BERNARD RICHTERS, methamorphosis

signed and inscribed Gooyergracht 21 Laren N5 on the reverse

black charcoal on card, framed

executed in 1920's

The Family of the artist

Galerie Frans Leidelmeijer, Amsterdam

Illustrated in Koopmans 1993, p. 30 (actual piece)

Some traces of water damage are visible only on the reverse, otherwise in good condition.
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Sculptor Bernard Richters (1888 - 1966) went to Paris circa 1912, attracted by the art scene like so many of his contemporaries. In Paris he met the German expressionist Otto Freundlich, whose early works based on 'primitive' mask heads made a great impression on the young artist. Following his return to The Netherlands a few years later, he joined De Branding in Rotterdam, an expressionistic artists' group co-founded by his friend Herman Bieling (see lot 246). At the 1925 Paris World Fair, Richters executed ornamental sculpture for the Dutch exhibition rooms. Apart from sculpture, he made works on paper which, like his sculptures, were independent creations rather than preliminary studies or design drawings, the drawing here offered showing stylised faces of humans and apes