Lot number 31 - Auction 154
'ZIGEUNERIN IM PROFIL' (1926-27)

OTTO MUELLER 1874 Lubawka, Poland - 1930 Breslau 'GYPSY WOMAN IN PROFILE' (1926-27) Colour lithograph, part. coloured green on yellow machine-made paper. F 70,5 x 59,5 cm. Sheet size 56,5 x 43,3 cm, print size 54,4 x 43,4 cm. Verso: on the reverse with the estate stamp 'OM Nachlass Prof. Otto Mueller Breslau", signed in pencil by Erich Heckel. One of 60 prints. Sheet 1 (of 9) from the portfolio 'Zigeuner'; 9 colour lithographs. Berlin, Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf, 1927. Colourful sheet, with minimal old crease marks at the edge, very good condition. Mounted and framed behind glass. Literature: Karsch 160. Provenance: Private collection southern France. The series, created in 1927 and published by Otto Mueller himself under the title 'Gypsies', is considered the highlight of his late work. The present sheet, 'Gypsy Woman in Profile', is one of the most impressive and characteristic representations in this series. In gently rounded forms and muted, earthy colours, Mueller shows the figure of a young woman in profile - calm, collected and introverted. The harmonious lines and subtle tonal gradations lend the work a quiet intensity that distinguishes Mueller's work from the expressive sharpness of his 'Brücke' colleagues. The Expressionist, who came from Silesia, was accepted into the Dresden artists' community in 1910 as its penultimate member, but soon developed his own visual language characterised by calm and formal harmony. After repeated stays in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, Mueller turned his attention to the lives of Roma and Sinti in a series of lithographs from the mid-1920s onwards. Mueller printed the sheets, which were created between 1926 and 1927 at the Breslau Academy, in a small edition of 60 portfolios by hand.