SIEGFRIED REINHARDT (1925 1984) The Bath

Sale 2678 - Lot 104

Price Realized: $ 3,380

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500

SIEGFRIED REINHARDT (1925-1984)
The Bath.

Oil on masonite, 1957. 460x610 mm; 18⅛x24 inches. Signed and dated lower right.

Provenance
Robert Samuel Gallery, New York.
Purchased from the above by private collector, New York, 1979.
Thence by descent to current owner, New York.

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Additional Details

In 1960, Siegfried Reinhardt was included in the Whitney Museum's exhibition "Young America, 1960: Thirty American Painters Under Thirty-Six," along with Alex Katz, Robert Natkin, and George Ortman. In the catalogue for the exhibition, Reinhardt described what he sought to express in artwork during this time period, like the present painting: My work, finally, represents a high and long regard for the image of man as he appears to me, optically and psychologically, both in and out of context with himself, as an endless and profoundly commanding presence. As such, I find him reflected through the 'hall of mirrors' of my mind as the sum total of all creation."Reinhardt was born in East Prussia and immigrated to St. Louis, Missouri with his family at the age of three. By the time he was a teenager, Reinhardt already attracted art patrons and was given a solo exhibition at the St. Louis Artists Guild. During World War II, he was drafted into the United States Army, which eventually afforded him the opportunity to attend Washington University under the G.I. bill. In 1948, Reinhardt began to work as a designer for stained glass windows for Emil Frei, Inc., the influence of this medium, with its inherent fracturing of compositions, is evident in the present lot. After graduating in 1950, Reinhardt received mural commissions around Chicago and St. Louis, and continued to exhibit his work. He was one of Life Magazine's "Nineteen Young American Artists" in 1950, and was the topic of a follow up article in 1952. It was during the early 1950's that Reinhardt began showing his paintings in the Whitney Museum's annual exhibitions, one of which is now part of the Museum's collection. He was represented in the 1950's and 1960's by well-regarded New York galleries, including the Edwin Hewitt Gallery and The Midtown Galleries. While painting and exhibiting as a professional artist, Reinhardt was also an art instructor from the 1950's until his death.