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Lot Essay
Founded in 1910 by Herwarth Walden, Der Sturm was an important promoter of works and ideas of leading German and European modernist painters and writers. The magazine was particularly renowned for its reproduction of original Expressionist graphics and woodcuts. Among the artists who contributed illustrations were Oskar Kokoschka, Marc Chagall, members of Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter. 'At the time Berlin was one of the most important artistic centres in Europe ... Herwarth Walden's Der Sturm (The Storm) Gallery in the metropolis was regarded as the headquarters of modern art. He surrounded himself with the artists of his choosing, and fostered their acknowledgment through exhibitions and publications. It was through him that the artists of Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter, the Italian Futurists and the Cubists were introduced to the Berlin public.' (M. Gergely, A Melancholy Journey Béla Kádàr (1877-1956), Budapest, 2002, p. 32.)
Arnold Topp was an important artist of Herwarth Walden’s gallery Der Sturm in Berlin and friends with its circle of avant-garde artists. His works were first exhibited there in 1915 and he enjoyed some success before WWI. In the Weimar Republic, Topp’s artistic success picked up again, he co-founded the Arbeitsrat fuer Kunst (Worker’s Council for Art) and his works were exhibited at Der Sturm and internationally. But with the rise of the National Socialists, he was declared a “degenerate” artist and his works were exhibited in the exhibition of Entartete Kunst in 1937. Still today the whereabouts of many of his works are unknown, and a significant number where destroyed by the Nazis. As Topp was always working as a teacher, he was able to sustain a living, but was moved to a post further east, to a small town which today is in Poland. He probably died in the last weeks of WWII and his fate was unknown for decades, his art rarely exhibited until the 1980s. Today, his works are collected widely again and held by museums internationally.
The present work is one of the artist’s most important works and features Topp’s typical expressionist colours and cubist composition. The title Die Sonne ist gross und gefallen (The sun is great and has fallen), refers to a poem which the Expressionist poet Adolf Allwohn dedicated to Topp, and which was published in the magazine of Der Sturm in 1919.
Arnold Topp was an important artist of Herwarth Walden’s gallery Der Sturm in Berlin and friends with its circle of avant-garde artists. His works were first exhibited there in 1915 and he enjoyed some success before WWI. In the Weimar Republic, Topp’s artistic success picked up again, he co-founded the Arbeitsrat fuer Kunst (Worker’s Council for Art) and his works were exhibited at Der Sturm and internationally. But with the rise of the National Socialists, he was declared a “degenerate” artist and his works were exhibited in the exhibition of Entartete Kunst in 1937. Still today the whereabouts of many of his works are unknown, and a significant number where destroyed by the Nazis. As Topp was always working as a teacher, he was able to sustain a living, but was moved to a post further east, to a small town which today is in Poland. He probably died in the last weeks of WWII and his fate was unknown for decades, his art rarely exhibited until the 1980s. Today, his works are collected widely again and held by museums internationally.
The present work is one of the artist’s most important works and features Topp’s typical expressionist colours and cubist composition. The title Die Sonne ist gross und gefallen (The sun is great and has fallen), refers to a poem which the Expressionist poet Adolf Allwohn dedicated to Topp, and which was published in the magazine of Der Sturm in 1919.