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Lot 2204: LOTTE JACOBI Mary Wigman Abstract Expressionist Dancer

Est: $1,000 USD - $2,000 USDPassed
Andrew Smith Gallery Photography Auctions, LLCTucson, AZ, USFebruary 06, 2021

Item Overview

Description

LOTTE JACOBI, Mary Wigman, Berlin, signed, c. 1930, 9.4x6.4" gelatin silver print, Printed 1979, signed on print recto in lower right of image; embossed 6 on overmat lower right, from Lotte Jacobi Portfolio II, edition of 25, 1979 , this is print 6

In this stunning portrait, Jacobi shows the inner power of Mary Wigman, a leading international pioneer of dance and choreography of the early- to mid-twentieth century.

As the debate gathers around the current imbalance between male and female choreographers, the names of pioneering women such as Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham and Bronislava Nijinska are regularly invoked to recall a golden age of female creativity and power. These women, all working in the early years of the 20th century, had a transforming influence on the language and practice of dance. And there is one more name that should also be added to the list: the German choreographer Mary Wigman (1886-1973).

Born into a comfortably bourgeois family in 1986, Wigman didn't begin formal training until she was 24, but after just three years studying the rhythmic, gymnastic system of Emile Jacques-Dalcroze, and working with Rudolf Laban, Wigman created her first solo, Witch . In that short work, she began exploring the elements that would define her style – including the conviction that dance could be performed without music and that it could have the courage to be ugly. From the surviving clip of Witch Dance above (a slightly revised version that was filmed in 1926), it's clear that Wigman also proved a compelling powerhouse of a performer.Dance. In that short work, she began exploring the elements that would define her style, including the conviction that dance could be performed without music and that it could have the courage to be ugly. From the surviving clip of Witch Dance, a slightly revised version that was filmed in 1926, it's clear that Wigman was also a compelling powerhouse of a performer.

This short solo is a masterpiece of strangeness. Wigman aimed for a state of ritualized trance, summoning up the dangerous spirit of her character, yet the detail and control of her movement is remarkable. The savage crackle of those first hexing gestures; the keening, ducking circle of her upper body and head (made all the more strange by the mask she wears; the slow, spooky opening of her knees. Wigman's witch is cousin to the troubled terrifying spirit of Max Schreck's Nosferatu, hunching over herself as if drawing dark spells from her own body, then launching into a rocking and lurching trajectory towards her prey.

Wigman was part of the wider expressionist movement in Germany (among those who admired her was the painter Emil Nolde). But other clips of her group piece Exodus and her 1929 solo Sommerdans also suggest a kinship with different elements of the zeitgeist: the more fluent, natural movement language popularized by Isadora Duncan, which keyed into an older pastoral spirit of German Romanticism.

Wigman's own influence was, however, very broad. There are clear affinities between her style and the early work of Martha Graham (the eloquent use of the torso in the latter's 1930 solo Lamentation is very close to the opening of Sommerdans). Even more vivid is the debt that would be owed to Wigman by the legendary butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno: the mask-like face, the movement language and sense of inwardness in The Dead Sea all seem influenced by Witch Dance.

But even though Wigman's style was disseminated through Europe and America by students such as Hanya Holm, and even though elements of it can still be traced in the Tanztheater of Pina Bausch, Wigman herself has slipped slightly below the radar. And one reason may be her relationship with the Nazi regime.

Wigman was far more complicit with the Third Reich than her fellow choreographer Kurt Jooss, who left Germany in 1933. (Her mentor Rudolf Laban also cut links, but not until 1938.) While her early choreography was not to official taste, she was sufficiently in step with the early Volk-inspired philosophy of the Reich to receive a commission to choreograph a mass Olympic Youth dance for the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. And while she was privately sympathetic to Jewish students in her Dresden school, she didn't rebel against orders to remove Jewish dancers from her company.

However, the 1937 edict by Goebbels that dance "must be cheerful and show beautiful female bodies and have nothing to do with philosophy" put a halt on her career. While she seems to have been personally protected by her relationship with a prominent arms manufacturer, Wigman's company was closed, and when her protector died in 1942, so was her school. After the war, she became key to the modern dance revival in Germany, and for years effectively papered over her complicity with the Nazi regime. But today much of her influence has been forgotten, along with the full force of her extraordinary – if troubling – brilliance.

