Portrait of Walter Künzel

Maker

Conrad Felixmüller (artist)
1897-1977

Title

Date of Production

1922

Medium

graphite on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 64.5 cm
Width: 49.5 cm

Accession Number

D.1996.XX.1

Mode of Acquisition

Titus Felixmuller, gift, 1996

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Location

On display

Keywords

Label Text

In the 1920s, the Dresden artist Felixmüller produced a large body of work depicting his family and friends. He was especially active as a printmaker, and Walter Künzel, the subject of this portrait, was his graphic printer in Dresden. This simplified drawing uses reinforced dark pencil lines to convey the effect of light and shade on the sitter’s face and upper body. Its bold outlines closely resemble the artist’s prints, in particular two engraved portraits he made of Künzel in the same year. The Courtauld Gallery mounted the first museum exhibition of the artist’s works on paper in this country in 1994. This drawing was presented by the artist’s son as a legacy of that project.

Provenance

by descent to the artist's son, Titus Felixmüller (1920-2000); his gift to The Courtauld, 1996

Exhibition History

Courtauld Connects Regional Programme - Radical Drawing, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, 18/10/2019-19/01/2020

The Courtauld Collects - 20 Years of Acquisitions, Somerset House & London & England, 17/06/2010-19/09/2010

Conrad Felixmüller: his years in Dresden, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 25/03/1995-05/05/1995

Literature

Behr, Shulamith, Conrad Felixmüller, 1897-1977 : works on paper, London, 1994.
cat. no. cat. 45
pp. 26, 52
Work is mentioned in catalogue essay and in list of exhibited works.

Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Conrad Felixmüller : his years in Dresden, Tel Aviv, 1995.
cat. no. 50
pp. 32
Work is presumably mentioned in a list of works. Text is in Hebrew.

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Verso, repeated at lower left corner and lower centre edge: "JohannWilhelm".

Collector's mark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower left corner, graphite, signed and dated: “Felix Müller / 1922” and below that “42.”; lower centre, graphite, described by the artist: “-Walter Künzel-”. Verso: lower centre, graphite, above a line drawn in graphite ending in arrows at left and right edges: “9,8 cm” and below the line “13,1”; lower right, graphite, circled: “26,”; lower left corner, graphite, the number circled: “28 Gesamtes Blatt / 12,7 x 9,8 cm / Wenn möglich / bitte Namen entfernen!”; lower centre edge, graphite: “16,9”; lower right corner, graphite: “HK III/6”.

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