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97 - KARL HARTUNG
Starting price
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Estimation
€8,000 - 12,000Sale fees
KARL HARTUNG (1908 Hamburg – 1967 Berlin) Eerie Head I, 1946 Bronze, with a gold-colored patina. 39 x 20 x 30 cm. Number 11/20. Signed “HARTUNG” and numbered on the reverse, at the base of the neck. Karl Hartung is considered one of the pioneers of abstract sculpture in Germany; his forms straddle the line between figuration and abstraction. He was represented at documenta I, II, and III, and served as president of the German Artists’ Association from 1955 to 1967. “Unheimliche Kopf I” was created in 1946, the year of Hartung’s breakthrough. The skull shape is stretched into a broad segment that flares widely at the top, resting on a short neck mounted directly on the base without a pedestal. In profile, the face becomes particularly clear: a straight forehead, a nose, a flat zigzag for a mouth, and a chin. Ears, hair, and eyes are absent. The mass is pierced where the eyes should be. The uncanny quality lies not in distortion, but in omission. The head remains recognizable as a head and becomes alien precisely because of this. Above all, the hole: where one would expect a gaze, one sees right through the sculpture. At the same time, the shiny surface reflects the viewer’s own image back at them.
Auction house
Kunstauktionshaus Leipzig +49 3 41 25 37 6245 info@kunstauktionshaus-leipzig.comDelivery is optional. You can use the carrier of your choice. The stated price does not include the lot price or the auction house fees.