7084 - Schlichter, Rudolf

Schlichter, Rudolf Group of Riders (Wild West Scene) Watercolor and black pen on vellum. Circa 1919. 52 x 65 cm. Signed "Rudolf Schlichter" in pencil in the lower right corner. Toward the end of World War I, and influenced by the experiences associated with it, Schlichter reflected on the heroes of his youth—the protagonists of the stories by James Fenimore Cooper and, later, Karl May. Like many of his fellow artists of the time, including George Grosz and Otto Dix, the great eccentric Schlichter took refuge in his younger years in the visual worlds of a romantically imagined, adventurous Wild West. The watercolor “Group of Riders,” from the artist’s early work, depicts a typical Wild West scene, the kind that could be seen in numerous films from the years leading up to World War I, beginning with the 1903 film *The Great Railroad Robbery*: Typical Western male figures—such as cowboys, trappers, or Mexicans wearing sombreros—on horses of various colors, sketched with virtuosity and precision and rendered in vivid colors. On the reverse is another drawing by the artist, in black pen, titled “Theater Scene: Two Men in Riding Boots.” Provenance: Private collection, Hesse - Please request condition reports for the lots, as the condition is only indicated in the catalog in exceptional cases. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.