Provenance:
Auktionshaus Grisebach, Berlin (1995)
Galerie Peter Westenhoff, Hamburg
Private collection, Hamburg
Hubertus Melsheimer Kunsthandel, Cologne
Private collection, Switzerland/ Germany
Exhibition:
collective exhibition of the Prussian Academy of Arts (special room Georg Kolbe), Berlin 1924
Literature:
Exh. cat. Berlin 1997/98, Bremen 1998
Georg-Kolbe-Museum: Georg Kolbe 1877–1947, Exh- cat., Berlin (November 16, 1997 – February 1, 1998) & Gerhard-Marcks-Haus, Bremen (February 8 – April 19, 1998) Munich/New York 1997, cat. no. 51, col. ill. p. 53
Rudolf B. Binding: Vom Leben der Plastik. Inhalt und Schönheit des Werkes von Georg Kolbe, Berlin 1933 and 1941, p. 50
Ludwig Justi: Georg Kolbe, Berlin 1931, ill. 9
Georg Kolbe’s figure Adagio is one of the artist’s best-known sculptures. This bronze cast was created in 1923 in the Noack foundry in Berlin, where Käthe Kollwitz also had her sculptures cast. From 1919 to 1921, Georg Kolbe was president of the Freie Secession in Berlin, where he engaged in intensive dialogue with Expressionist artists. His formal unity and clear lines at the beginning and middle of the 1920s, as can be seen in Adagio, were not only favourably received by his contemporaries at the time. Today it is evidence of his artistic elaboration and independence.
The woman depicted reverently tilts her head slightly to one side. Her mouth and eyes are closed, and the hair is neatly combed back. The folded hands rest on her chest. The slender, tall body stands slightly bent on the plinth, whereby her legs show through the draped robe. This contrasts with the angular drapery of the scarf, which is thrown loosely over her shoulders and held in place by the woman’s arms. The woman appears peaceful and introverted, completely absorbed in her thoughts. Although she is depicted without any religious attributes, it almost seems as if we are standing in front of a saint
“Adagio” is an Italian term that is used in music to describe the calm, slow playing of notes. Similar to the musical expression, the sculpture radiates calm and deliberation. The focus is not on the figure depicted, but on the reduction and contemplation of the expression. Kolbe uses this reduced formal language, which nevertheless skilfully captures the complexity of the human anatomy; a masterful example of the depiction of androgynous beauty in contrast to his otherwise soft depictions of femininity.
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