Melancholy (Melancholie)

1914

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

Associated Names
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

Artist, German, 1884 - 1976

The image displays an abstract figure from the waist up. The figure is leaning forward with one arm bent at the elbow and resting on a surface. The stylized facial features include sharp lines defining the eyes, nose, and mouth, with a prominent forehead and head covering framing the face. The clothing is depicted graphic black and white contrast. In front of the figure is a round vessel on a base, along with additional plate-like shapes to the side. The background features geometric and linear patterns.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    woodcut

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 49.85 × 39.05 cm (19 5/8 × 15 3/8 in.)
    sheet: 61.75 × 50.96 cm (24 5/16 × 20 1/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1951.10.120

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Schapire 1924, Vol. W, no. 138

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

Bibliography

1924

  • Schapire, Rosa. Karl Schmidt-Rottluffs graphische Werk bis 1923. Berlin: Euphorion-Verlag, 1924.

Markings

Verso, stamped in black ink: COMISION NACIONAL DE MUSEOS / Y MONUMENTOS HISTORICOS / JOSE LUIS BUSANICHE / SECRETARIO GENERALE

Wikidata ID

Q65360995

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