Lot 8178

Description

Bronze sculpture, height 97.5 cm (without plinth), 1941, cast and signed on the plinth (height 2 cm) “Kurt Schmid-Ehmen 1941”. Fine dark-brown patina. Sculpted by Schmid-Ehmen in 1941. Just one year later, the figurine was shown at the 1942 Great German Art Exhibition in the Haus der Kunst. Also includes a contemporary photograph of the “Haarbinderin” in plaster, mounted on an album page inscribed on the reverse (tr.) “'Die Haarbinderin' 1943 (For bronze) – Half life-size”. Six photographic prints of the plaster version in Schmid-Ehmen's studio (two featuring Schmid-Ehmen) and several colour prints of bronze versions of this figure, including a shot of the elderly Hetty Schmid-Ehmen standing beside the figure offered here (?). Moreover, a photocopy of a 1938 letter from Karl Kolb, managing director of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, informing Schmid-Ehmen that his (tr.) “Female figure (bronze; cat. no. 894)” had been purchased by the “Führer”. Kurt Schmid-Ehmen (1901–1968), an important German sculptor, achieved acclaim as the creator of the Reich eagle, the emblem of the National-Socialist party. Characteristic of his works are the highly charged simplification of form and the impulse to capture the very essence of his subjects. Schmid-Ehmen's personal acquaintanceship with Paul Ludwig Troost and Adolf Hitler led to spectacular commissions, such as the design of the memorial in the Feldherrnhalle for those killed on 9 November 1923 and the eagles at numerous NSDAP buildings, including the New Reich Chancellery. He was awarded a professorship in early 1937. His sculptures were represented at all the Great German Art Exhibitions from 1937 to 1944. See another “Nude dressing her hair” in a greenish-patinated bronze version at Hermann Historica, 69th Auction 2014, lot 6239, hammer price 42,000 euros.

Condition: I - II Questions about the lot?