Lot 847

Description

Tempera on paper, signed and dated "Egon Tschirch, Mai 1918" at the bottom right. Half-length portrait of his brother Hans Tschirch sat at a table, in field-grey uniform with the officer's shoulder boards of the Flying Corps and a ribbon bar at his breast. Flowers and a shrub in the background. Size of the painting 66 x 50 cm, in a modern frame with UV glass, size of the frame 69.5 x 53 cm. An exquisite, vibrant expressionist tribute to his brother Hans Tschirch (1892 - 1918), a pilot at the flight observer academy Schwerin-Görries, who was killed in an air crash near Wismar on 9 March 1918, together with Uffz. Hans Schelhorn. Egon Tschirch studied under Bruno Paul at the teaching institute of the museum of arts and crafts from 1907 to 1912, under Viktor Mohn at the Royal School of Art and under Anton von Werner at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1913, he opened his studio in Rostock. His study trips to France and Tunisia in 1914 were formative for the use of vivid colours in his works. After being wounded as a soldier in World War I, he created posters for the War Press Office in Berlin in 1917/18. He achieved his breakthrough in the Weimar period when, as a founding member of the progressive Vereinigung Rostocker Künstler (tr. Association of Rostock Artists), he created numerous provocative and controversial works in different styles. Nevertheless, comparisons were drawn with Oskar Kokoschka and his works were juxtaposed with those of Lovis Corinth in Schwerin. Despite his membership in the Reichskammer der Bildenden Künste, exhibitions and commissioned works during the Nazi period, there was much debate as to whether his works from the 1920s should be considered "degenerate art". After the war, he remained in Rostock and was highly regarded by the Soviet occupation forces for the Realism of his work.

Condition: I - II Questions about the lot?