Lot 374: Robert Michel (1897-1983)

Herr-As-Sesor-im-Bad
signed, inscribed and dated 'Michel Weimar 1919/1920'; signed twice 'Michel' (lower right); titled '-Herr-As-Sesor-im-Bad-' (centre); signed, dated, inscribed and titled again 'R. Michel* 27.2.97 OZ-TU-COL. aus Weimar 1919/20. "-Herr-As-Sesor-imBad-" auf Detailpapier gez.+Libby+Quatre AS-Collagen.. Hö=50,5xBr=45,0cm alles mit Canvas auf Dammplatte montiert:RM' (lower centre, on the reverse); dedicated 'Für Carl Laszlo, Basel, sehr herzlichst, R Michel' (on the reverse)
pen and India ink, colored pencils, watercolour, paper collage, metallic paint with Spritztechnik on paper
19 7/8 x 17 7/8 in. (50.5 x 45.5 cm.)
Executed in 1919-1920

Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Akademie der Künste, Grosse Orangerie des Schlosses Charlottenburg zu Berlin, Tendenzen der Zwanziger Jahre. 15 Europäische Kunstausstellung unter den Auspizien des Europarates, August - October 1977, no. 3/677.

Exh. cat., Robert Michel, 1897-1983, Hannover, 1988, no. 6, p. 18 (illustrated).

Carl Laszlo, Basel, by whom acquired directly from the artist.
K.P. Poor, Hamburg.
Rachel Adler Gallery, New York.
Acquired from the above by the present owners in 1989.

PROPERTY FROM THE SACKNER ARCHIVE, FLORIDA

Executed during Michel's stay at the Weimar Bauhaus, this work is one of the artist's earliest documented works. Masterly conveying Michel's revolutionary treatment of collage and design, Herr-As-Sesor-im-Bad numbers among his most inventive compositions. Much as Fernand Léger was deeply impressed by his experiences during the First World War, so too was Michel, whose role as a pilot instilled in him a profound admiration for the Machine. At the basis of his abstractions lie a veneration of its power, but not without a lightly sarcastic touch. This early collage, imbued with a delicate irony, is one of the finest of his Dada phase, a period that greatly endeared Michel to one of Dada's most ardent supporters, Marcel Duchamp.

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