Rudolf Bauer Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Untitled (Brown and Blue Shapes) Gouache and watercolor 18.25 x 11.62 inches Framed: 32.5 x 26 inches

Non-Objective Drawing (Double sided composition) Graphite on paper, 1938 Initialed "B" by the artist lower right corner Created while the artist was imprisoned in a Gestapo Prison for his "Degenerate Art" Image size: 7 x 6 3/4 inches Housed in raw silk matting in a reproduction Gugenheim style frame with OP3 Acrylic Frame dimensions: 16 x 17 x 1 1/2 inches Condition: Folded in quarters by the artist to hide the drawing from the Gestapo Irregular margins Provenance: Estate of the artist Phillips Auction, New York Borghi Inc. "Back in Berlin, Das Geistreich had become a lonely island of individualism in a menacing sea of Nazism. The Bauhaus had been closed down by the government in 1933, and artists such as Bauer were increasingly ostracized. Many had already fled the country. Rebay wrote Bauer in August 1937 to report that she had visited the Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich, which featured many artists from their Der Sturm days, including works by Kandinsky, Klee, Moholy-Nagy, and, of course, Bauer. Why Bauer lingered so long in this hostile environment remains a mystery. He was not Jewish, yet his patron was one of the richest Jews in the world. This association would not go unnoticed in Nazi Germany. In July 1937 Bauer traveled to Paris because his work was included in an exhibition called Origines et développement de l'art international indépendant, organized by the Musée du Jeu de Paume. In this large survey of the period, his painting was shown alongside the work of Picasso, Georges Braque, Léger, Chagall, and Joan Miró. It is believed that while he was in Paris he received word from friends that it was too dangerous to return to Berlin; yet he ignored the warning. According to the Rebay documentarian Sigrid Faltin, it is likely that his sister, a Nazi zealot who had disowned him, turned him in to the authorities for his art. Bauer was suddenly a prisoner in Berlin. Defiant, he scavenged scraps of paper and pencils while in prison, so that he could continue to draw." Courtesy Weinstein Gallery...