Credit:

Artist or Maker

Condition Report

Excellent. Minor wear.

Notes

$75 shipping

Payment & Shipping

Payment

Accepted forms of payment: American Express, MasterCard, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer

Shipping

In House Shipping/Insurance: The Gallery has in house shipping available. Flat rate shipping including transit insurance charges are listed on each Lot for FedEx Ground shipping in the lower 48 States of USA. Shipping costs to Alaska, Hawaii and foreign countries will be quoted individually. Buyers are responsible for all taxes, customs fees and VAT that may apply to their purchase and shipment. Please provide a correct street address, email address and telephone number for our shipper in order to expedite the receipt of your purchase. All items are tracked and require a signature on delivery. Items not removed or shipped from our warehouse after 30 days will be subject to a storage charge. Shipment generally occurs within ten business days after payment has been received.


Pickup at the Gallery is available by appointment beginning February 10, 2021. Buyers may make their own arrangements for shipping with pick-up at the Gallery by their designated shipping agent.

Auction Details

Terms

Live bidding may start higher or lower

Buyer's Premium

$1 - 100,000:27.0%
$100,001 - 1,000,000:20.0%
$1,000,001+:18.0%

Bidding Increments

From:To:Increment:
$0$199$20
$200$499$50
$500$999$100
$1,000$4,999$250
$5,000$9,999$500
$10,000$19,999$1,000
$20,000$49,999$2,500
$50,000$99,999$5,000
$100,000$249,999$10,000
$250,000$499,999$10,000
$500,000+$25,000

Terms & Conditions of Sale Feb 6, 2021

Andrew Smith Gallery Photography Auctions LLC. is pleased to present an auction of EXPLORATION, ARTISTIC, DOCUMENTARY AND HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHY from the TERRESTRIAL to the CELESTIAL.

Andrew Smith Gallery Photography Auctions, LLC. (Hereinafter also Gallery or Auctioneer) Terms and Conditions for this auction are listed below for the Sale of EXPLORATION, ARTISTIC, DOCUMENTARY AND HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHY from the TERRESTRIAL to the CELESTIAL to take place on Invaluable platform Saturday FEBRUARY 6, 2021 9:00am California Time.

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10. Condition: A condition report may be obtained by viewing the online catalog, or you may contact the Gallery. Not withstanding any condition reports or catalog descriptions provided, all lots are offered and sold AS IS In most cases, we describe the quality of the impression of the print. We have never seen perfect prints as they can have wipe marks and abrasions made by the photographer etc. Our Rankings relate to both 1) tone and richness of the print and 2) physical condition. These subjective criteria are then combined for the final subjective ranking designation based on the many thousands of prints Andrew Smith has seen. Handling marks are dents in the print from being handled by the photographer or others. They can be small moon-shaped-crescents to splits in the emulsion. As our condition grades go down from Excellent to Fair the handling marks noted in those descriptions go from minor visual impairments with no damage to emulsion to major visual impairments with damaged emulsion.

Excellent: Tones Richness is 9-10 on a scale of 10. The print may include minor wear, light abrasions and other flaws generally visible only in raking light and not impacting the visual enjoyment of the print. Mounts and margins can have other problems and the print can still be excellent. Normal wear is expected on all older prints, on the emulsion and to edges or corners of mounts/prints.

Very Good: Tones Richness is 7- 8 on a scale of 10 with minor to mild wear. Mild wear indicates there may be some visual impact, small abrasion, scuffs, spots bent corner that can be matted out, stain or handling mark. It has very little negative impact on the visual enjoyment of the print.

Good: Tones Richness is 5-6 on a scale of 10. Yellowing, Shifting color tones, fading, or perhaps a very rich print with more severe wear - noticeable abrasions, stains, scuffs or handling marks as well as deterioration of the historic original mounts.

Fair: Condition issues or fading are noticeable might have physical conditions such as moderate abrasions, scuffs, staining, small emulsion loss, handling dents etc. that affect the print.

11. Estimates: Low Estimate is the lowest price at which multiple buyers would expect to find a shopping bargain. High Estimate is what a dealer might pay for the print when buying for resale.

