HANS SPIEGEL (Münnerstadt 1894 - 1966 Stuttgart), Still Life with Masks

HANS SPIEGEL*
(Münnerstadt 1894 - 1966 Stuttgart)
Still Life with Masks
oil/wood, 92 x 122 cm
monogrammed H.S.
depicted in Expressiver Realismus in Deutschland, Vienna 2017, p. 5, N. 5
Provenance: Nagel auctions Stuttgart, private property Austria

ESTIMATE € 10.000 - 15.000
START € 8.000

German artist of the 20th century. Studied at the Munich Academy with Gabriel von Hackl and Angelo Jank, and from 1918 with Christian Landenberger in Stuttgart. In 1919, together with his fellow students Oskar Schlemmer, Willi Baumeister and Albert Mueller, founded the Üecht Group. In 1919 he exhibited in Stuttgart, 1920 participation in the exhibition of the Novembergruppe in Berlin. Jury member of the Stuttgart Secession, 1925 professor and 1932 to 1943 director at the Stuttgart Academy. 1929 Founds Group 29 together with Adolf Walschmidt, Gottfried Graf and Albert Mueller. Strong influence of Cubism, round organic, also human forms in interplay with geometric forms. Early works such as the still life with masks, potted plant, pears, books and a jug are only a few survived.

Spiegel studied at the Munich Academy with Gabriel von Hackl and Angelo Jank. After 1918 he continued his artistic training with Christian Landenberger in Stuttgart. Among his fellow students were Oskar Schlemmer, Willi Baumeister and Albert Mueller. The Stuttgart "Üecht Group" emerged from their intensive exchange in 1919. In 1919 he took part in the exhibition of the German Association of Artists in Stuttgart, and in 1920 he took part in the show of the Berlin "November Group" in Rome. As a representative of the Stuttgart local group, he exhibited in 1921, 1922 and 1923 at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition. From 1924 to 1928 Spiegel was a jury member of the "Stuttgart Secession". In 1925 he received a professorship at the Stuttgart Academy, of which he was director from 1932 to 1943. In 1929 the artist received the Württemberg State Prize and in the same year he founded the "Group 29" Stuttgart together with Adolf Walschmidt, Gottfried Graf and Albert Mueller. Spiegel's early work was almost completely destroyed by air raids during World War II.

Hans Spiegel's "Still life with masks", fueled by expressionism, points to a special direction of modernity. It is one of the allegorically exaggerated mask still lifes that we know from artists as diverse as James Ensor, Emil Nolde, Karl Hofer, Anton Kolig or Sergius Pauser and means more than the usual realistic studio study with the arrangement mostly made of flowers and fruits. The piled up clownesque masks with long noses, together with the fruit plate placed at a steep angle on the table, the red jug, goblet, flower stick and books, form the props, so to speak, for a theatrical performance situated on the border between reality and hallucination. It's about the game of hide-and-seek behind the masks, about the possibilities of stepping out of normal life for a while and trying to be someone else. The curtain on the left edge of the picture underlines this theatrical dimension.

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