ADOLF WÖLFLI | Der San Salvathor

Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1990

New York, American Folk Art Museum, St. Adolf-Giant-Creation: The Art of Adolf Wölfli, February - May 2003, frontispiece, p. 99, illustrated in color

Elka Spoerri and Daniel Baumann, "St. Adolf-Giant-Creation: The Art of Adolf Wölfli," Folk Art, Vol. 27, No. 4, Winter 2002/2003, cover, p. 47, illustrated in color

Please contact the Contemporary Art Department for the professional report prepared by Alan Firkser.
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 way in which the Williams family came to collect Adolf Wölfli’s Der San Salvathor holds a special place in Marsha’s heart. While working in New York and searching for a birthday present for Robin, Marsha spotted Wölfli’s masterpiece in Phyllis Kind’s gallery. “I thought it was actually maybe a rug kind of maquette, for lack of a better word, because it has that kind of mandala order to it that looks almost like a carpet. Once I saw that on the wall, I just couldn’t see anything else.” Marsha was not the first to be enamored by the work. Der San Salvathor had also caught the eye of an important American collector and a prestigious museum was interested in the piece for their collection as well. However, in the end, the work found its way to the Williams Collection. While it was not the artist's troubled history that initially drew Marsha to the work, Marsha quickly became fascinated by his story. She recounted, “With Wölfli there's a story in everything he did. I just think it is really captivating. Back then, if you had serious mental health issues, they gave you things like colored pencils and butcher block paper to encourage the exploration of expression of your personal stuff.”

It is Wölfli’s great achievement that he could create his art both within the domain of his illness and in spite of it. With the pictorial and literary means of his art, Wölfli was able to express the existential condition that this psychosis forced him to experience, and in so doing, he allows us an insight into his particular condition humaine.

Elka Spoerri and Dianle Baumann, "St. Adolf-Giant-Creation: The Art of Adolf Wölfli," in Folk Art, Vol. 27, No. 4, Winter 2002/2003, p. XX