Max Klinger
(Leipzig 1857 - 1920 Grossjena bei Naumburg)
Sketch for a Kachelofen with Fifteen Figures
after 1911
SOLD / VERKAUFT
Signed and inscribed lower left M. Klinger. Grossjena
Provenance:
Private Collection, Leipzig
Exhibited:
Max Klinger. 1857-1920, exhib. cat. (exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the artist's death), Leipzig, ND, p.110, no. 119
Max Klinger's designs for Kachelöfen [traditional tiled stoves] preoccupied him for the last ten years of his life. Two Kachelöfen for his house in Grossjena near Naumburg were completed in 1914 and 1920 after his designs. They are still in situ. A third Kachelofen designed for his friend Paul von Bleichert was destroyed by bombing in the Second World War. Only one tile is preserved.[1] Most of the tiles for Klinger's Kachelöfen were produced in green - in line with his original designs - with figures of female nudes glazed in white. This was his last major project and one to which he devoted considerable time and energy, repeatedly returning to work on it up to his death. Its importance is documented by a large body of preparatory drawings and sketches which have been preserved. He carried out the modelling of the figurative reliefs on the tiles himself and supervised the firing process on extended visits to Saalfeld.[2]
The preparatory drawings contain studies for individual tiles with the figures of female nudes, most of which are dated 1911.[3] There are also three studies for complete Kachelöfen, two of which are dated 1918. The remaining studies are undated. While design and choice of colour vary little, there is great variety in the arrangement of the individual tiles. It would appear that almost all of these preparatory drawings and studies come directly from the artist's estate and are now held by the Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig.[4] Only two sheets came to be acquired by a private collector in Leipzig. One of these is the present sketch.[5]
The relief figures of fifteen female nudes in this sketch are arranged to form the letter M. Each of the reliefs occupies the height or width of two tiles. Four of the figures are depicted in horizontal positions and eleven in vertical positions.
In 1903 Klinger bought a vineyard with a small vintner's house (known later as the 'etcher's cottage') in Grossjena near Naumburg. He enlarged the property in 1910, acquiring an additional building - a sheepfold - and had both buildings constructed into a second residence. He named this the 'Klingerberg'. He retained his property in Leipzig. In the same year - 1910 - he first encountered the two sisters, Ella and Gertrud Bock, who were to model for him. Gertrud took the place of Elsa Asenjeff (1856-1941) who had been his model and lover since 1898. Asenjeff was a Viennese writer and an ardent campaigner for women's rights. Renovation work was completed in Grossjena in 1914 and he moved there in April 1920, shortly before his death. He was buried in Grossjena.
Klinger's sculptural oeuvre has frequently been in the cross-fire of conflicting criticism and the subject of heated debate. In this, his final artistic project, he demonstrates a dual preoccupation with intellectual content and with formal issues. This is documented by the wealth of preparatory studies and sketches and by his interest in applied art. The celebrated collector Gustav Kirstein noted insightfully, as early as 1918: Indeed, Klinger is no poet or thinker. He is a creator. Herein lies the misconception that is the source of so much false praise and false criticism.[6]
The structure of the present composition with its playful arrangement of relief figures is a characteristic example of Klinger's late work. It demonstrates his desire to portray the movements and gestures of the human form in all their complexity. Concentration on the interplay of line and movement became increasingly important in his work.[7]
[1] Completed in 1919 for Bleichert's manor, Klinga, near Leipzig. The Kachelofen was acquired in 1929 by the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Leipzig, inv. no. 29.27, see Max Klinger, op. cit., p.120, no. 120.
[2] This is documented by his letters dated 1916 and 1919, see Hans Wolfgang Singer, Briefe von Max Klinger aus den Jahren 1874 bis 1919, Leipzig 1924, p. 213, 226 and 228. Klinger died on 4 July 1920. On 14 June 1920 he visited Saalfeld to model reliefs for tiles. He modelled from 15 to 30 June. In October 1919 he had suffered a stroke and was obliged to work with his left hand. See Max Klinger, op. cit., p. 33 and Max Klinger. "Alle Register des Lebens". Graphische Zyklen und Zeichnungen, exhib. cat., Cologne, Käthe Kollwitz Museum, 9.11.2007-20.1.2008, Berlin 2007, pp. 286-8 (biography).
[3] Herwig Guratzsch (ed.), Max Klinger. Bestandskatalog der Bildwerke, Gemälde und Zeichnungen im Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, exhib. cat., Leipzig, Museum der bildenden Künste, 3.5.-23.7.1995, pp. 256-8, nos. C632 - C646, C632 - C638 on brown paper.
[4] Herwig Guratzsch, op. cit., p. 283, nos. C 816 - C 820.
[5] Max Klinger, op. cit., p. 110, no. 119.
[6] 'Klinger ist also kein Poet, kein Denker, sondern ein Bildner. Hier liegt der Abweg, von dem aus Klinger oft falsch gepriesen und falsch getadelt wird.' Cited from Max Klinger. Wege zum Gesamtkunstwerk, exhib. cat., Hildesheim, Roemer-und Pelizaeus-Museum, 1984, p. 131.
[7] See Klinger's Tanzreigen, 1898; Max Klinger. Plastische Meisterwerke, Leipzig 1998, pp.7-9.