ALFRED KUBIN
1877 Leitmeritz – 1959 Zwickledt
EYE FOR AN EYE [Aug um Aug]
ink and watercolor on paper, 390 x 308 mm
inscribed and signed at the bottom: Aug um Aug. Kubin
date: 1905-1910
provenance:
possibly Hans von Weber, 1924, Munich;
private collection, Switzerland;
Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, June 22, 1995, lot 566;
private collection, Europe;
Sotheby’s London, February 3, 2004, lot 4;
Christie’s London, February 28, 2018, lot 241;
private collection, Austria.
In extremis, horror and beauty are combined in Alfred Kubin’s Eye for an Eye. This surreal drawing of a mutilated female body, nailed to a wall with daggers, is heavily reminiscent of religious imagery of martyrdom in Judeo-Christian tradition, which Kubin combined with his personal mysticism.
The Austrian artist was haunted by fantastic and nightmarish visions, which he dealt with and visualized in his art. For a few years, one original and ingenious composition followed the other, and Kubin created his own novel visual language. He managed to transform his most negative emotions and conceptions into the most beautiful drawings.
Women are an important and interesting topic in Kubin’s oeuvre. In his works, women are frequently associated with violence, sexuality and death. Around the dawn of the twentieth century many artists were inspired by the Femme Fatale theme, which enjoyed great popularity in art and literature. While his work is part of a Zeitgeist phenomenon, his source of inspiration goes deeper being rooted in his inspiration is rooted in his psychological problems, traumas and fears created by his own childhood experiences.
Kubin’s youth and childhood are defined by hardship and depression; his mother died of tuberculosis after a long period of suffering when he was ten years old the death of his father’s second wife (his mother’s sister) and the traumatic experience of sexual abuse by a pregnant woman a year following his mother’s death. He was expelled from school, gave up his training as a photographer, attempted suicide, and had a nervous breakdown after a brief period of military service. Despite all the setbacks, Kubin managed to get his life on track. The turning point was his move to Munich in 1898 where he attended drawing classes. Not the classes but Kubin’s frequent visits to the Pinakotheken led to a Schaffenrausch (creative explosion) in him. At the museums in Munich he studied works by Francesco Goya, Max Klinger, Odilon Redon, James Ensor, Edvard Munch and others. The quality of his drawings soon made him a respected member of the leading European avant-garde. His work was exhibited among others at the Phalanx Association in Munich, the Vienna Secession, the Galerie Thannhauser and the Erste Deutsche Herbstsalon in Berlin organized by Herwarth Walden. Kubin became a member of the artist association Der Blaue Reiter and was highly regarded by fellow artists such as Franz Marc, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlenksy, Oskar Kokoska and Koloman Moser.
In the fall of 1901, Kubin met the art patron and later publisher Hans von Weber. By publishing a folder of facsimile prints of Kubin’s drawings, von Weber contributed immensely to Kubin’s increasing international fame. The reverse of Eye for an Eye bears a small purple collector’s stamp with the initials HvW.