(Munich 1896–1954 New York City)
Self-portrait, 1921, signed, dated Jos. Scharl 1921, oil on canvas, 60.3 x 45.5 cm, oil sketch of a naked female back on the reverse, framed

Provenance:
The Artist’s family, Germany
Private Collection, Germany – acquired from the artist’s granddaughter about 25 years ago

Exhibited:
Kunsthalle Emden, Sinclair Haus Bad Homburg, Leopold-Hoesch Museum Düren, Josef Scharl – eine Retrospektive, 27 November 1999 – 30 January 2000
Museum Böttcherstrasse Bremen, Ernst Barlach Haus Hamburg, Josef Scharl. Zwischen den Zeiten, 17 June – 21 October 2018

The work has been requested for a forthcoming exhibition on Josef Scharl in the Buchheim Museum, Bernried

Literature:
Andrea Firmenich (ed.), Josef Scharl, Catalogue Raisonné,
Cologne 1999, no. 18

This self-portrait from 1921 represents a turning point in Josef Scharl’s development as a painter. In 1921, he freed himself from the constraints of the Academy and found his own style through the intensive study of van Gogh’s work. From 1921 onwards, he began to engage in an in-depth examination of his own self, which was followed by a long series of self-portraits over the following years. The work under the hammer in this auction of modern art is the earliest of his self-portraits to have been preserved. It offers a strikingly clear expression of the young painter’s newly gained self-conception in the form of facial expressions and gestures. Josef Scharl mainly paints his portrait using expressive, bright yellow, red and black tones, deploying dynamic brushstrokes which underline the determination of his facial expression even more, and which also offer a powerful illustration of the new artistic freedom he enjoyed after his time at the Academy in Munich.