3898. Dated and numbered «1925 V.7», titled on the lower right as well as signed on the lower right of the backing cardboard. 34,5 x 24,5 on 49,5 x 34,5 cm. Item Id: 80495

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Boot) (Untitled (Boat)) Ohne Titel (Untitled)

Monotype, 1929. Monotype, 1928. On satined paper. 50 x 73 cm. On vellum. Monogramed and dated on the lower Item Id: 74680 right. 50 x 65 cm. Rear breakdown edited with pencil. Item Id: 74653

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Fritz Winter Dame vor Waldstück (Woman in Front of the Forest) Ohne Titel (weiblicher Akt vor offenem Fenster) (Untitled (Female Nude in front of an Open On satined chamois paper, 53 x 36 cm. Reverse: Window) drawing "Weissfluh und Schafgrind (Die Berge)", cf. Gordon No. 676, estate-stamp and numbering "A Be Pencil,around 1928. /Bh 7" and "K 3789" und "C 4097" On semi-cardboard. in ink and pencil. Reverse: Traced negative drawing. 60 x 50 cm. Item Id: 65547 Item Id: 74657

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Untitled) Ohne Titel (Untitled)

Monotype, 1928. Monotype, 1928. On Japan paper. 45 x 27 cm. With the stamp «FRITZ On Japan paper. Monogramed and dated, as well as WINTER» on the upper left on the verso. titled or with a dedication beneath (illegible). Item Id: 67959 48 x 31, 5 cm. Item Id:: 74648

Daniel Spoerri Guerrieri della notte - Krieger der Nacht: Einzelner Krieger (Warrior of the Night) Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Mädchen im Garten) (Untitled (Girl in Bronze, polished, 1982. the Garden) Single Bronze from the group, in each case: copy «III/V» (of 8 + 1 copies). Oil on vellum on cardboard, 1928. Each is engraved, signed and numbered on the head. Signed, dated and with a dedication on the lower right Height: 90 - 140 cm. on the cardboard. 42 x 27 cm. Stamp «FRITZ Item Id: 75163 WINTER» and numbering «112» on the reverse of the carton. Item Id: 67958

Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Untitled) Kubach-Kropp Stein für das Licht (Stone for Light) Oil on satined cardboard, 1930. Lohberg 79 50 x 65 cm. Signed and marked with «Unverkäufl» Black swedish granite, 2008. 103026. (“unsaleable”), with numbering «106 22.B» on a label 50 x 49 x 13 cm as well as marked with «Münchner Secession» and Item Id. 77430 «d71» on the verso. Item Id: 74581

Fritz Winter Komposition im Quadrat (Composition in a square)

Oil on vellum on canvas, 1933. Lohberg 459 150 x 145 cm. Titled and with a dedication on the verso. Item Id: 74556

Fritz Winter Lineament

Oil on vellum on canvas, 1933. Lohberg 453 142 x 170 cm. Item Id: 74551

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Nächtlich (Nocturnal) Ohne Titel (Untitled)

Oil on vellum, 1934. Lohberg 513 Oil on vellum, 1934. Lohberg 518 Monogramed and dated on the lower right. 63 x 48 cm. 63 x 48 cm. Marked with «nächtlich 34» (Nocturnal 34) on the Item Id: 74386 verso. Item Id: 74385

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Oval im Dreieck (Oval in a Triangle) Komposition II (Composition II)

Oil on vellum, 1932. Lohberg 386 Mixed Media (Oil and wax), 1932. Lohberg 405 100 x 70 cm. Titled and dated on the verso. On vellum. 76 x 49 cm. Item Id: 74565 Item Id: 74614

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Untitled) Die dunkle Orgel (The Dark Organ) Ohne Titel (Untitled)

Oil on vellum, 1932. Lohberg 388 Oil on paper on canvas, 1933. Oil on vellum, 1933. Monogramed and dated on the lower Lohberg 0474 Lohberg 454 right. 70 x 51 cm. Monogramed and dated on the lower Signed and dated on the lower Item Id: 74566 left. 175 x 130 cm. left. 245 x 150 cm. Item Id: 66742 Item Id: 74552

Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Untitled)

Oil on vellum, 1933. Lohberg 467 Fritz Winter 47 x 63 cm. Marked with «18.6. Fritz» on the lower left. Ohne Titel (Untitled) Item Id: 74382 Oil on vellum, 1933. Lohberg 468 Signed and dated on the lower right. 63 x 48 cm. Item Id: 74383

Daniel Spoerri Fritz Winter Daniel Spoerri L’abero dei crani – Ohne Titel (Untitled) Guerrieri della notte - Krieger Schädelbaum (Scull-tree) der Nacht: Einzelner Oil on vellum, 1933. Krieger(Warrior of the Night) Bronze, 1993. 48 x 64 cm. 1 of 8 + 1 copies (1/5 - 5/5 + I/IV - Item Id: 74384 Bronze, polished, 1982. IV/IV). Signed and numbered. Single Bronze from the group, in 233 x 130 x 50 cm. each case: copy «III/V» (of 8 + 1 Item Id: 73801 copies). Each is engraved, signed and numbered on the head. Height: 90 - 140 cm. Item Id.: 75164

Fritz Winter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Zeichen unter Schwarz (Sign under Black) Kopf Hans Arp (Head of Hans Arp)

Oil on vellum, 1932. Lohberg 324 Woodcut, 1929. Dube H 618 50 x 77 cm. Signed and dated on the lower left. On strong imitated Japan handmade paper. One of 4 Item. Id: 74563 so far known copies made by the artist himself. Signed on the lower right and marked on the lower left with «Eigendruck» („Self-print”), titled on the lower middle with «Kopf Arp» (“Head of Arp”). 35 x 31,6 auf 52 x 39,5 cm. Item Id: 67688

Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Untitled)

Oil on cardboard, 1931. Lohberg 119 Monogramed and dated on the lower right. 65 x 82 cm. Item Id: 74582 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Die Freunde (Müller und Scherer) (Friends (Müller and Scherer)

Woodcut, 1924. Dube H 522 II. On Japan paper. One of 8 so far known copies made by the artist. Signed on the lower right and marked with «Handdruck» (“hand-print”) on the lower left. 84,7 x 54,7 cm auf 94,0 x 63,7 cm. Item Id. 75006

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Untitled) Sternbild (Stellar Constellation)

Wooden relief, weld penetration, walnut-wood, 1933. Oil on paper on canvas, 1932. Lohberg 0426 nbL, Monogramed and dated on the lower right. Monogramed and dated on the lower right. Signed, 78 x 84 cm. dated and titled on the verso. 75 x 50 cm. Item Id: 74617 Item Id.: 66741

Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Untitled) Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Kopf Alexander Mülleg (Head of Alexander Mülleg) Oil on vellum, 1932. Lohberg 382 48 x 63 cm. Woodcut, 1930. Dube H 622 II Item Id: 74564 On chamois imitated Japan handmade paper. One of 7 so far known copies printed by the artist himself. 42 x 35,5 on 54 x 42 cm. Estate-stamp and numbered "H Da/Ba 7 I" in ink and "K 5435" and "C 2364" in pencil on the verso. Item Id: 67227

Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Untitled)

Oil and wax on vellum, 1932. Lohberg 370 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Monogramed and dated on the lower right. Stehender Akt (Standing Nude Woman) 21 x 29, 5 cm. Item Id: 74610 Black chalk, 1930. On slightly ribbed chamois Japan Paper. 52 x 35,5 cm. Estate-stamp on the verso as well as marked with "K Da/Bg 233" and with numberings "K 7449" in ink and pencil and "7106" in pencil. Item Id.: 77460

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Nocturno) (Untitled (Nocturno)) Ohne Titel (Untitled)

Oil on vellum, 1932. Oil on vellum, 1932. 28,5 x 22,5 cm. 48 x 33 cm. Item Id: 74380 Item Id: 74567

Fritz Winter Ohne Titel

Öl auf Velin um, 1932. 31,5 x 24 cm. Item. Id: 74381

Karl Hartung Sitzende mit Kind (Sitter with Child)

Bronze, around 1938/39. Krause 215. One of 6 + 1 copies. Height: 43 cm. Stamps „HARTUNG“, „ӿ“ and „N“ on the base. Item Id: 67500

Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Untitled)

Oil on vellum, 1932. 33 x 42 cm. Item Id: 74569

Fritz Winter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner K III 101 Nackte Tänzerin und Zuschauer (Naked Dancer and a Viewer) Oil on canvas, 1939. Lohberg 0746 Monogramed and dated on the lower left. 90 x 70 cm. Black pastel on satined chamois semi-cardboard, Item Id: 79333 1929. Marked «24 m weg» on the lower right. 51x 35,5 cm. With the estate-stamp and the numbering «K Da/Be 119» as well as the numbering «K 7421» in ink and «7078» in pencil on the verso. Item Id.: 77463

Fritz Winter Fritz Winter Brauner Winkel (Brown Angle) Ohne Titel (Untitled)

Oil on paper on hardboard, 1931. Lohberg 0165 Mixed Media (Oil and wax) on vellum, 1932. Signed and dated on the lower right. 94 x 146 cm. Lohberg 390, 49 x 63 cm. Item Id: 66740 Item Id: 74612

Fritz Winter Karl Hartung Ohne Titel (Untitled) Flügelform (Wing Shape)

Mixed Media (Oil and wax) on satined semi-cardboard, Bronze, 1939/40. Krause 263. 1932. Lohberg 384, 63 x 49 cm. One of 6 + 1 copies. 33 x 34 x 25 cm. With stamps Item Id: 74611 „HARTUNG“, „ӿ“ and „N“ on the base. Item Id.: 77264

Fritz Winter Ohne Titel (Untitled)

Mixed Media (Oil and wax) on vellum, 1932. Fritz Winter 49 x 63 cm. Marked with «Zu den 8» on the verso. Ohne Titel (Untitled) Item Id: 74615 Oil (possibly encaustic) on folded and slouchy paper, 1932. Lohberg 210 64 x 49,5 cm. Monogramed and dated on the verso. Item Id: 74562

Fritz Winter Zwischen Grau und Schwarz (Between Gray and Black)

Oil on paper on wood, 1933. Lohberg 0495 Monogramed and dated on the lower right. 94 x 146 cm. Item Id: 66744

Fritz Winter Komposition Rot und Grün II (Composition in Red and

Green II) Fritz Winter Oil on crinkled vellum on wood, 1932. Lohberg 0196 Ohne Titel (Untitled) 131 x 93 cm. Monogramed and dated on the lower left. Item Id: 74550 Oil on vellum, 1932. 47 x 47 cm. Item Id: 74568

The catalogue was created by Katharina Sagel, Assistent of the director in Riehen.

Galerie Henze & Ketterer & Triebold Riehen/ Basel Zweigstelle der Galerie Henze & Ketterer AG Wichtrach/ Bern Kunst von der klassischen Moderne bis in die Gegenwart Dienstag-Freitag 10 - 12 + 14 - 18 Uhr - Samstag 10 - 16 Uhr