- 107
Edvard Munch
Estimate
550,000 - 750,000 GBP
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Description
- Edvard Munch
- Evening, Melancholy I (W. 91; Sch. 82)
- Woodcut
- Image: 372 by 452mm; 15 5/8 by 17¾in
- Sheet: 422 by 600mm; 16 5/8 by 23 5/8 in
The very rare woodcut printed in light blue, dark-blue, light-green and reddish-brown, 1896, a good impression of Woll's state a/IV/3 with the sea behind the figure, signed in pencil, printing with relief verso, on laid paper with a Bird Feeding watermark
Condition
With full margins (a deckle edge on each side), in good condition apart from minor uneven paper discoloration (only visible in the margins) and a vertical hairline printer's crease at lower edge of image, a small adhesion verso, four small pieces of hingeing tape (paper) at edges of sheet verso, framed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Melancholy is one of Munch's most remarkable colour prints; it is also one of his earliest woodcuts, demonstrating his immediate fluency in the medium. The present work is a reversed image of the painting of the same subject of 1891. The dejected figure represents Munch's lifelong friend Jappe Nilssen, a writer and critic whose doomed love affair with the married Oda Lasson Krohg is the cause of his distress. In the painting and the second printed rendition of the subject executed in 1901, Munch includes the figures of Oda and her husband approaching the rowing boat on the far shore.
The complex printing of the colours of the present work is comparable to the example of this subject in the Straus collection, which Prelinger describes as printed in Munch’s favourite range of colours for this motif. She describes how the tension between the hot and cool hues seems to reflect the conflicting emotions of the slumped figure.[1]
[1]Elizabeth Prelinger, Edvard Munch, Master Printmaker, New York, 1983, p.88