566 - Robert Michel (1897, Vockenhausen, Taunus – Titisee-Neustadt, 1983)

Robert Michel (1897, Vockenhausen, Taunus – Titisee-Neustadt, 1983) “Intérieur international: I” Mixed media with blueprint, ink, watercolor, and opaque white on paper. (19)57/58. Approx. 56 x 63 cm. Signed and dated upper left, titled lower left. • A focused composition by Michel, known for his precision • Executed in mixed media, the artist masterfully employs the various aspects of the creative process • From the estate of the artist couple Ella Bergmann-Michel and Robert Michel Robert Michel initially studied mechanical engineering and worked as a test pilot. After a crash that left him with serious injuries, he turned to art in 1917 and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Weimar. There he met his future wife, Ella Bergmann, with whom he would collaborate throughout his life. For a short time, the couple worked at the newly founded Bauhaus, but soon settled at the “Schmelz” in the Taunus region—an old paint mill in Michel’s hometown—which he later named the “Heimatmuseum of Modern Art.” Influenced by Italian Futurism, Robert Michels’ artistic oeuvre is shaped by the formal language of modern technology. Alongside Kurt Schwitters, Willi Baumeister, and László Moholy-Nagy, he was one of the leading figures of the avant-garde; from 1925 onward, he was involved in the social reform movement known as “New Frankfurt,” and in 1928 he became a founding member of the “Ring of New Advertising Designers.” After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, Michel withdrew from the art world; it was not until the 1960s—by which time he was over 60 years old—that he became artistically active again. Thanks to the 1963 exhibition “Pioneers of Collage” in Leverkusen, his work was rediscovered; in 1988, the Sprengel Museum in Hanover honored Michel’s oeuvre with a comprehensive retrospective. For his technically precise compositions, Robert Michel employs the technique of collage, typographic elements, and finely sprayed ink, which he uses to create subtle color gradations and atmospheric lighting of the subject. Exhibition: Heimatmuseum of Modern Art. Ella Bergmann-Michel – Robert Michel, Galerie Eric Mouchet, Paris 2026. Provenance: Bergmann-Michel estate. Taxation: subject to margin scheme (VAT: Margin Scheme).