Erich Heckel
Zwei Clowns
. 1936.
Watercolor and gouache.
Signed, dated and titled in lower right. On wove paper. 69.5 x 55 cm (27.3 x 21.6 in), the full sheet. [CH].
• Elaborate, painterly watercolor of particular expressiveness.
• The world of vaudeville, theater and circus was one of the main motifs of the "Brücke" artists and had a lasting influence on Heckel"s artistic oeuvre up to his late work.
• Heckel placed the cheerful fairground events in the background of the scene in muted colors and put focus on the thoughtful, serious, almost challenging gazes of the two artists.
• The following year, almost 800 works by the artist were confiscated from German museums as part of the "Degenerate Art" campaign.
• Heckel would not devote himself again to this subject, which he held in such high esteem throughout his life, until after 1945
.