Lot #58: RUDOLF KOPPITZ - Bewegungsstudie - Original vintage photolithograph

 

Artist: Rudolf Koppitz (Czech/Austrian, 1884-1936).
Title: "Bewegungsstudie [Movement Study]".
Medium: Original vintage photolithograph.
Date: Composed 1925. Printed 1928.
Dimensions: Overall size: 8 1/2 x 6 3/8 in. (216 x 162 mm).
Lot Note(s): Stamped with the photographer's name, verso. Edition unknown, probably very small. High-quality archival paper. Printed to the edge of the sheet. Fine, quality printing. Very good to fine condition; affixed to very thin and supple archival acid-free support sheet, not mount/board. Comment(s): "This dramatic study of a group of Russian dancers... remains in the minds of all who view it." Jo-Ann Conklin. "'Bewegungsstudie' (Movement Study) is surely the most widely published and best known image in Austrian photography from the early decades of the last century. 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 in the fine as in the applied arts by the Secession and by the Wiener Werkstatte. But what gives the image its power is the aura of mystery, of symbolist sensuality that resonates through this enigmatic grouping of the three uniformly coiffed and draped figures and the one single naked figure." Christie's, New York. [30318-2-2000]