270 - Rudolf Levy

Rudolf Levy 1875 Stettin – 1944 Auschwitz – “Still Life with Ceramic Jug, Bottle, and Fruit” – (1911) Oil on canvas. 65 x 81 cm. 85.5 x 102 cm (Dimensions including frame). Signed and dated lower right: R Levy / (19)ii. Framed. Slight loss of color in the upper central area. - Provenance: Wallraf-Richartz Museum (Inventory No.: 1204) 1912–1937 - German Reich / Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Berlin 1937 - Berlin, Schönhausen Palace Depot 1938–1939 - Lucerne, Fischer Gallery - Auction: “Paintings and Sculptures by Modern Masters from German Museums,” June 30, 1939, No. 77, SFr. 610. - Lucerne, Dr. Ehret - Private collection, Detmold - Bibliography: Thesing, Susanne. Rudolf Levy (1875–1944). Life and Work. Nuremberg 1990, no. 22 (with full-page illustration on page 78). – A certificate from the Art Loss Register (ALR Ref: S00277160), London, October 15, 2026, is available. Created in 1911, this still life is among the major works from the years when Rudolf Levy was part of the inner circle around Henri Matisse in Paris. As one of the first students at the Académie Matisse, founded in 1908, and as a central figure in the German artists’ circle at the Café du Dôme, Levy combined the vibrant colors of the Fauves with the artistic legacy of Cézanne. Both influences are evident here: the tilted tabletop, the heavily draped white cloth, and the fruits rendered as expanses of color all reference Cézanne. The bold turquoise of the curtain and the glowing reddish-brown of the background, on the other hand, reveal Levy’s Fauvist palette. Together with “Cassis I” (Lot 271) from the same year, the auction features two works from this pivotal phase of his career. As early as 1912, shortly after its creation, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne acquired the painting. This is early evidence of the recognition Levy enjoyed in Germany. In 1937, it was confiscated as part of the “Degenerate Art” campaign. In 1939, it was included in the auction “Paintings and Sculptures by Modern Masters from German Museums” held by Galerie Fischer in Lucerne, through which the Nazi regime sold confiscated works in exchange for foreign currency. Levy himself left Germany in 1933 and ultimately settled in Florence. There he was arrested in 1943 and deported to Auschwitz in 1944, where he was murdered. The history of the painting thus exemplifies the rise, ostracism, and destruction of German modernism.