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13. Bidding Increments:
$20 increments up to $200
$50 increments to $500
$100 increments to $1,000
$250 increments to $5,000
$500 increments to $10,000
$1,000 increments to $20,000
$2,500 increments to $50,000
$5,000 increments to $100,000
$10,000 increments to $250,000
$25,000 increments to $500,000

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19. Terms for Payments on all Purchases: All payments on lots that are taxed must be made to the Invaluable payments system. If you are exempt from taxes payment may be made directly to Andrew Smith Gallery Photography Auctions LLC.
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Accepted by the Gallery are cash, wire transfe, personal check, Visa, MasterCard, American Express. Arizona State Tax in the amount of 8.77% will be charged on all sales to buyers who are 1) Not Exempt by virtue of being a reseller and Gallery has a Certificate of Resale on file by the time payment is made; 2) Not Exempt by virtue of being a non-profit or government entity and Gallery has a Certificate of Exemption on file by the time payment is received; 3) Live in one of 5 states that does not charge State Tax, those states being New Hampshire, Oregon, Montana, Alaska or Delaware; or 4) Who are buying from outside of the USA.

All monies shall be made payable to Andrew Smith Gallery Photography Auctions, LLC. At the Gallery's discretion, payment will not be deemed to be complete until funds represented by checks or credit cards have been processed by Gallery's bank, usually within 1-3 days.

20. In House Shipping/Insurance: The Gallery has in house shipping available. Flat rate shipping including transit insurance charges are listed on each Lot for FedEx Ground shipping in the lower 48 States of USA. Shipping costs to Alaska, Hawaii and foreign countries will be quoted individually. Buyers are responsible for all taxes, customs fees and VAT that may apply to their purchase and shipment. Please provide a correct street address, email address and telephone number for our shipper in order to expedite the receipt of your purchase. All items are tracked and require a signature on delivery. Items not removed or shipped from our warehouse after 30 days will be subject to a storage charge. Shipment generally occurs within ten business days after payment has been received.


21. Pickup at the Gallery is available by appointment beginning February 10, 2021. Buyers may make their own arrangements for shipping with pick-up at the Gallery by their designated shipping agent.

22. Authenticity of Work Return: A condition report may be obtained by viewing the online catalog or by contacting the Gallery. Not withstanding any condition reports or catalog descriptions provided, all lots are offered and sold AS IS in accordance with paragraph 9 of the Procedures, Terms and Conditions of Auction. However, if within 21 calendar days after the receipt of the purchase of any lot, as long as the art was received within 30 calendar days of the Auction date, the purchaser provides two opinions by recognized authorities on the artist, and gives notice in writing to the Gallery that the lot is not authentic, and within 7 calendar days of such notice the purchaser returns the lot to the Gallery in the same condition as when sold, the Gallery will refund the full purchase price. 24. Limitation of Rights. Any right of the purchaser under this agreement or under the law shall not be assignable and shall be enforceable only by the original purchaser and not by any subsequent owner or any person who shall subsequently acquire any interest. No purchaser shall be entitled to any remedy, relief or damages beyond return of the property, rescission of the sale and refund of the purchase price; and without limitation, no purchaser shall be entitled to damages of any kind.

23. Remedies: These Procedures, Terms and Conditions of Auction and any other applicable conditions, as well as the Purchasers and Gallery's rights and obligations herein shall be governed by, construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of Arizona. Purchases that have gone unpaid thirty days (30 calendar days after the sale are past due and subject to any or all of the following including without limitation the right a) Upon purchase, property is held for sale and payment for 30 days. If unpaid after 30 days the property is no longer for sale; (b) Dispute the purchase on the Auction Platform; (c) hold the Purchaser liable for the purchase price stated on the invoice; (d) cancel the sale and retain as liquidated damages any and all payments made by the Purchaser; (e) resell the property privately or at public auction on three days notice to the Purchaser for the payment of any deficiency in the purchase price and all costs including handling charges, warehousing, the commissions, attorney's fees, any and all other auction-related charges due and incidental damages. In the event of a default, the Gallery reserves the right to charge the Purchaser's credit card on file in the full amount owed as stated on the invoice. .

24. Full Payment Non Transferable: In order to prevent inaccuracy in delivery or inconvenience in the settlement of a purchase, no lot can be transferred. Each buyer must pay for the whole of his purchases before any lot can be removed.

25. Not Assignable: The benefits of these warranties are not assignable and are applicable only to the original buyer of the lot, and are conditioned on the buyer returning the work in the same condition as at time of sale and in the time period specified.

