Entertainment (“Liebespaar”)

Details

Handwritten inscription on the reverse of the cardboard.
See Utermann 1.

Provenance:

Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg 4 June 1976, lot 1365;

Private property, Hesse;

Karl & Faber, 5 December 2018, lot 687;

Private property, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Description

This rare woodcut “Entertainment”, depicting a couple of lovers facing each other, is the earliest recorded graphic work by Christian Rohlfs. Rohlfs only began to explore printmaking techniques at the age of 60. However, neither Vogt nor Utermann mention this magnificent and extremely nuanced copy. A slightly watercoloured copy is in the collection of the Museum Folkwang in Essen. The copy offered here, reworked with oil colours, is probably unique.

Rohlfs supplements the rich black printing colour of the woodcut with oil paint in bold brushstrokes. He chose a dense red-brown colour for the body parts of the two figures and nuanced the foliage with dark and sometimes slightly lighter green. Rohlfs rounds off the background with a warm yellow, which harmonises with the paper tone. Other black areas have also been reworked by hand.