HELENE FUNKE* (Chemnitz 1869 - 1957 Vienna)
Stilllife with fruit, 1919
oil/canvas 59,3 x 73,1 cm
signed H. Funke, dated 1919

ESTIMATE € 20000 - 40000
STARTING PRICE € 20000

German-Austrian painter and graphic artist of the 20th century. Important artist of modernism, is described as a pioneer of emancipation and feminism because of the depictions of women. Born in Chemnitz, studied together with Gabriele Muenter at the Munich Ladies Academy from 1899. 1905 to 1913 in Paris like Paula Modersohn-Becker and Käthe Kollwitz. 1913 Moves to Vienna. Member of the artist group Bewegung or Freie Bewegung, member of the group Wiener Frauenkunst and member of the Deutscher Kuenstlerbund. Exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Independants and the Salon d'Autom/Autumn Salon with Henri Matisse, George Braque and Maurice de Vlaminck. Contact with the Fauves, involvement with Impressionism, Fauvism and Expressionism. In Vienna, participated in exhibitions of the Vienna Secession, the Hagenbund, the Kuenstlerhaus and the Kunstschau. Created confident portrayals of women, figural scenes, portraits of women, nudes, and still lifes. Bathers, dancers, Arcadian landscapes, metropolitan scenes in theaters with influences from Asiatica and ancient Egyptian mummy portraits. Color explosions with high luminosity and great expressiveness comparable to Helene Taussig. Subtle depictions of the human psyche comparable to Egon Schiele. 2007 first museum retrospective at Lentos in Linz, 2019 appreciation of the artist in the exhibition City of Women at the Austrian Gallery Belvedere. In contrast to the color-intensive paintings safe but delicate lines of the drawing, comparable to Gustav Klimt.

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