Swiss Made UNLOCKED

Swiss Made UNLOCKED

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 47. FERDINAND HODLER  |  BILDNIS EINER UNBEKANNTEN.

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT SWISS PRIVATE COLLECTION

FERDINAND HODLER | BILDNIS EINER UNBEKANNTEN

Lot Closed

June 30, 01:45 PM GMT

Estimate

240,000 - 350,000 CHF

Lot Details

Description

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT SWISS PRIVATE COLLECTION

FERDINAND HODLER

1853 - 1918

BILDNIS EINER UNBEKANNTEN


Oil on canvas

Bears artist’s initials lower right

57.5 x 47.4 (unframed); 94.4 x 84.8 (framed)

Executed circa 1914.


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Antiquités Pia, Berne (1937)

Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich, 30th May 1995, lot 11, where acquired by the present owner.

Carl Albert Loosli, Ferdinand Hodler, Leben, Werk und Nachlass, Berne, 1921-1924, no. 2574

Oscar Bätschmann/Paul Müller, Ferdinand Hodler. Catalogue raisonné der Gemälde. Die Bildnisse, Zurich, 2012, vol. II p. 285/286, no 945 (SIK-ISEA 86488), ill.

Hodler’s female portraits are celebrated as some of the most influential works of the genre in the early 20th century. Moving away from traditional compositions, Hodler experimented freely with a bold expressive style and colours, painting some of his most powerful works, of which this female portrait, executed circa 1914, is a prime example.


The young woman portrayed here has not yet been unidentified, but an early expertise by Carl Albert Loosli, dating to April 1937, noted that the portrait was a private commission interrupted because of health reasons of the sitter (see online entry SIK-ISEA 86488).


The position of the figure, against a plain background, devoid of any ornament, reminds us of other iconic portraits by the artist, such as those of Valentine Gode-Darel or Emma Schmidt-Müller. The figure tilts her head to the right, looking upwards slightly. The tension of this pose and the understanding, slightly questioning, gaze of the young woman are central to the portrait’s effect. Her long neck is emphasized by the elegant high collar of her white blouse and the warm skin tones and orange of her jacket contrast with the ivory background. The blue forms of her hat and the folds of the jacket are broadly blocked in.


In a style reminiscent of the Fauves, Hodler applies the paint in thick, broad brushstrokes of vivid pigment; see, for example, the green and pink dashes of paint in her face and neck. The dark, nervous, sinuous outlines of the figure are a hallmark of Hodler’s bold portrait style and give a vivid sense of movement to the composition. These bold outlines, together with the unconventional pose, remind us of Egon Schiele’s portraits from the same period. The two artists came into contact in 1904 when Hodler was invited to exhibit 31 works in 1904 at the Vienna Secession alongside the foremost Austrian painters.


This work is registered in the Swiss Institute for Art Research (SIK-ISEA) under no. 86488.