City of dawn

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City of Dawn (Egon Schiele)
City of dawn
Egon Schiele , 1913
Oil and black chalk on canvas
90.5 x 90.1 cm

The City of Dawn is an expressionist painting by Egon Schiele from 1913. From 1930 it was owned by the Jewish widow Elsa Koditschek , who was able to survive the Holocaust hidden in Vienna, temporarily in her own villa. It was withdrawn from her during the Nazi era . In 1950 it was auctioned in Vienna's Dorotheum and legally acquired by Schiele collector Viktor Fogarassy (1897–1977). A voluntary private restitution led to the auction of the painting in New York in November 2018. The proceeds are to be divided between the heirs after Elsa Koditschek and Viktor Fogarassy.

description

In addition to the nudes, the self-portraits, the portraits and the allegories, the urban landscapes form a fifth focus in Schiele's work, above all the views of Český Krumlov , the birthplace of his mother Marie Schiele nee. Soukup (1862-1935). The historic old town lies on both banks of the Vltava and is listed as a cultural monument on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is located in southern Bohemia, on the border with Upper Austria . Schiele's stays in Krumau with his partner Wally Neuzil are guaranteed from May to December 1910 and from May to June 1911. However, the bohemian appearance of Schiele and his friends, the “ wild marriage ” with Wally and the reports of portrait sessions with very young girls outraged them Small townspeople in such a way that the painter had to leave the city. However, he kept coming back for shorter stays, but then stayed at the “Zur Stadt Wien” or “Zum Goldenen Engel” inns. He painted and drew motifs from Krumlov again and again:

  • 1906: The Budweiser Tor in Kurmau
  • 1907: Meadow with a large tree
  • 1908: City gate with stone bridge (Budweiser Tor), view of Český Krumlov houses , houses in Český Krumlov and the village on the river II
  • 1909: City study Krumau
  • 1910: Houses on the Vltava and Krumau Town Hall I , city ​​on the blue river , field landscape - Kreuzberg near Krumau , Gewitterberg , chapel near Krumau , Dead City I , Krumau ring square and town house
  • 1911: Krumlov Town Hall II and night scene , landscape with houses and wayside shrines , Dead City III , City on the Blue River II , view of houses and roofs of Krumlov
  • 1912: Dead City IV , The old city I , view over the roofs of the house facades of the Krumlov square and meadow, church and houses.
Small City II , the counterpart
  • 1913: Twilight Town and Small Town II , Small Town III , Krumau , Krumau - Study of Town and River , Krumau an der Moldau (a study on the painting Small Town IV )
  • 1914: Krumau an der Moldau (Die kleine Stadt IV) (painting), Houses on the river (Die Stadt II) (painting), Yellow City , The Yellow City , House Arch (Krumau) , pencil drawings of old houses (Krumau) , old houses in Krumau , houses in Krumau , row of houses (row of houses in Bohemian-Krumau) , Krumau , house with shingle roof
  • 1915: Arch of houses in Krumlov (Arch I, district of Krumlov, painting), Arch of Houses (island town), wall of houses by the river (Old House I) , house with shingle roof (painting)
  • 1916: City and river (Krumlov landscape, landscape with river, landscape) (painting)
  • 1917: Arch of houses , old gabled houses in Krumau (houses with Renaissance gables) (drawing), suburban house with laundry (house with drying laundry), houses in Krumau , Krumau (old geibel houses in Krumau from the castle tower) .
  • 1917: end of town

The painting Twilight City is the counterpart to Small City II , a picture of the same size from the same year.

Provenance

The picture is sometimes called The Small City II . The counterpart is in the Leopold Museum and is described by the latter as follows: “Die kleine Stadt” II, also “Kleine Stadt” III, ̈ oil on canvas (sewn from two parts), 1913 89.9 × 90 cm. According to an exclusive report from Standard , the sale was based on a private restitution. The Austrian Art Restitution Act cannot be applied to private property, which is why agreements between private individuals are extremely rare. Since 1998 only two private restorations relating to Austrian works of art have been made public; the Twilight City will be the third. These procedures are often operated by mediations or lawyers for many years. This painting was auctioned in September 1950 at Dorotheum in Vienna by the well-known Schiele collector Viktor Fogarassy (1897–1977), a member of the Graz department store dynasty Kastner & Öhler . Although the painting was acquired lawfully and in good faith, the heirs to Fogarassy agreed to restitute it. They parted with the picture “not because she had to, but because she wanted to.” The family did not want to comment on the decision. The intermediary was the auction house Sotheby's. The standard quotes its Austria boss Andrea Jungmann: “In addition to understanding, you need to be willing to give a problem a positive turn.” After the agreement, the proceeds are usually returned, auctioned and the proceeds are divided between the two families involved. Lucian Simmons, Senior Vice President of the auction house, was also involved in the settlement negotiations.

In November 2018, the picture was auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York for $ 24.57 million. Expectations had been between $ 12 million and $ 18 million. The highest auction proceeds for a Schiele painting in 2011 were £ 24.6 million, that was $ 39.8 million at the time, achieved for houses with colored linen (1914) at Sotheby's in London. The painting was brought in from the Leopold Museum in Vienna; the buyer was an anonymous telephone bidder. The Twilight City was on display in the London auction house until October 9, 2018, for the first time in 50 years and for the first time in Great Britain. After that, the painting was brought to New York.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Renata Hrabalová: Egon Schiele and Krumau , České Budějovice 2014
  2. ^ Leopold Museum (Vienna): Description of provenance , accessed on October 6, 2018
  3. ↑ a b c d Olga Kronsteiner : Why the auction of this painting by Egon Schiele is a sensation , Der Standard (Vienna), October 5, 2018
  4. ↑ Schiele's "Twilight City" auctioned for 22 million euros . Kleine Zeitung , November 13, 2018, accessed June 25, 2020 . .
  5. ↑ Die Welt (Berlin): Egon Schiele painting auctioned for record sums , 23 June 2011
  6. ↑ artdaily: Sotheby's to offer a restituted masterpiece by Egon Schiele this November in New York , October 6, 2018