Lot 3201 - A181 Impressionist & Modern Art - Friday, 30. June 2017, 02.00 PM
FRANZ VON STUCK
(Tettenweis n.P. 1863–1928 München)
Sternschnuppen (Franz and Mary Stuck). 1912.
Oil on panel.
Signed lower right: FRANZ VON STUCK.
65 x 58.5 cm.
Provenance: Private collection, Switzerland.
Literature:
- Voss, Heinrich: Franz von Stuck. Werkkatalog der Gemälde, Munich 1973, no. 397/234, p. 299 (with ill. p. 189).
- Bierbaum, Ostini: Stuck, Bielefeld 1924, p. 117 (ill.).
Even in his early years Franz von Stuck was considered an exceptional talent for his creative ideas. Already during his school days, and later in his studies at the Academy in Munich, he supplied illustrations for magazines and gained his first notoriety outside of Munich through a portfolio of allegorical and emblem designs, as well as his caricatures in the magazine "Fliegende Blätter". Previously committed to paper, Von Stuck tried oil painting for the first time in 1887. At the beginning he devoted himself mainly to portraits and landscapes, later finding his way to his unmistakable, symbolic motifs which characterise him as one of the greatest Symbolist and Art Nouveau painters. His paintings bear witness to a symbolic depth that only few painters are able to convey. Additionally contributing to this are the particular themes Von Stuck chose as subjects for his art. He wished to show the basic truths of human behaviour by depicting archetypes of time-transcending validity and mythological scenes. In Von Stuck's work the mystical and mysterious play a dominant role, to which the viewer is relentlessly exposed. Landscape painting, which he had mainly cultivated at the beginning of his career, was completely abandoned with time and not taken up again until 1917, then remaining only as an element in his art and rarely appearing as an independent motif. “The landscapes of Franz Stuck, with the exception of his pure landscapes, of which he only painted a few, show the landscape ... as a means of stimulating ideas.” (Franz Koeppen, 1902) Thus, Franz von Stuck made use of the landscape by employing it as a means to generate a specific mood. In the course of his career, the artist created various mood pictures using dusk, sunset, thunderstorms, stormy landscapes and, as is also the case in the present work, night landscapes under starry skies.
"Sternschnuppen" from 1912 presents a landscape with hills and water, with a star-filled sky, two shooting stars flying above and a couple sitting on a hill. The woman depicted, who is Von Stuck's wife Mary, is completely fixed on the shooting stars, while the man, the artist himself, has only eyes for the woman. The painting bears witness to a supernatural magic and a romance which, above all, is created by the luminous sky in combination with the enamoured couple. Von Stuck's painting "der Abendstern" was also created in the same year. It shows a kissing couple at night, approaching dawn, and is very similar to ours in respect to colour, mood and the couple. It is in any case conceivable that it could be a continuation of our "die Sternschnuppen" or simply concerns the same couple. However, it is certain that the present painting, as well as the subject itself, dealing with wishes, dreams and true love between man and woman, is a special work unique within Von Stuck’s oeuvre.
Literature:
- Voss, Heinrich: Franz von Stuck. Werkkatalog der Gemälde, Munich 1973, no. 397/234, p. 299 (with ill. p. 189).
- Bierbaum, Ostini: Stuck, Bielefeld 1924, p. 117 (ill.).
Even in his early years Franz von Stuck was considered an exceptional talent for his creative ideas. Already during his school days, and later in his studies at the Academy in Munich, he supplied illustrations for magazines and gained his first notoriety outside of Munich through a portfolio of allegorical and emblem designs, as well as his caricatures in the magazine "Fliegende Blätter". Previously committed to paper, Von Stuck tried oil painting for the first time in 1887. At the beginning he devoted himself mainly to portraits and landscapes, later finding his way to his unmistakable, symbolic motifs which characterise him as one of the greatest Symbolist and Art Nouveau painters. His paintings bear witness to a symbolic depth that only few painters are able to convey. Additionally contributing to this are the particular themes Von Stuck chose as subjects for his art. He wished to show the basic truths of human behaviour by depicting archetypes of time-transcending validity and mythological scenes. In Von Stuck's work the mystical and mysterious play a dominant role, to which the viewer is relentlessly exposed. Landscape painting, which he had mainly cultivated at the beginning of his career, was completely abandoned with time and not taken up again until 1917, then remaining only as an element in his art and rarely appearing as an independent motif. “The landscapes of Franz Stuck, with the exception of his pure landscapes, of which he only painted a few, show the landscape ... as a means of stimulating ideas.” (Franz Koeppen, 1902) Thus, Franz von Stuck made use of the landscape by employing it as a means to generate a specific mood. In the course of his career, the artist created various mood pictures using dusk, sunset, thunderstorms, stormy landscapes and, as is also the case in the present work, night landscapes under starry skies.
"Sternschnuppen" from 1912 presents a landscape with hills and water, with a star-filled sky, two shooting stars flying above and a couple sitting on a hill. The woman depicted, who is Von Stuck's wife Mary, is completely fixed on the shooting stars, while the man, the artist himself, has only eyes for the woman. The painting bears witness to a supernatural magic and a romance which, above all, is created by the luminous sky in combination with the enamoured couple. Von Stuck's painting "der Abendstern" was also created in the same year. It shows a kissing couple at night, approaching dawn, and is very similar to ours in respect to colour, mood and the couple. It is in any case conceivable that it could be a continuation of our "die Sternschnuppen" or simply concerns the same couple. However, it is certain that the present painting, as well as the subject itself, dealing with wishes, dreams and true love between man and woman, is a special work unique within Von Stuck’s oeuvre.
CHF 60 000 / 90 000 | (€ 61 860 / 92 780)
Sold for CHF 240 500 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.