High-Class

1906

Ernst Barlach

Associated Names
Ernst Barlach

Artist, German, 1870 - 1938

This is a drawing of two figures in a public space. The scene depicts an environment with architectural elements such as stone or brick walls and steps. On the left, a figure cloaked in a draped garment crouches forward holding a small object or piece of paper in their hand, extended towards the second figure. The right side of the drawing features another figure standing on steps, turned slightly towards the first figure, with their arms folded or clasped behind their back. The setting is detailed with cross-hatching and shading techniques that give depth to the textures of stone and fabric.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and ink over graphite

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    Overall: 42.7 x 53.2 cm (16 13/16 x 20 15/16 in.)
    support: 50 x 61.9 cm (19 11/16 x 24 3/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1951.10.6

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Schult 1971, no. 293

  • Series Title

    Illustration for Simplizissimus: Vornehm

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Claude Schaefer [1913-2010], Montevideo, Uruguay; sold 1950 to Lessing J. Rosenwald; [1] gift 1950/1951 to the National Gallery of Art.
[1] In Recollections of a Collector, 1976, p. 56-57, Rosenwald described being approached by a young man in South America who offered to sell his father’s collection of prints that he had brought with him from Germany. Rosenwald gives the year as 1951, but his appointment books confirm that it was actually 1950 - he left for Buenos Aires on 9 February 1950 and returned on 20 March 1950 (Library of Congress, Rosenwald Papers, Box 75). Rosenwald writes that he bought the entire collection of some 1100 prints and drawings, but as they had already been scheduled to be sent to Europe they came to the United States via Antwerp, arriving in the US in late April 1950. Rosenwald decided to keep about a quarter of the collection, destined for the National Gallery of Art, and donate the remainder to other institutions. The inventory log of Alverthorpe indicates that just over 300 works were accessioned there in May of 1950, inventory numbers 50.260-50.530, acquired from Claude Schaefer (Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art, RG 45A1, Rosenwald Papers, Box 41).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1970

  • Ernst Barlach: 1870-1938, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1970-1971, no. 29 (as "Satirical Drawing"), repro.

Bibliography

1971

  • Schult, Friedrich. Ernst Barlach: Werkkatalog der Zeichnungen. Hamburg: Dr. Ernst Hauswedell & Co., 1971: no.293.

Inscriptions

lower right in pen and black ink: EBarlach; on verso stamped: JOSE LUIS BUSANICHE / SECRETARIO GENERAL / COMISIONNACIONAL DE MUSEOS Y MONUMENTOS HISTORICOS

Wikidata ID

Q64559821

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