Art History News: Franz Marc

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Franz Marc

Sotheby's 2016

Franz Marc Grosse Landschaft I (Large Landscape I) (1909)Estimate:£4,000,000-6,000,000‘

Marc believed that the horse, with its flowing mane and strong, sinuous physicality, symbolised the ideal beauty of nature. In 1911, Marc and Kandinsky chose this majestic animal for the cover of Der Blaue Reiter Almanach–the manifesto of a group fundamental to Expressionism. This early work heralds the artist’s bold palette and his rejection of naturalistic use of colour, in a harmonious and rhythmic composition. Marc died during the First World War, and the surviving artists, including Kandinsky and Paul Klee, later acknowledged their debt to the spiritually based, ‘primitive’ aesthetic that Marc had pioneered.
Christie's 2015

Appearing at auction for the very first time and dating from 1911, the year when Franz Marc (1880-1916) truly articulated his artistic vision, Gemsen encapsulates the ideas and stylistic tendencies that were at the very core of the artist’s aesthetic endeavours (estimate: £1.8-2.5 million). Marc sought to create an image of the world in harmony, as a holistic and abstract spiritual entity. This approach led to increasingly abstracted elements in Marc’s art, starting from 1911 when he founded Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) with Kandinsky. Not only are the geometric shapes of the mountains in the present work abstract, but crucially also the colours – the green chamois, blue mountains, purple clouds. Blue held a particularly strong meaning to Marc, with blue mountains often appearing in his work as symbols of his spiritual aspirations. Coming from a distinguished private collection, this work presents collectors with the unique opportunity to purchase a piece by Franz Marc from what was arguably the most formative year of his career. Christie’s set the world record price for a work on paper by the artist in the February 2015 London Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale when

Springendes Pferd, 1913, by Franz Marc (1880-1916) sold for £2,546,500 against an estimate of £1.5 to £2 million, far surpassing the previous record of £936,500 which was set in 1997.

Christie's 2014