Oil on cardboard. Signed in lower right. 47 x 62 cm.
John Knittel Collection (1891-1970), Switzerland (ever since family-owned)
Hans Unger is one of the central, albeit hitherto less recognized, representatives of Symbolism and Art Nouveau in Germany at the turn of the century. Originally trained as a decorative painter at the Royal Court Theater in Dresden, he began to study at the Dresden Art Academy in Friedrich Preller's landscape class, after which he became acquainted with the brighter palette of Impressionism on his travels through Italy and through the exchange with the Goppeln School. Unger's artistic activity is particularly fascinating for the variety of techniques and materials he employs between Symbolism, Impressionism and Art Nouveau, producing poster art, as well as illustrations for magazines such as "PAN" and "Jugend", as well as stage curtains and mosaics. In 1897, the 'Gemäldegalerie' in Dresden bought his work "Die Muse", which earned him greater fame as a painter. In the same year, Unger went to Paris to study at the Académie Julian for six months. His contact with the works of French Symbolist painters such as Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Gustave Moreau, whose dreamy, contemplative female figures would also influence Unger's work in the future, may well have been formative. Unger often staged them in an allegorical context, for example as the sun, spring or nature. The body, depicted in an ornamental pose, shows its gracefulness in the slight twist, while the flower garland allegorically refers to the imminent arrival of spring. The landscape in the background with lake, forest and mountains frames the oversized body in the foreground, which seems to bring forth air, light, water, earth and flowering meadows like the body of a gigantic, eternal goddess of nature. Our painting appears to be a variant of the 1926 painting of the same title, which is in the Städtische Galerie Dresden and was included in the groundbreaking exhibition "Schönheit und Geheimnis. Der deutsche Symbolismus - die andere Moderne" at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld in 2013. [KT]
In good condition. Isolated superficial scratches in the varnish and tiny spots of soiling in the center. Edges and corners minimally scuffed with isolated small color losses. The condition report was compiled in daylight with the help of an ultraviolet light and to the best of knowledge.
Lot Details
Oil on cardboard. Signed in lower right. 47 x 62 cm.
John Knittel Collection (1891-1970), Switzerland (ever since family-owned)
Hans Unger is one of the central, albeit hitherto less recognized, representatives of Symbolism and Art Nouveau in Germany at the turn of the century. Originally trained as a decorative painter at the Royal Court Theater in Dresden, he began to study at the Dresden Art Academy in Friedrich Preller's landscape class, after which he became acquainted with the brighter palette of Impressionism on his travels through Italy and through the exchange with the Goppeln School. Unger's artistic activity is particularly fascinating for the variety of techniques and materials he employs between Symbolism, Impressionism and Art Nouveau, producing poster art, as well as illustrations for magazines such as "PAN" and "Jugend", as well as stage curtains and mosaics. In 1897, the 'Gemäldegalerie' in Dresden bought his work "Die Muse", which earned him greater fame as a painter. In the same year, Unger went to Paris to study at the Académie Julian for six months. His contact with the works of French Symbolist painters such as Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Gustave Moreau, whose dreamy, contemplative female figures would also influence Unger's work in the future, may well have been formative. Unger often staged them in an allegorical context, for example as the sun, spring or nature. The body, depicted in an ornamental pose, shows its gracefulness in the slight twist, while the flower garland allegorically refers to the imminent arrival of spring. The landscape in the background with lake, forest and mountains frames the oversized body in the foreground, which seems to bring forth air, light, water, earth and flowering meadows like the body of a gigantic, eternal goddess of nature. Our painting appears to be a variant of the 1926 painting of the same title, which is in the Städtische Galerie Dresden and was included in the groundbreaking exhibition "Schönheit und Geheimnis. Der deutsche Symbolismus - die andere Moderne" at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld in 2013. [KT]
In good condition. Isolated superficial scratches in the varnish and tiny spots of soiling in the center. Edges and corners minimally scuffed with isolated small color losses. The condition report was compiled in daylight with the help of an ultraviolet light and to the best of knowledge.
