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A painting on wood of a group of people.

The painting shows a central figure with three figures on each side fanned out across the picture plane. The figures are abstract, the heads are vertical ovals, the oval on the figure is bright white, the others are in different muted colors. The bodies of the figures are pillar-shaped and are in different colors on top and the bottom. The front foreground is divided in two, a dark yellow on the left, dark green on the right. A square of teal is in the upper left corner with an orange disc in the center.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2015.43
People
Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, German (Cologne, Germany 1894 - 1933 Cologne, Germany)
Title
Mass
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1931
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/353399

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1520, Modern and Contemporary Art, Art in Germany Between the Wars
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on wood
Dimensions
58 x 28.5 cm (22 13/16 x 11 1/4 in.)
framed: 71.8 x 42.2 x 3.2 cm (28 1/4 x 16 5/8 x 1 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: u.r., in graphite: FWS 31
  • inscription: on verso, u.l., in graphite: MASSE 1931
  • stamp: On verso: artist stamp

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
The artist; Hans Schmitt-Rost (1901-1978 artist's friend and collaborator); [Galerie Brockstedt, Hamburg?], sold; through [Kusthaus Lempertz, Cologne, (November 22, 1990, Lot 1305)]; to private collection (Christian Bernet?); sold, through [Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne (June 4 1998, Auktion 758, Lot 1084); to Galerie Glockner, Cologne, sold; to the Busch-Reisinger Museum, 2015.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Bohnen 1978, #109

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Richard Norton Memorial Fund
Accession Year
2015
Object Number
2015.43
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Carl Oskar Jatho, Franz Wilhelm Seiwert (Monographien zur rheinisch-westfalischen Kunst der Gegenwart, vol. 27), Verlag Aurel Bongers (Germany, 1964), p. 56, ill. (b/w)
  • Uli Bohnen, Franz W. Seiwert 1894-1933: Leben und Werk, Kölnischer Kunstverein (Cologne, Germany, 1978), p. 134, #109, ill. (b/w)
  • Lynette Roth, Painting as a Weapon: Progressive Cologne 1920-33 Seiwert - Hoerle - Arntz, exh. cat., Buchhandlung Walther König (Cologne, 2008), p. 97, #135, ill. (color)
  • Michael Sonenscher, "Power, populism and plots: A German refugee-scholar’s papers and the politics of mass society", The Times Literary Supplement (2020), No. 6116, p. 29, p. 29, ill.

Exhibition History

  • Kölner Künstler 1931, Kölnischer Kunstverein, 11/01/1931 - 12/31/1931
  • Die Progressiven, Galerie Brockstedt, 05/01/1975 - 06/30/1975
  • Années 30 en Europe 1929-1939, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 02/21/1997 - 05/25/1997
  • Zeitgenossen: August Sander und die Kunstszene der 20er Jahre im Rheinland, Josef Haubrich Kunsthalle, 05/19/2000 - 07/30/2000; Kunsthalle zu Kiel, 09/17/2000 - 11/12/2000
  • köln progressiv 1920-33: Seiwert - Hoerle - Arntz, Museum Ludwig, Köln, 03/15/2008 - 06/15/2008; Art Gallery of Toronto, 05/23/2009 - 08/30/2009
  • 32Q: 1520 Art in Germany Between the Wars (Interwar and Bauhaus), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/26/2017 - 12/10/2018; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/15/2018 - 08/05/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/05/2019 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu