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drawing of a house on a hill with a river in the foregroundan old drawing of a house in a wooden frame on a wallan old picture frame on a wooden wall with a white background
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Estimate €700 - €1,400
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Description
Karl Hofer (Karlsruhe 1878 – 1955 Berlin) Between Ghirla and Luino, 1934 pencil on paper, 30 x 46.5 cm dated July 34 ESTIMATE €700 – €1,400 STARTING PRICE € 700 The German painter Karl Hofer (Karlsruhe 1878 – 1955 Berlin) completed a commercial apprenticeship before commencing a scholarship-funded course of study at the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts in 1896 under Hans Thoma and Robert Poetzelberger. He continued his studies in 1902 as a master student of Leopold von Kalckreuth at the Stuttgart Academy. Supported by the patron Theodor Reinhart, he lived in Rome from 1903, undertook extensive travels to Paris, India and Norway, and settled in Paris in 1908, where he engaged with classical modernism and artists such as Cézanne. In 1913, he moved to Berlin, where he received support from Paul Cassirer in 1919 and became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1920, later serving as its director (1945–1951). He was a co-founder of the Baden Secession and a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts. Hofer developed an expressive-realistic style of painting early on, characterised by a reduced, often sombre palette. He depicted loneliness, nudity and quiet interiors, influenced by the Italian Pre-Renaissance and Magic Realism. His paintings are distinguished by clear contours, flat simplification and a melancholic atmosphere reminiscent of New Objectivity and Expressionism. Personal tragedies such as the loss of his children, his internment during the First World War and the death of his first wife in a concentration camp profoundly shaped his work. Denounced as ‘degenerate’ by the National Socialists in 1937, he lost his teaching post in 1933, was expelled from the academy, and in 1943 saw his studio and hundreds of works destroyed by bombs. After 1945, Hofer continued to exert his influence as a vocal advocate for figurative art, attracting colleagues such as Max Pechstein and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff to his academy. He received honours including the Berlin Art Prize and the Grand Cross of Merit. Hofer’s works are held in, amongst other places, the National Gallery in Berlin, the Belvedere Gallery in Austria, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, and the Albertina in Vienna. Related artists and styles: Hans Thoma, Leopold von Kalckreuth, Theodor Reinhart, Paul Cassirer, Max Pechstein, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Georg Tappert, Hermann Haller, Leopold Ziegler, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Christian Schad, Carlo Mense; Expressionism, Magic Realism, New Objectivity, Baden Secession, Prussian Academy of Arts, Degenerate Art, Paul Cézanne, Josef Floch PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price comprises the highest bid plus the buyer’s premium, VAT and, where applicable, the artists’ resale rights fee and platform fee. In the case of standard taxation (marked °), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax of 13 per cent (20 per cent for photographs) is added to the sum of the highest bid, the buyer’s premium and the platform fee. The buyer’s premium amounts to 28 per cent in the case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.
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About the sale Modern Art
Auction location
Auction time 09/30/2026 at 10:00 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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