Lot 93: CARL HOFER, (German, 1878-1955), BROT & WEIN, 1936, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in., frame: 46 1/2 x 39 in.

CARL HOFER
(German, 1878-1955)
BROT & WEIN
1936, oil on canvas
initialed and dated CH '36, l.r.
40 x 30 in., frame: 46 1/2 x 39 in.

Provenance: The Artist; The Artist Waldemar Raemisch (German, 1888-1955); His Wife, Gertrud Raemisch; a Lexington, Massachusetts Artist and his Wife.

Exhibitions: The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Other Notes: "Brot & Wein" (Bread & Wine) is a striking example of the mature work of Carl (Karl) Hofer, who, over the course of this decades-long career, became one of the greatest German painters of his time. Although never a formal member of Die Brucke, Hofer epitomized the German Expressionist movement, principally through his depiction of working class subjects full of emotional experience.
Hofer was strongly influenced by both Cezanne and El Greco, the effects of which are on vivid display in this important painting. The still life placement of the fruit and wine bottle against the sitter's arm evokes the geometric simplification of form and robust brushstrokes characteristic of Cezanne, while the sitter exhibits an expressive emotion and modernity that is reminiscent of El Greco's distinctive style.
"Brot & Wein" was purchased directly from Hofer by the German sculptor Waldemar Raemisch in 1936. After Raemisch's death in 1955, the painting was displayed at Harvard University's Busch-Reisinger Museum. The current owners, a noted Boston artist and his wife, had longed for a Carl Hofer painting for their collection, and, after viewing "Brot & Wein" at the museum, contacted Raemisch's family and purchased the work. Today, very few fully developed paintings from Hofer's later artistic periods remain in private collections, as most are hung in major museums around the world.