Oil on canvas. Monogrammed in the lower left (in ligature). 92.8 x 70 cm. . [CH].
- Characteristic New Objectivity female portrait. - From the 1920s, Karl Hofer's most important creative period. - In 1925, his works featured in the legendary exhibition "Neue Sachlichkeit" (New Objectivity) at the Kunsthalle Mannheim. - Captivating atmosphere: The mysterious and enigmatic portraits of young women are among the artist's most compelling creations. - An intriguing interplay of contrasts: intense cold and warm tones, the reticent girl and vibrant flowers. - Rediscovery: Part of a Southern German private collection for around 50 years, still mentioned as "whereabouts unknown" in Wohlert's catalogue raisonné. - Significant provenance: formerly part of the renowned Oskar Reinhart Collection (1885-1965), Winterthur. - Other paintings from this period are in the collections of, among others, the Albertinum in Dresden, the Kunsthalle in Hamburg, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main, the Folkwang Museum in Essen and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
We are grateful to Harry Joelson-Strohbach, Kunst Museum Winterthur, for his kind expert advice.
LITERATURE: Karl Bernhard Wohlert (ed.), Markus Eisenbeis (ed.), Karl Hofer. Catalogue raisonné of paintings, vol. 2, Cologne 2008, no. 601 (illustrated in black and white). - - Anke Manigold, Der Hamburger Maler Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann 1883-1973. Leben u. Werk, Hamburg 1986, pp. 94f.

Karl Hofer, Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne, January 27 - April 15, 1967, cat. no. 13 (illustrated in black and white). Karl Hofer, Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne, October 11 - November 9, 1968, cat. no. 5. Karl Hofer, Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven, April 20 - May 11, 1969, cat. no. 7 (illustrated in black and white)

Oskar Reinhart Collection, Winterthur (directly from the artist). Anne-Marie Bänninger-Kaestle Collection, Berlin/Zurich (from the above in 1964). Baukunst Galerie, Cologne (on commission around 1967/1969, with the hand-inscribed gallery label on the stretcher). Private collection, Baden-Württemberg (obtained from Anne-Marie Bänninger-Kaestle in the 1970s, presumably in 1974). Family-owned ever since

With his timeless, reserved and, at the same time, mysteriously graceful depictions of figures, Karl Hofer held one of the most significant artistic positions in German art of the 20th century. His mostly female protagonists are always depicted in a moment of an almost sculpted pause, displaying almost indefinable emotions and spiritual rapture, the cause of which viewers usually cannot fathom due to the lack of an explicit narrative in the painting. In their distinctively sober clarity, well-ordered composition, and calm atmosphere, Hofer's paintings are closely related to the art of New Objectivity. Some of his works were displayed in the legendary " Neue Sachlichkeit" (New Objectivity) exhibition at the Kunsthalle Mannheim in 1925. In the portrait offered here, Hofer also shows the sitter - in the characteristic "Hofer style," with almond-shaped eyes, a pale complexion, and a tapered chin - at peace with herself, her gaze lowered and her hands resting in her lap. Does she not crack a slight smile on her lips? He moves the figure close to the front edge of the picture, but her gaze is averted, and she gives observers no chance to make eye contact. Moreover, why did Hofer always paint girls with flowers? As trivial as it may sound, the combination of woman and flower has always been an homage to women. Renaissance paintings of girls and women with flowers were mostly depictions of Flora - the goddess of vegetation in Roman mythology. They were portraits, accentuated with a few flowers as accessories and a playful, slightly erotic point, allowed only by this 'role representation.' The painting presents itself as a play of contrasts: Hofer juxtaposes the intrinsic stillness of the picture, the introversion of the sitter, and her simple, high-collared clothing with the extremely bright, bold colors and almost jarring vibrancy of the bright bouquet of flowers. Her mature solemnity seems contradictory, given her youthful face and the long braided hair typical of a child. In addition, the artist sets high-contrast accents in intense cool blue and bright fresh green alongside intensely warm colors. Through his characteristic formal reduction of the image to individual essential pictorial elements, modern motif elements such as the utterly void background devoid of reality, and the introversion of his figures, Hofer succeeded in developing his very own modern visual language and created a universally valid depiction of timeless aesthetics, the mood of which also found an echo in 21st-century audiences. Karl Hofer was at the height of his artistic career when this work was created. He held a professorship for painting at the "Vereinigte Staatsschulen für freie und angewandte Kunst" in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and his works were already represented in almost 30 museum collections at the time. In 1924, the artist participated in the "International Exhibition of Paintings" at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, where he was appointed a jury member in 1927. From 1928, he was a member of the Berlin Secession board and served on the extended board of the "Deutscher Künstlerbund" (German Artists' Association). In 1929, he became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts Senate. This career came to an abrupt end in June 1933. Hofer was suspended as a university teacher, and in 1937, more than 300 of his works were removed from public collections and museums as "degenerate art," nine of which were shown in the Munich exhibition "Degenerate Art." In 1943, aerial bombing destroyed the artist's Berlin studio and most of the paintings inside. [CH]

Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de