519 - Hanns Bolz (1885 Aachen – Munich 1918)

Hanns Bolz (1885 Aachen – Munich 1918) Male Head Painted plaster. (1916). Approx. 54 x 21.5 x 39 cm. The work will be included in the catalog raisonné currently being prepared by Mr. Erich Kukies under the number “002.” • “Late” work by the artist Hanns Bolz, who died young • After the war, he began creating sculptures and experimenting with new materials • A return to the “primitive” forms of archaic art In the final years of his short life, Hanns Bolz focused on sculpture. Having initially devoted himself to caricature drawing and later to oil painting in Düsseldorf, Paris, and Munich, he now turned his attention to three-dimensional works. The reason must remain a mystery: Bolz was exposed to poison gas as a soldier during the war and became partially blind. It is therefore possible that his turn toward sculpture can be explained by this loss of sensation. His sense of sight shifted to his sense of touch. It seems more likely, however, that—like other artists of his time—he turned back to art without authorship in the wake of the catastrophe of war. His 1916 plaster work “Male Head” is a massive presence. It is not a portrait head, but a primal figure. With the face formalized into a system of lines, the head almost resembles a prehistoric excavation. Nevertheless, the influences of Modernism are unmistakable, as similar stylistic approaches are also known from artists of his time. This turn toward “primitive” art, toward archaeological finds—in short, toward art without an artist—as well as the reduction to the essential, can also be found in the works of Modigliani and Brancusi. Here, Bolz demonstrates his ability to identify creative impulses and explore new approaches to materials. Bibliography: Heusinger von Waldegg, Joachim, “In memoriam Hanns Bolz (1885–1918),” in: Aachener Kunstblätter, vol. 47, 1976/77, p. 296, ill.; Forschelen, Matthias, Hanns Bolz. “Brother of the Best of His Time.” A Documentation of His Life and Work, Part II of the exhibition catalog “Hanns Bolz,” Aachen 1985, pp. 42–43. Exhibition: From Dadamax to the Green Belt. Cologne in the 1920s, Kölnischer Kunstverein 1975, ill. p. 73; Hanns Bolz 1885–1918. An Artist Between Expressionism and Cubism, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen 1985, cat. no. 48, ill. p. 30. Provenance: Ludwig Egidius Ronig, Cologne-Rath/Heumar, with the monogram on the inside; Mrs. Ronig, Refrath 1975; Josef Pock, Cologne 1985; Private collection, Rhineland; Ketterer, Munich, Dec. 10, 2011, Lot 34; Private collection, Europe; Collection, Rhineland, since 2021. Taxation: subject to margin scheme (VAT: Margin Scheme).