Jakob Steinhardt

Sale: Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv, January 16, 2000, lot 21

Tel-Aviv Museum, Dizengoff House, October-November, 1964
Gedäechnisstelung in Wedding, Berlin, August-September, 1973, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, this exhibition travelled to Bonn, Amsterdam and Bad Godesburg
Tefen, Industrial Park, The Open Museum, Jacob and Israel, Homeland and Identity in the Work of Jakob Steinhardt, 1998, p. 151, no. 210, illustrated in color in the exhibition catalogue

Professor Hans Tieze, Jacob Steinhardt, Berlin, 1930 (illustrated)
Rudolf Pfefferkorn, Jacob Steinhardt, Berlin, 1967 (illustrated)

The canvas is lined. The surface is in generally good condition, except for slight frame abrasion, minor craquelure on the lower left side, small possible accretion and light surface dust. Inspection under UV reveals retouches in the sky in the upper right edge and corner, a 1.5 inch vertical possible repair with inpainting on the upper right side, a 2 by 2.5 inch possible patch with inpainting on the lower left corner. 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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The German born Steinhardt moved to Berlin at the age of nine. There he became a student of Hermann Struck and Lovis Corinth and then studied under Laurens and Matisse in Paris. Upon his return from Rome, in 1912, he joined with Richard Janthur and Ludwig Meidner to create the visionary group known as Die Pathetiker and by the 1920s Steinhardt had a firmly established popular reputation. In 1933 Steinhardt was investigated by the Nazi police, and consequently fled Germany for Mandate Palestine where he continued to paint prolifically and greatly influence a new generation of artists until his death in 1968.

Painted in 1930, The Sunday Preacher is an important example of Steinhardt's work as a multi-layered dialogue between an artist and society. In the satirical manner of George Grosz and Otto Dix, Jakob Steinhardt uses grotesque figures to convey his social views regarding the decadence of the Germans oblivious to the coming apocalypse which the artist himself had already grasped and which had caused him to flee Germany.

Ziva Amishai-Meisels discusses this work and comments: "With the rise of Nazi power in Germany towards the end of the 1920s, he returned sensing impending catastrophe, he [Steinhardt] again used the prophet to warn Germans to repent their present-day evil  before it was too late. Instead of Jonah, whom he had repeatedly shown vigorously preaching repentance at Nineveh..., in 1930 he chose a modern Sunday Preacher who - like his 1913 Prophet... rather weakly raises his arms to summon the sinners around him to change their ways (Figs. 109, 210). Unlike Jonah and the Prophet, he is unsuccessful: they ignore him and continue their evil ways.  Like George Grosz, he satirized the hedonistic high-life of the late Weimar Republic, preaching that its neglect of social justice - shown by the disinterest of the fat, well dressed orgiasts in the poor old couple, widow and orphan - would cause its downfall." (Tefen, The Open Museum, Industrial Park, Jacob and Israel, Homeland and Identity in the Work of Jakob Steinhardt, 1998, p. 227)