Rudolf Bauer

Das Geistreich, Rudolph Bauer Museum, Berlin

Hilla Rebay, New York

Solomon R. Guggenheim (acquired from the above in 1938)

The Solomon Guggenheim Museum (gift from the above in 1941)

Private Collection 

Solomon & Co., New York

Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1998

Charleston, Gibbes  Memorial Art Gallery, Third Enlarged Catalogue of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection of Non-Objective Paintings, 1938, no. 95, illustrated p. 83

Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Fourth Catalogue of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection of Non-Objective Paintings, 1939, no. 59

New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Tenth Anniversary Group Exhibition, 1949

New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim R. Guggenheim Foundation, Art of Tomorrow, 1939, no. 185, p. 112, illustrated p. 45

Vienna, Museum Moderner Kunst; Berlin, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Rudolph Bauer 1889-1953, 1985, p. 81 illustrated pl. 53

Zurich, Galerie & Edition Schlegl, Rudolf Bauer, 1988

Excellent condition. Original canvas. Under UV light, a very small spot of retouching can be seen in the extreme lower edge and also right under the orange square on the left.
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.
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Bauer painted this spectacular canvas from 1937 at the apotheosis of his fascinating career.  German-born Rudolf Bauer was a principal innovator and exponent of Non-objective painting, the term favored by Solomon R. Guggenheim himself to describe autonomous abstractions, from lyrical expressionism to geometric constructivism. Bauer began his career in Berlin at the onset of World War I, becoming a prominent figure in the avant-garde circle at Herwarth Walden's famed Galerie Der Sturm alongside fellow luminaries Paul Klee, Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky. It was the latter artist who influenced Bauer most, and their shared passion for spiritualism and musically-derived improvisation in art led them to collaboratively refine their styles and theories and exhibit together often throughout the late 1910s and early 1920s.  By the 1930s, Bauer was considered a leader among the German avant-garde and was the favored artist of Solomon R. Guggenheim, whe ended up purchasing the lion's share of the artist's production.

Bauer's daring new brand of abstraction was first exposed to the American public in 1920, when the renowned collector and Société Anonyme co-founder Katherine Dreier purchased a major oil at Der Sturm and exhibited it in New York to rave reviews. Despite these early accolades, Bauer's true success came seven years later when copper magnate and then-fledgling art collector Solomon Guggenheim was shown works by Bauer and Kandinsky by German art advisor and future Guggenheim Foundation director Hilla Rebay. Guggenheim was enthralled by the vanguard genius of Non-objective art, and he devoted himself to building what is now one of the world's greatest modern art collections around the primacy of Bauer and Kandinsky. Guggenheim acquired hundreds of the artist's works over the years and in 1939 went so far as to preemptively purchase the artist's entire estate. He filled his massive suite at the Plaza Hotel exclusively with Bauer's work, gave the artist funds to create a museum devoted to Non-objective art in Germany and even entrusted Bauer to purchase works from other emerging European artists on his behalf. As a result Bauer was personally responsible for selecting many of the greatest works by Kandinsky in the Guggenheim collection, though a letter from Hilla Rebay to Bauer reveals that in one case, "Mr. Guggenheim likes the Kandinsky very much but [he likes] yours better. He would like all your most recent works. He is very excited and wants nothing else in his bedroom" (quoted in Joan M. Lukach, Hilla Rebay: In Search of the Spirit in Art, New York, 1983, p. 58).