Oskar Schlemmer

Carl Schlemmer, Pullach
Dr. Wilhelm F. Arntz, Haag
Galerie Dr. Klihm, Munich (acquired in 1955)
Galerie Hanna Bekker vom Rath, Frankfurt
Private Collection, Switzerland (acquired from the above in the 1950s)
Thence by decent to the present owner

Karin von Maur, Oskar Schlemmer, Œuvrekatalog der Gemälde, Aquarelle, Pastelle und Plastiken, Munich, 1979, no. G205, illustrated p. 89
Hans Hildebrandt, Oskar Schlemmer, Munich, 1952, no. 171

Canvas laid down on panel, the panel is sound. There are no signs of retouching visible under UV light and this work appears to be in very good condition.
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Rückenakt mit zwei Figuren is one of the few surviving works created in preparation for the murals for the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany. In 1928 Oskar Schlemmer won the competition to design the wall decorations for the central rotunda of the museum. The central piece of this space was the Knabenbrunnen, a fountain by Georg Minnes, with its most prominent feature being a group of five  kneeling, nude boys. The architectural context posed further challenges in its relatively small floor space and high ceiling.

Oskar Schlemmer spent the next three years carefully working and reworking his designs, which on request of the Museum’s Director, responded to the young mens’ Spiel und Sport athletic movement. Schlemmer achieved this by taking up his iconic subject matter, the representation of figures in space.

Throughout his career Oskar Schlemmer created a dazzling array of works in various media, including paintings, drawings, sculptures and murals but also stage sets and costumes. The human form always remained at the heart of all his artistic efforts. In designing the Folkwang Museum murals, the artist did not aim to construct a narrative or allegorical composition. Instead, he chose to follow his belief in the dramatic impact of the simple actions of the human body in movement: standing, turning, coming and going. 

The present work is a rare example of Schlemmer’s artistic output at the height of his career, which was to culminate two years later in his masterpiece the Bauhaus Staircase, which today is exhibited at the MoMA, New York. Rückenakt mit zwei Figuren reflects the simplified, highly geometric figuration that Schlemmer developed during his Bauhaus years and embodies the artist’s aim at synthesising his fascination with space and architecture, but also the human body, movement and dance.