7118 - Scheiber, Hugó

Scheiber, Hugó Can-can Dancer Gouache on vellum. 54 x 48.8 cm. Signed "Scheiber" in blue chalk in the lower left corner. Captured in mid-dance with one leg raised, Scheiber vividly captures the can-can dancer in the very moment of movement. The billowing dress echoes the figure’s dynamism and blends into the characteristic formal canon of sweeping lines, while the implied stage space underscores the dance-like character of the depiction. The expressive lines and the dynamic composition lend the scene a rhythmic vitality. Trained in Budapest, Scheiber increasingly turned to German Expressionism and Futurism after 1900. Through the Hungarian artistic community in Vienna—which included his friend, the writer and painter Lajos Kassák—Scheiber gained access to the avant-garde artistic circles of his time. A joint exhibition with Béla Kádár in Vienna brought him his first major success in 1919. Beginning in 1921, Scheiber was supported by Herwarth Walden in Berlin, who featured his works in his magazine *Der Sturm*. Between 1924 and 1930, Scheiber was represented in a total of nine exhibitions at the Sturm Gallery, alongside Béla Kádár, Adolf Küthe, László Moholy-Nagy, Oskar Nerlinger, Boriska Polgar, Kurt Schwitters, and Arnold Topp. Thanks to Walden’s support, Scheiber also gained increasing international recognition. His works were exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, at the Vienna Hagenbund, and at the Mostra Nazionale d’Arte in Rome. This depiction of the can-can dancer exemplifies Scheiber’s interest in movement and rhythm and his fusion of figurative representation with the dynamic visual languages of the European avant-garde. Provenance: Leo Spik, Berlin, auction December 13, 2001, Lot 229 Private collection, Berlin - Please request condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.