7171 - Heldt, Werner

Heldt, Werner Houses and a Chapel in Ruins Black brush on sketchbook paper. 1948. 21.9 x 30.4 cm. Monogrammed (ligated) “WH” in pencil at the bottom right, dated, and inscribed “25.” at the bottom left. Seel 534. The facades and rubble rest on several lines and are arranged haphazardly throughout the space, giving them an almost weightless appearance and evoking associations with a rocking ship. The “House Still Life” refers to Heldt’s extensive series “Berlin by the Sea,” consisting of drawings and lithographs through which the artist visually captured the existential instability and disorientation of the postwar period. “Werner Heldt is the painter of Berlin in a special sense. He presents us with an image of a city stripped of all local color. The abyss of time has swept through this city. (...) A cold wind has blown its streets empty, swept them clean.” (Wieland Schmied, *The Work of Werner Heldt*, in: Eberhard Seel, *Werner Heldt*, Cologne 1976, p. 8). Provenance: Irene Lehr, Berlin, auction October 27, 2012, lot 238 Grisebach, Berlin, auction Nov. 29, 2013, Lot 534 Formerly Galerie Brusberg, Berlin (with its adhesive label on the reverse) - Please request condition reports for the lots, as the condition is listed in the catalog only in exceptional cases. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.