12th Oct, 2019 16:00

OstLicht Photo Auction Autumn 2019

 
  Lot 10
 

RUDOLF KOPPITZ (1884–1936)
‘Bewegungsstudie’ Movement Study, Vienna 1925

Sold for €12,000


Lot details

Estimate: € 10.000–12.000

Vintage silver print, carte postale, printed in the 1930s

13 x 9,4 cm

Photographer's blindstamp in the margin lower right, annotated “Bewegungs-Studie” by the photographer in pencil in the margin, his studio stamp on the reverse

LITERATURE Monika Faber (ed.), Rudolf Koppitz. 1884 - 1936, Vienna 1995, cover and p. 83; Monika Faber (ed.), Rudolf Koppitz. Photogenie, Vienna 2013, p. 133.

Koppitz’s most famous work and one of the most admired images of the 20th century. This image was produced in a variety of print forms. There exist silver, carbon, toned bromoil prints and gravures from the original negative. The photograph offered here is a silver print, printed around 1930, in very good condition. Depicted are dancers from the Vienna State Opera; the nude figure was long known to be Claudia Issatschenko, but the latest studies tend to say that it is more likely her daughter Tatyana. The »Movement Study« is a perfect example of Koppitz’s graphic style and his preference for compositional clarity, which follows the tradition of the Symbolism and Jugendstil. This is for good reason, as no photograph better captures the cultural strands that characterized the Austrian avant-garde at that time. Here one can see a graphic strength and compositional clarity that reflects the modernist ambitions initiated by the Secession and Wiener Werkstätte..

Start price: €5.000