100 - KOLBE, GEORG

KOLBE, GEORG 1877 Waldheim, Saxony–1947 Berlin Title: Standing Girl (Girl Figure in a Robe). Date: 1906 (draft). Technique: Bronze, with a light-brown patina. Dimensions: 35.5 x 8 x 10 cm. Inscription: Monogrammed on the plinth behind the right foot: GK. Foundry mark: H. NOACK BERLIN. The bronze is registered under number W 06.014 in the online catalogue raisonné of the Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin. This is one of a total of 9 casts. Foundry mark on the rear edge of the plinth: Provenance: - Galerie Rosenbach, Hanover (2007) - Private collection, Southern Germany - A figure design from 1906 featuring a finely observed, natural posture - A vividly modeled bronze with a warm, light-brown patina - One of Kolbe’s earliest sculptural works, created during his year-long stay at the Villa Romana in Florence as one of the first scholarship recipients After training as a painter and graphic artist, Georg Kolbe turned to sculpture around 1900. During an extended stay in Rome, he began to focus intensively on the depiction of the human body. Even in his early sculptures, his keen sense of the natural posture and movement of the human body is evident. Careful observation of form and a dynamic treatment of the surface became key foundations of his sculptural work. The female figure, in particular, soon took center stage in his oeuvre. The “Standing Girl,” created in 1906, belongs to this early phase of his work. A young woman stands on a narrow, irregularly shaped plinth with her legs slightly offset and her arms hanging loosely at her sides. Her head is gently tilted, her gaze lowered. With one hand, she holds a cloth behind her body; its heavier, restlessly modeled folds extend all the way down to the base. This understated gesture lends the figure an air of both naturalness and thoughtfulness. Particularly appealing is the contrast between the softly rounded parts of the body and the more dynamic modeling of the hair and garment. Fine irregularities in the surface stand out on the light brown patinated bronze: shifting reflections of light emphasize the shoulders, hips, and legs. Although the figure stands upright, the slight tilt of the head and upper body, along with the differing positions of the legs, creates a subtle sense of movement. The body appears neither strictly aligned nor deliberately posed, but rather captured in a casual moment. Estimated shipping costs for this lot: Domestic: 30.25 euros plus 5.75 euros VAT EU: 46.22 euros plus 8.78 euros VAT Third country: 92.44 euros plus 17.56 euros VAT Additional shipping insurance Shipping insurance up to a total invoice amount of 25,000 euros: max. 41.65 euros over a total invoice amount of 25,000 euros: 1.8 per thousand USA: by individual arrangement after the auction. #Georg Kolbe #Expressionism #Berlin Secession #Germany #Modern Art #1900s #Sculptures.