869 - Fritz Lindemann, three pen drawings after Bauer, Goethe and Frederick the Great

Fritz Lindemann, three pen drawings after Bauer, Goethe and Frederick the Great Three pen drawings on paper after Bauer, each in a mount, behind glass and framed: 1) The young Goethe, signed, dated and inscribed 'nach Bauer II. 35' lower left. Bust portrait of the young Goethe in half profile to the left, the hair brushed back from the forehead in loose strands, the gaze lowered; below it Goethe's name in facsimile. Slightly yellowed, finger marks at the lower edge. Image 24.5 x 20 cm (HxW), overall size 40 x 32 cm (HxW). 2) Goethe, monogrammed and dated 1933 centre right, inscribed 'nach Bauer III'. Frontal bust portrait of the aged Goethe with a full wig combed back and wide open eyes, the face built up entirely from dense, bundled pen strokes. Image 38.5 x 29.5 cm (HxW), overall size 53.5 x 41.5 cm (HxW). 3) Der Alte Fritz, monogrammed and dated lower right, inscribed 'nach Bauer 10. XI. 1933'. Bust portrait of Frederick the Great in three-quarter profile to the left, the thinning hair brushed back from the high forehead, the mouth narrow, below it the collar of the uniform coat. Slightly yellowed. Image 38.5 x 29.5 cm (HxW), overall size 56 x 42.5 cm (HxW). Age-appropriate good condition The inscription 'nach Bauer' refers to the graphic artist and portrait painter Karl Bauer (1868–1942), who made a name for himself with portraits of German intellectual figures and recorded Goethe, Schiller and Beethoven in a linear, thoroughly worked style schooled on Dürer; his sheets were widespread as wall decoration in middle-class households. Copying such models with the pen was a common exercise in draughtsmanship in the 1930s and at the same time a declaration of allegiance to the model depicted. Goethe and Frederick the Great stood for the two poles on which the middle-class ideal of education was oriented: poetry and statecraft.