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ONLINECOLLECTION

Factory in Berlin, 1921

Leopold Museum,
Vienna © Herbert Boeckl estate,
Vienna
Oil on canvas
37×27.8 cm

Artists

  • Herbert Boeckl

    (Klagenfurt 1894–1966 Vienna)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
As a painter, Herbert Boeckl (1894–1966) is an autodidact. He focuses fully on his calling only after the end of World War I. The Secessionist influences that mark his early works are soon discarded and he begins to attach greater importance to colors than to lines. His first important Expressionist works with strong abstracting tendencies are created as early as 1919. Color, applied in a pastose and expressive style, becomes the decisive factor in the years of 1921 to 1923. These eruptions are smoothed again in Berlin. His study trip to Berlin (1921/22) was made possible by his promoter, the Viennese art dealer Gustav Nebehay (1881–1935). The promising artist received a fixed monthly payment from Nebehay. In return, all works were the property of the gallery owner, who granted the artist a share in the sales. Six paintings were created during the artist’s time in Berlin, including the Factory in Berlin. The Berlin paintings are often seen as foreshadowing Boeckl’s later works: They are losing their purely depicting character and becoming increasingly abstract. The omission of modeling and shadows makes the objects in the pictures appear more planar. The oil paint is used autonomously and no longer serves to express the artist’s psyche.

Object data

Artist/author
  • Herbert Boeckl
Title
Factory in Berlin
Date
1921
Art movement
Expressionism
Category
Painting
Material​/technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
37×27.8 cm
Signature
Signed lower right: Böckl
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 518
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Selection of Reference works
  • Moderne Österreichische Farbmalerei um 1918, hrsg. von Elisabeth Leopold, Wien 2021 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 03.02.2021-24.05.2021).
  • Herbert Boeckl. Retrospektive, hrsg. von Agnes Husslein-Arco/Matthias Boeckl Wien 2009 (Ausst.-Kat. Belvedere, Wien, 21.10.2009-31.01.2010).
  • Herbert Boeckl. Mit einem Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde von Leonore Boeckl, hrsg. von Gerbert Frodl, Salzburg 1976.
Catalogue raisonne
  • Husslein-Arco 2009: 42
  • Frodl 1976: 29
Keywords

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Nachlass Herbert Boeckl, Wien (1966);
Leopold Boeckl, Wien; (1)
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1978-1994); (2)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (1994).

  1. Agnes Husslein-Arco (Hg.), Herbert Boeckl, Wien 2009, S. 340, Nr. 42
  2. Diethard Leopold, Rudolf Leopold. Kunsterkenner-Kunstsammler-Museumsgründer. Brennen für die Kunst, Wien 2018, S. 134; Archiv des Leopold Museums, Kaufvertrag vom 24.07.1978

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