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Lot Essay
Offered at auction for the first time, Turmhaus constitutes a superb example of Walter Dexel's distinct constructivist idiom. The present work dates from 1922, a pivotal period in the artist's œuvre, when, in his prominent position as Art Director at the Art Union in Jena, he frequented various circles of artists and intellectuals, most notably befriending the Dutch De Stijl artist Théo van Doesburg, who fostered his progressive shift towards non-representational subject matters.
In the early 1920s, Dexel created a series of works highlighting technical subjects, such as sailing boats, steamships, locomotives and airplanes. He confronted modern inventions in an avant-garde style, his subject and method in artistic concordance. In Turmhaus, vertical lines are to emphasise the imposing height of the vividly coloured edifice, which seems to have been transversely sliced so as to expose staircases and lifts. Grey-coloured L-shaped geometric forms, most likely clouds, encircle and delineate a cherry-shaped dome which represents the focal point of the scene. The planar composition is skilfully built up with subtle contrasts of pink, yellow, red and grey, a play of fine harmonies and softened complementary colours. It thereby reflects the aim of the Constructivists, towards an artform of an ordered and rationalised universe, in the wake of the atrocities that the First World War had recently scarred them with.
'In stark contrast to De Stijl, [Dexel] emphasised, in relation to Bruno Taut's painted facades of 1921 in Magdeburg, the necessity for light and broken colours, even years later: ''… buildings painted in white, delicate yellow, light blue, light pink and light green colours, naturally not in succession and not one next to the other, but broken up with compensatory half-tones and with sparse dark, black or even colourful accents in between, result in agreeable images!''' (W. Dexel, 'Farbiger Hausanstrich', in Frankfurter Zeitung, 22 November 1926).
'Contemporary critics emphasised the pleasant colouring of Dexel's compositions. Willi Wolfradt speaks of his ''chromatic delicacy'', Will Grohmann in 1924 of ''pink and yellow forms of child-like cheerfulness and naivety'', which Albert Kranoldt described as ''an abstract spirituality and sensuous beauty of colour and harmony … that is wonderfully balanced and conveys something endlessly soothing.''' (R. Wöbkemeier, W. Vitt & W. Hofmann, Walter Dexel 1890-1973: Werkverzeichnis, Gemälde, Hinterglasbilder, Gouachen, Aquarelle, Collagen, Ölstudien, Entwürfe zu Bühnenbildern, Heidelberg, 1995, p. 60).
In the early 1920s, Dexel created a series of works highlighting technical subjects, such as sailing boats, steamships, locomotives and airplanes. He confronted modern inventions in an avant-garde style, his subject and method in artistic concordance. In Turmhaus, vertical lines are to emphasise the imposing height of the vividly coloured edifice, which seems to have been transversely sliced so as to expose staircases and lifts. Grey-coloured L-shaped geometric forms, most likely clouds, encircle and delineate a cherry-shaped dome which represents the focal point of the scene. The planar composition is skilfully built up with subtle contrasts of pink, yellow, red and grey, a play of fine harmonies and softened complementary colours. It thereby reflects the aim of the Constructivists, towards an artform of an ordered and rationalised universe, in the wake of the atrocities that the First World War had recently scarred them with.
'In stark contrast to De Stijl, [Dexel] emphasised, in relation to Bruno Taut's painted facades of 1921 in Magdeburg, the necessity for light and broken colours, even years later: ''… buildings painted in white, delicate yellow, light blue, light pink and light green colours, naturally not in succession and not one next to the other, but broken up with compensatory half-tones and with sparse dark, black or even colourful accents in between, result in agreeable images!''' (W. Dexel, 'Farbiger Hausanstrich', in Frankfurter Zeitung, 22 November 1926).
'Contemporary critics emphasised the pleasant colouring of Dexel's compositions. Willi Wolfradt speaks of his ''chromatic delicacy'', Will Grohmann in 1924 of ''pink and yellow forms of child-like cheerfulness and naivety'', which Albert Kranoldt described as ''an abstract spirituality and sensuous beauty of colour and harmony … that is wonderfully balanced and conveys something endlessly soothing.''' (R. Wöbkemeier, W. Vitt & W. Hofmann, Walter Dexel 1890-1973: Werkverzeichnis, Gemälde, Hinterglasbilder, Gouachen, Aquarelle, Collagen, Ölstudien, Entwürfe zu Bühnenbildern, Heidelberg, 1995, p. 60).