538 - Julius Bissier* (Freiburg im Breisgau 1893 - 1965 Ascona)

Julius Bissier* (Freiburg im Breisgau 1893 - 1965 Ascona) Composition 52 B, 1962 lithography/paper 13 x 22 cm signed Julius Bissier, dated 62 numbered 314/380 SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 150 - 250 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 150 Julius Heinrich Bissier was a German painter, draftsman, and printmaker. His work evolved from early figurative painting associated with the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) movement into a distinctive form of abstraction inspired by East Asian art, Taoism, and Zen Buddhism. After briefly studying art history at the University of Freiburg and spending a few months at the Karlsruhe Art Academy, Bissier worked largely as a self-taught freelance artist from 1918 onwards. Initially, he focused on Old German painting; from 1923, he turned toward a precise, figurative visual language. His friendship with the sinologist Ernst Grosse deepened his interest in Chinese and Japanese art. Encounters with Constantin Brâncuşi, as well as contacts with Willi Baumeister and Oskar Schlemmer, encouraged his shift toward abstraction in the late 1920s. Following the loss of his studio and much of his early work in a fire in 1934, Bissier lived a secluded life in Hagnau on Lake Constance from 1939 onwards. Engaging with Chinese ink painting, he created small-format ink drawings and monotypes in which controlled and spontaneous gestures combine to form poetic, sign-like shapes. From 1955, he produced his characteristic "miniatures" in oil-tempera and watercolor. Having gained international recognition by the late 1950s, he participated in the Venice Biennales of 1958 and 1960, as well as documenta II (1959) and documenta III (1964). In 1961, Bissier moved to Ascona, where he died on June 18, 1965. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights and platform fee. In the case of normal taxation (marked ° at the estimate), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax is added to the sum of the highest bid, the buyer's premium and platform fee. This amounts to 13% for paintings, drawings, graphic works and sculptures and 20% for photographs and all other items. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.