WALTER DEXEL (1890-1973)
Komposition 1923 XI (recto); Stadt (verso)
signed, dated and titled 'WALTER DEXEL 23 1923 XI' (on the stretcher); signed and indistinctly dated `W. DEXEL 2...' (verso, at the extreme lower centre edge; under the stretcher bar) and inscribed ‘RAUCHEN U. BETRETEN DER BAUSTELLE IST VERBOTEN' (verso, within the composition)
oil on canvas
25¹⁄₂ x 21¹⁄₄ in. (64.9 x 53.8 cm.)
Painted in 1923

Private collection, by whom acquired directly from the artist.
Friedrich Wilhelm Krämer, Cologne, by 1974.
Galerie Brockstedt, Hamburg.
Private collection, Germany, by whom probably acquired from the above, and thence by descent to the present owners.

R. Wöbkemeier, Walter Dexel, Werkverzeichnis: Gemälde, Hinterglasbilder, Gouachen, Aquarelle, Collagen, Ölstudien, Entwürfe zu Bühnenbildern, Heidelberg, 1995, no. 217, p. 215 (illustrated).

Wiesbaden, Neues Museum,Nassauischer Kunstverein und Wiesbadener Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst,Gruppenausstellung u. a. mit Werken von Buchheister, El Lissitzky, Molzahn, Robert Michel, Ella Bergmann und Kurt Schwitters,May - June 1925, no. 7, p. 1.
Braunschweig, Städtischen Museum, Walter Dexel: Gemälde, Hinterglasbilder, Aquarelle, Collagen, 1912 bis 1932, February - March 1962, no. 48, n.p.(titled 'Figuration 1923 XI').
Hannover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Walter Dexel, January - March 1974, no. 226, p. 112 (illustrated p. 60; with incorrect dimensions).
Münster, Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Walter Dexel. Bilder, Aquarelle, Collagen, Leuchtreklame, Typografie, May - July 1979, no. 62, p. 170 (illustrated p. 145); this exhibition later travelled to Ulm, Ulmer Museum, August - September 1979.
Berlin, Kunstamt Wedding, Walter Dexel, September - October 1983, no. 52, n.p. (illustrated); this exhibition later travelled to Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern, January - February 1984.
Bremen, Kunsthalle, Walter Dexel, Bild Zeichen Raum, November 1990 - January 1991, no. 38, p. 175; this exhibition later travelled to Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, February - March 1991; Berlin, Bauhuas-Archiv, April - June 1991; Wolfsburg, Kunstverein, June - July 1991; and Karlsruhe, Badischer Kunstverein, August - September 1991.
Düsseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Konstruktivistische Internationale Schöpferische Arbeitsgemeinschaft 1922-1927: Utopien füreine europäische Kultur, May - August 1992, no. 19, p. 334 (illustrated p. 233); this exhibition later travelled to Halle, Staatlichen Galerie Moritzburg, September - November 1992.

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Lot Essay

Created in 1923, Komposition 1923 XI/Stadt dates from a key period of experimentation and exploration in Walter Dexel’s artistic career, as he began to embrace the formal language of Constructivism in his painting. In his role as the artistic director of the Kunstverein in Jena (1916-28), Dexel came into contact with many leading figures of the European avant-garde during the early 1920s, including Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Kurt Schwitters, Paul Klee, El Lissitzky, László Moholy-Nagy, and Theo van Doesburg, with whom the artist developed a close friendship from 1921 onwards. Immersed in this dynamic milieu, Dexel’s absorbed and responded to the many diverse styles and theories that were sweeping through Europe at this time, translating them through his own idiosyncratic vision.

This important double-sided canvas illustrates the evolving nature of Dexel’s art during these years, as he explored the full possibilities of complete abstraction. On the recto, he reduces the composition to a carefully balanced configuration of pure, geometric rectangles, differentiated from one another by subtle variations in colour, weight, and orientation. Focusing on the relationships between these elements and the manner in which their characters change as they interact, the image is infused with a palpable internal tension. The reverse, meanwhile, is filled with a colourful multitude of forms overlapping and abutting one another in a dense array, distilling the built environment of the city down to its essential geometric shapes, while still remaining rooted in the figurative.
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Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot. You must pay us an extra amount equal to the resale royalty and we will pay the royalty to the appropriate authority. Please see the Conditions of Sale for further information.