Lot Essay
Dr. Annegret Hoberg has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
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PROPERTY FROM THE SERGE AND VALLY SABARSKY COLLECTIONThroughout his long career, Kubin was fascinated by the melodramatic and macabre. His oeuvre is comprised of dark, fantastical creations and mystical representations of sex, death, and the beyond. Heavily influenced by the occult beliefs of Symbolist circles, Kubin synthesized popular motifs of his time with his own disturbing autobiography. The artist did not meet his father, a land surveyor for the monarchy, until age 2. As a young boy, he witnessed his mother’s death and was seduced by an older, pregnant woman. These events marred the artist’s life as a young adult. At 19, he tried to commit suicide on his mother’s grave; later, in the army, he had a nervous breakdown. In 1898, he moved to Munich to study art, however he soon abandoned his lessons at the Akademie der schönen Künste. Drawn towards writing and philosophy, Kubin studied the works of Friedrich Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer, as well as the newly released The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud. He read and illustrated Gogol, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Edgar Allan Poe. These writings offered countless points of departure for Kubin to investigate the agony of the human condition in his art. Christie’s is delighted to offer four exceptional works on paper by Kubin from the Serge and Vally Sabarsky collection. These works, created during his most anxious and productive period in which he often drew in spurts prompted by fevers and hallucinations, beautifully illustrate the artist’s interest in the exploration of contemporary society and the depths of the human psyche. They are exquisite examples of the artist’s refined draftsmanship; fine layers of ink and wash are applied to achieve a delicate texture within a highly detailed rendering. In these works, monsters, demons and mythical beasts roam free and humans abandon themselves to bestial impulses. Kubin’s fantastical and nightmarish visions of unimaginable and unprecedented scenes of hell and the end of humanity on Earth would soon become real on Europe’s battlefields. With his sensitive antennae, the artist was capable of translating these visions into iconic images that still speak to and disturb the viewer today. The present group of drawings, which rank among the highest quality of his oeuvre, are bold in subject and composition yet subtle and refined in technique.
Alfred Kubin (1877-1959)
Unser aller Mutter Erde
Details
Alfred Kubin (1877-1959)
Unser aller Mutter Erde
signed 'A Kubin' (lower left)
pen and India ink and inkwash over pencil on paper
Image size: 6 x 13 ¾ in. (15.4 x 34.8 cm.)
Sheet size: 6 ¾ x 15 5/8 in. (17 x 39.6 cm.)
Unser aller Mutter Erde
signed 'A Kubin' (lower left)
pen and India ink and inkwash over pencil on paper
Image size: 6 x 13 ¾ in. (15.4 x 34.8 cm.)
Sheet size: 6 ¾ x 15 5/8 in. (17 x 39.6 cm.)
Provenance
(possibly) Hans von Weber, Munich.
Galerie Welz, Salzburg.
Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York (acquired from the above, December 1971).
Morton and Rita Kernerman, West Orange, New Jersey (acquired from the above, January 1972).
Acquired from the above by the late owners, October 1972.
Galerie Welz, Salzburg.
Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York (acquired from the above, December 1971).
Morton and Rita Kernerman, West Orange, New Jersey (acquired from the above, January 1972).
Acquired from the above by the late owners, October 1972.
Literature
P. Raabe, Alfred Kubin: Leben, Werk, Wirkung, Hamburg, 1957, p. 70, no. 6.
W.K. Müller-Thalheim, Erotik und Dämonie im Werk Alfred Kubins, Munich, 1970, p. 107, no. 4 (illustrated, p. 11).
O. Breicha, ed., Alfred Kubin: Bilder und Schriften zu Leben und Werk, exh. cat., Galerie Welz, Salzburg, 1977, p. 47, no. 35.
O. Breicha, ed., Alfred Kubin Weltgeflecht: Ein Kubin Kompendium Schriften und Bilder zu Leben und Werk, Salzburg, 1978, p. 47, no. 35 (illustrated).
B. Salsbury, “Alfred Kubin: Drawings, 1897-1909,” Artforum (illustrated in color).
W.K. Müller-Thalheim, Erotik und Dämonie im Werk Alfred Kubins, Munich, 1970, p. 107, no. 4 (illustrated, p. 11).
O. Breicha, ed., Alfred Kubin: Bilder und Schriften zu Leben und Werk, exh. cat., Galerie Welz, Salzburg, 1977, p. 47, no. 35.
O. Breicha, ed., Alfred Kubin Weltgeflecht: Ein Kubin Kompendium Schriften und Bilder zu Leben und Werk, Salzburg, 1978, p. 47, no. 35 (illustrated).
B. Salsbury, “Alfred Kubin: Drawings, 1897-1909,” Artforum (illustrated in color).
Exhibited
New York, Serge Sabarsky Gallery, Alfred Kubin: Drawings and Watercolors, December 1970-January 1971, no. 6 (illustrated).
New York, Galerie St. Etienne, Max Klinger, Käthe Kollwitz, Alfred Kubin: A Study in Influences, March-June 1990, no. 26 (dated 1900).
New York, Galerie St. Etienne, Symbolism and the Austrian Avant Garde: Klimt, Schiele and their Contemporaries, November 1993-January 1994.
New York, Neue Galerie, Alfred Kubin: Drawings, 1897-1909, September 2008-January 2009, p. 139, no. 19 (illustrated; detail illustrated, pp. 122-123).
New York, Neue Galerie, From Klimt to Klee: Masterworks From the Serge Sabarsky Collection, October 2009-February 2010, p. 26, no. 4 (illustrated in color).
New York, Galerie St. Etienne, Alternate Histories: Celebrating 75 Years of Galerie St. Etienne, January 2014-April 2015.
New York, Neue Galerie, Expressionist Nudes, February-June 2016.
New York, Neue Galerie, Austrian Masterworks, February-September 2017.
New York, Neue Galerie, Austrian Masterworks, February-July 2019.
New York, Galerie St. Etienne, The Art Dealer as Scholar, July-October 2019.
New York, Galerie St. Etienne, Max Klinger, Käthe Kollwitz, Alfred Kubin: A Study in Influences, March-June 1990, no. 26 (dated 1900).
New York, Galerie St. Etienne, Symbolism and the Austrian Avant Garde: Klimt, Schiele and their Contemporaries, November 1993-January 1994.
New York, Neue Galerie, Alfred Kubin: Drawings, 1897-1909, September 2008-January 2009, p. 139, no. 19 (illustrated; detail illustrated, pp. 122-123).
New York, Neue Galerie, From Klimt to Klee: Masterworks From the Serge Sabarsky Collection, October 2009-February 2010, p. 26, no. 4 (illustrated in color).
New York, Galerie St. Etienne, Alternate Histories: Celebrating 75 Years of Galerie St. Etienne, January 2014-April 2015.
New York, Neue Galerie, Expressionist Nudes, February-June 2016.
New York, Neue Galerie, Austrian Masterworks, February-September 2017.
New York, Neue Galerie, Austrian Masterworks, February-July 2019.
New York, Galerie St. Etienne, The Art Dealer as Scholar, July-October 2019.
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Allegra Bettini