26. Misc: Dimensions are given in inches, with height preceding width in all cases. For prints, if the margins are known or believed to be full this is stated. Illustrations in the catalogue are for identification only and should not be used as a basis for determining the condition of the lot. First Date used in the lot description entries refers to the creation of the negative or original electronic capture; a second date, which often follows the medium or size, indicates the approximate print date. The term "signed" means that, in our opinion, the signature is by the artist.

Shipping Terms

In House Shipping/Insurance: The Gallery has in house shipping available. Flat rate shipping including transit insurance charges are listed on each Lot for FedEx Ground shipping in the lower 48 States of USA. Shipping costs to Alaska, Hawaii and foreign countries will be quoted individually. Buyers are responsible for all taxes, customs fees and VAT that may apply to their purchase and shipment. Please provide a correct street address, email address and telephone number for our shipper in order to expedite the receipt of your purchase. All items are tracked and require a signature on delivery. Items not removed or shipped from our warehouse after 30 days will be subject to a storage charge. Shipment generally occurs within ten business days after payment has been received.


Pickup at the Gallery is available by appointment beginning February 10, 2021. Buyers may make their own arrangements for shipping with pick-up at the Gallery by their designated shipping agent.

Buyers Premium

On all Purchases a Buyers Premium will be applied in the amount of 27% (twenty-seven percent) of the first $100,000.00 of the Hammer prices of each lot and a Buyers Premium of 20% (twenty Percent) of any amount of the Hammer price between $100,000 and $1,000,000.00 and 18% (eighteen percent) of any amount above this

Arizona Tax Unless Exempt

Arizona State Tax in the amount of 8.77% will be charged on all sales to buyers who are 1) Not Exempt by virtue of being a reseller and Gallery has a Certificate of Resale on file by the time payment is made; 2) Not Exempt by virtue of being a non-profit or government entity and Gallery has a Certificate of Exemption on file by the time payment is received; 3) Live in one of 5 states that does not charge State Tax, those states being New Hampshire, Oregon, Montana, Alaska or Delaware or 4) Who are buying from outside of the USA.

Condition

All Lots Sold "AS IS". Neither the Gallery nor Auctioneer nor Consignor make any express or implied warranties or representations with respect to the property or correctness of the advertisement, catalog, Lot descriptions and any other medium used to announce this auction or any other description of the physical condition, attribution, provenance, genuineness, description, condition of the property, estimate of value, quality, importance, size or authenticity of the property offered and described either online or via telephone, text, email or any other communication.

Condition: A condition report may be obtained by viewing the online catalog, or you may contact the Gallery. Not withstanding any condition reports or catalog descriptions provided, all lots are offered and sold AS IS In most cases, we describe the quality of the impression of the print. We have never seen perfect prints as they can have wipe marks and abrasions made by the photographer etc. Our Rankings relate to both 1) tone and richness of the print and 2) physical condition. These subjective criteria are then combined for the final subjective ranking designation based on the many thousands of prints Andrew Smith has seen. Handling marks are dents in the print from being handled by the photographer or others. They can be small moon-shaped-crescents to splits in the emulsion. As our condition grades go down from Excellent to Fair the handling marks noted in those descriptions go from minor visual impairments with no damage to emulsion to major visual impairments with damaged emulsion.

Excellent: Tones Richness is 9-10 on a scale of 10. The print may include minor wear, light abrasions and other flaws generally visible only in raking light and not impacting the visual enjoyment of the print. Mounts and margins can have other problems and the print can still be excellent. Normal wear is expected on all older prints, on the emulsion and to edges or corners of mounts/prints.

Very Good: Tones Richness is 7- 8 on a scale of 10 with minor to mild wear. Mild wear indicates there may be some visual impact, small abrasion, scuffs, spots bent corner that can be matted out, stain or handling mark. It has very little negative impact on the visual enjoyment of the print.

Good: Tones Richness is 5-6 on a scale of 10. Yellowing, Shifting color tones, fading, or perhaps a very rich print with more severe wear - noticeable abrasions, stains, scuffs or handling marks as well as deterioration of the historic original mounts.

Fair: Condition issues or fading are noticeable might have physical conditions such as moderate abrasions, scuffs, staining, small emulsion loss, handling dents etc. that affect the print.