William Wauer - "Sunset". Oil on canvas. (1915).... Lot 717

William Wauer - "Sunset". Oil on canvas. (1915). Approx. 49.5 x 85.5 cm. Monogrammed lower left and lower right (each "W"). Signed and titled twice on the verso of the canvas. - The "Sunset" is one of the central works in William Wauer's painterly œuvre - created in 1915 at the height of his artistic creativity - From the important collection of the Hungarian-Swiss art dealer and patron Carl Laszlo William Wauer is a true cultural jack-of-all-trades, who throughout his life has always devoted himself to new ideas in all areas of the visual and performing arts and sought new challenges. Born the son of a pastor in the Ore Mountains, he first studied at the art academies in Dresden, Berlin and Munich, then went to New York and San Francisco, and on his return studied again, this time art history and philosophy in Leipzig, and worked as a feature editor. For two years Wauer lives in Rome, back in Berlin he is editor and illustrator for various newspapers and magazines, works as an artistic expert in the advertising departments of well-known companies such as Kupferberg, Kathreiner, Stollwerck and Odol. In the meantime he lives in Dresden, founds a cultural weekly magazine and writes theater reviews. In 1905, back in Berlin, he became a director at the Deutsches Theater with Max Reinhardt and at other theaters. In 1911, the move from theater to film followed, and as a director - together with the famous actor Albert Bassermann - Wauer was instrumental in the development of the still young medium. A significant turning point in William Wauer's life was his visit to the legendary Futurist exhibition in April 1912 at Herwarth Walden's gallery Der Sturm. His contact with the gallery owner brought Wauer, now 45 years old, back to the fine arts; he gave up his theater and film career and became one of Herwarth Walden's closest collaborators. In 1913, the latter organizes the groundbreaking 'First German Autumn Salon', which shows a comprehensive international selection of artists with works by the 'Blaue Reiter', the Cubists, Futurists and other contemporary art trends. In the following years, Wauer published numerous art-theoretical essays in the journal Der Sturm and exhibited his own newly created oil paintings, watercolors and sculptures in the gallery. Wauer's Cubist-Expressionist portrait busts of Herwarth Walden, his wife Nell Walden, and Albert Bassermann are now among the icons of Expressionist sculpture. With his 1915 painting "Sunset," Wauer also positioned himself painterly in this so diverse artistic environment: his clearly structured color surfaces are closer to Cubism than Expressionism. His interest in the depiction of light and space, which certainly also stems from his work as a theater and film director, becomes particularly clear here. The second turning point in Wauer's life, this time a tragic one, occurred in 1933 with the National Socialists' seizure of power. Wauer was defamed as a "degenerate artist" and was banned from working in 1941. Numerous works were confiscated and have since been considered lost. But after the end of the war, now 79 years old, Wauer again worked tirelessly as an exhibition organizer and lecturer for modern art. In 1946 he founded a new gallery with an art school, resumed his own artistic activities extremely productively and was represented at numerous exhibitions. In January 1962 he is awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, only a short time later he dies of old age in his 96th year. In studio moldings. Firmly mounted in the frame. Unframed for cataloging. Laszlo p. 81. Exhibition: Tendencies of the Twenties. 15th European Art Exhibition under the auspices of the Council of Europe, New National Gallery, Academy of Artists and Great Orangery of Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin 1977, cat. no. 1/26 (here dated "c. 1916"); William Wauer. Ein Multitalent in "Der Sturm" der 10er und 20er Jahre Berlin, Galerie Brockstedt, Berlin 2019, cat.-no. 6, label on verso. Provenance: collection Carl Laszlo, Basel, verso on the stretcher with the label; private collection, Switzerland. Taxation: Differential tax plus 7% VAT: Margin Scheme (non EU).