Lot 3419 - A205 PostWar & Contemporary - Thursday, 22. June 2023, 02.00 PM
MAX BILL
(Winterthur 1908–1994 Berlin)
Transcoloration aus grau. 1972-1974.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated on the reverse: bill 1972-74, also signed, titled, dated, inscribed and with directional arrows on the stretcher: max bill transcoloration aus grau. 1972-1974 oben haut top.
88 × 88 cm.
Provenance:
- Galerie Jamileh Weber, Zurich (verso with the label).
- Purchased from the Estate of the above by the present owner in 2006, since then private collection Switzerland.
"I endeavour to make a picture, for instance, exert a positive influence on the observer, by its colouring, mood and compositional idea, encouraging, say, activation, calm, concentration, harmony." Max Bill
The Swiss artist Max Bill was one of the most important international exponents of Concrete Art. He is best known as a painter, but in the course of his life he also created a number of sculptures and designed several buildings, including the complex of the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm, which was founded in 1950. In addition, he taught at various universities, worked as a publicist and art theorist and was politically active for many years. More than almost any other artist, Max Bill shaped our idea of Concrete Art with his works and writings.
By means of logical processes and a return to mathematical and geometric principles, he developed an unmistakable approach to colour, form, space and light. The shape of the square is therefore a recurring feature in Bill's entire œuvre. Whether as an internal or external form, it often serves the artist as a starting point for formal and chromatic extensions, as is also expressed in the work offered here from the 1970s. The "pointed pictures" are conceived around a square resting on one point, presented here in light grey. In order to demarcate or frame the core of the picture surface, the colours of the edge of the picture and the grey centre are merged. Equilateral triangles in strong shades of violet, blue, green and red occupy the corners of the picture. Through the deliberately chosen colour contrasts of the triangles, the artist creates an optical attraction on the canvas, which on the one hand lends tension to the basic square form of the work. At the same time, through the choice of subtle colour contrasts and consistent pictorial proportions, he succeeds in building up a calm and harmonious presence, manifested as the perception of a new unity.
CHF 40 000 / 60 000 | (€ 41 240 / 61 860)
Sold for CHF 91 800 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.