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WORKS FROM THE COLLECTION OF ERIK MOSEL AND ANDREA TSCHECHOW Christie’s is honoured to present a selection of artworks collected by the influential patron of Minimalist and Conceptualist art, Erik Mosel. From the 1960s, Mosel’s revolutionary outlook defined the international contemporary art scene, not just through his keen sense of critical awareness but also in his mentorship of young promising artists. In 1973 Erik Mosel, along with Dr. Michael Tacke, founded the Kunstraum as a not-for-profit exhibition platform in Munich. In donating a space where artists could present their work to the public, an opportunity rarely offered, the Kunstraum enabled Minimalist and Conceptual artists to cultivate an audience reaching far beyond their domestic patrons, offering a launch pad of sorts for their careers to grow internationally. Within a few years, the Kunstraum had become one of the most exciting places to view new developments in contemporary art. The American artists Roni Horn, Robert Ryman, Fred Sandback, Richard Tuttle and Carl Andre, along with the late German visionary Günther Förg, were invited to the Kunstraum, often creating site-specific works and installations. For many, this was their first chance to exhibit in Europe; for all, it represented a definitive and pivotal moment in their early careers. Through his passion, Mosel breathed life into these art movements which were only beginning to take root in their native countries. The artists he selected offered critical awareness and commentary on the current generation and the role art would play - questioning conventions of painting and sculpture and exploring the spatial relationships between art and reality. Friendships were born between Mosel and the artists for whom he fostered a collaborative environment and encouraged the back-and-forth free-flowing exchange of ideas that were to define the growing international purview of Minimalist and Conceptualist thought and practice. The group offered by Christie’s in London King Street, South Kensington and Amsterdam includes prominent early works that reflect the exhilarant critical momentum of this period. Acquiring key pieces by important artists in whom he recognised brilliance long before the art world took a concerted interest, Mosel assembled an unparalleled selection of works, informed by his intimate and personal knowledge of the movements and the artists that encompassed them. Erik Mosel co-founded the internationally renowned publishing house Schirmer/Mosel in 1974 and later set up a gallery in partnership with Andrea Tschechow. Selected works from the collection include: Roni Horn’s seminal sculptural work Pair Object II is a lyrical embodiment of the Minimalist desire to explore the elemental nature of form. Fred Sandback, one of the very first artists to feature at the Kunstraum, articulates exquisite new spatial configurations in his work Violet Corner Piece, an early example of the elastic cord works that have come to define his prestigiously-exhibited oeuvre. Günther Förg, a local artist raised to international acclaim, implores the viewer to re-evaluate the physicality of the object in his elegantly reductive paintings. A monumental Bleibild from 1987 confronts the viewer with a formal magnitude imparted by its vast scale and perfectly executed triptych of red, blue and black. PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ERIK MOSEL AND ANDREA TSCHECHOW

GÜNTHER FÖRG (1952-2013)

Bleibild

Details

GÜNTHER FÖRG (1952-2013)
Bleibild
each: signed, inscribed and dated 'Förg 1987 105/87' (on the reverse)
acrylic on lead on wood, in three parts
each: 35.1/2 x 82.3/4in. (90.2 x 210.5cm.)
overall: 107.1/2 x 82.3/4in. (273 x 210.5cm.)
Executed in 1987

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner in 1987.

Literature

C. D. Verlag, Günther Förg, Verzeichnis der Arbeiten seit 1973, Munich 1987, no. 105/87, unpaged.

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Further Details

We are most grateful to Mr. Michael Neff from the Estate of Günther Förg for the information he has kindly provided.

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