Adolf Erbslöh

Adolf Erbslöh Montigny Around 1916/1917 Oil on canvas. 54 x 63.5 cm. Framed. Signed 'A. Erbslöh' upper right in black. Salmen/Billeter 1916/32 Provenance Estate of the artist: Galerie Dr. Fresen, Munich; Van Ham, Cologne, 322nd Auction, 7.6.2013, lot 323; DELI-Collection, Monaco Exhibitions Frankfurt am Main 1918 (Kunstsalon Ludwig Schames), cat. no. 41; Darmstadt 1918 (location unknownt), Deutsche Kunst, cat. no. 43; Munich 1919 (Galerie Neue Kunst - Hans Goltz), V. Gesamtausstellung, cat. no. 10; Dresden 1920 (Künstler-Vereinigung), Summer Exhibition, cat. no. 8; Wuppertal-Barmen 1931 (Kunstverein), Adolf Erbslöh, cat. no. 38 (label verso); Hamm 1981 (Städtisches Museum), Adolf Erbslöh, cat. no. 43 (label verso); Wuppertal/Bremen/Warburg/Bad Homburg 1992 (Von der Heydt-Museum/Kunsthalle/Museum im "Stern"/Sinclair-Haus), Adolf Erbslöh. Gemälde 1903 - 1945, cat. no. 50 Literature Hans Wille, Adolf Erbslöh, Recklinghausen 1982, p. 26, illus. 40; Salmen, Brigitte; Billeter, Felix: Adolf Erbslöh 1891-1947; Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde, Munich 2016, p. 153, cat. no. 1916/32, col. illus. pp. 28, 153 Adolf Erbslöh was a member of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (NKVM), the precursor of the Blaue Reiter, which he joined in 1909 together with Kandinsky, Jawlensky, Kanoldt and Wittenstein, among others, but artistically broke away from the circle of Expressionists at an early stage. His landscapes however show his deep affinity with the Expressionist artists and his desire for a truthful, almost Cézannesque depiction of what he saw. In the present painting, however, Erbslöh dispenses with his usual brilliant use of colour in order to render the ghostly scene of a war-ravaged house front in Montigny, France. During World War I, Erbslöh was deployed as a war painter and draughtsman on the western front near Verdun from 1916. During this time, he mainly portrayed devastated landscapes and places. The painting "Ruins of Béthincourt", created in the same year and with a similar palette, is now in the Düsseldorf Kunstpalast. Situated between Nancy and Strasbourg, the town of Montigny was only around 15km away from the frontline at the start of the war, and in the course of the following four years, was the scene of several bombardments from German troops under General Ludendorff – in 1917, a French field hospital was destroyed, and in May 1918, further cannonades forced the civilian population to flee. The proceeds of this lot and Lempertz´s commission will be donated to benefit humanitarian aid in the Ukraine.