Pink Circle

Details

Verso on the stretcher with the double stamp “Das Geistreich, R. Bauer” as well as various numbers and inscriptions.

Exhibition:

Art of Tomorrow, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York 1939, cat. no. 198, with illus. p. 114.

Provenance:

Christie’s, New York 15 May 1986, lot 340;

Private collection, Rhineland;

Van Ham, Cologne 4 June 2010, Lot 5;

Private collection, Europe.

Description

– The publisher and writer Herwarth Walden described Rudolf Bauer as the “painter of absolute form and colour”

– Bauer’s works are noticeably influenced by Wassily Kandinsky

– The painting is shown in 1939 in the legendary exhibition “Art of Tomorrow” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York

The influence of Wassily Kandinsky is clearly noticeable in Rudolf Bauer’s work. However, the two painters did not meet until 1930, when they were introduced by Hilla von Rebay. The first and legendary exhibitions of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York under the title “Art of Tomorrow” are characterised by the great verve and optimism of the collector and his advisor and founding director of the collection, Hilla von Rebay.

She writes euphorically in the introduction: “A great epoch in art is begun by the genius who has the power to improve on earlier achievements and the prophetic power to create great ideals.” Her enthusiasm relates to modern non-objective painting, which developed from the abstract movements of the early 20th century and for which she coined the term ‘non-objective painting’. In addition to works by Kandinsky, Moholy-Nagy, Vordemberge-Gildewart and Hilla von Rebay herself, an overwhelming number of Bauer’s works will also be shown in New York.

Von Rebay wrote about Bauer in the 1939 exhibition catalogue: “The collection also represents the development of a genius, the greatest of all painters, the most spiritually developed artist, whose influence leads into the future. Rudolf Bauer, whose every ‘non-objective’ work is a consummate masterpiece, so that no surface, no form, no point could be altered or removed without affecting the perfect organisation of his work. In addition, his achievements as an outstanding painter, writer, philosopher and musician herald in perfection the new ideal of spirituality. Through his selfless support of other ‘non-objective’ artists, he seeks to create the necessary counterweight to the many materialistic painters. His latest works are filled with a mysterious, powerful life that has never before been achieved in painting.”