Luca Madrassi (1848-1919) “The Fallen Gladiator” circa 1900

Well, I can assure you that the pickings from European Auction sites have been few and far between. If you are looking for over priced drawings or paintings of the nude then have at it because there are tons of overpriced items out there. Lately it has been a real ordeal getting artworks out of Europe and into my collection. The painting "The Shy Boy" previously listed as "on it's way" has now disappeared somewhere in the postal system. Another sculpture from a European seller has proven to be a scam. He insists the package was sent and the tracking number provided shows it was delivered to an address 354 miles from my home. Some people have to resort to outright theft in these hard times! I found this Maddrassi bronze on a European site and did some research on past auction results and it was within the affordable. It has some minor age related flaws but is still a nice sculpture. Fingers crossed it makes it through the circus we call the American Postal Service! Here is some basic biographical information on the artist:...................Born in Tricesimo, Italy in 1848, Madrassi began his art studies in Rome before studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, under the famous master Pierre-Jules Cavelier.    Madrassi joined the studio of the famous sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse's (1824-1887) and later Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929); both of which had great influence on the playful romantic quality of his work.    He  also assisted the Scottish sculptor Lord Ronald Gower (1845-1916).  Known primarily for busts and statuettes his work is typically defined by an imaginative and sensitive interpretation of allegorical themes. Madrassi exhibited frequently at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Francais from 1879 onwards, obtaining an honourable mention on several occasions (1881 , 1882 , 1883 and 1885) and a third-class medal in 1896.  In 1890 he finally obtained French nationality and became a full member of the Société des Artistes Français. He also exhibited at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1896.  

And here are a few examples of his prolific line up of sculptural editions:

Der Schüchterne Knabe….“The Shy Boy”....Signed & Dated 1924... Oils on Canvas by Hermann Weidlich (1899-1956)

Another great Auction find is headed into my collection from Germany. It's an oils on canvas painting signed and dated 1924 titled "Der Schüchterne Knabe“ (The Shy Boy) by the German Artist Hermann Weidlich (1899-1956). (Addendum.. as of July 9, this painting is still missing somewhere in the mess we call the US Post Office .... so is my investment!)

It looks as though a good cleaning is in store for the painting. Here is some biographical informaItion I managed to find on the Artist:..........Hermann Weidlich was born in 1899 and was primarily influenced creatively by the 1900s and 1910s. The Fauves are widely considered to be the first foremost Post-Impressionist group, working in the at the start of the twentieth century. With artists such as Henry Matisse within their ranks, the Fauves believed that intense, other worldly colours and energetic brushstrokes were a key component of painting. At the same time, a young Pablo Picasso, still in his youth, created his famed Blue and Rose periods in Paris, and by the end of the 1920s he had developed the first ideas of depicting fractured views of reality alongside his contemporary Georges Braque. This movement became known as Analytical Cubism. The vigorous development of pictorial art defined the first decades of the twentieth century. It was an era of experimentation and post-Impressionism, with artists first delving into Expressionism and Abstraction. A variety of collectives and groups of artists across the globe evolved many ways of expressing these crucial innovations. The De Stijl group in the Netherlands, led by the teachings of Piet Mondrian, began to practice important theories concerning Abstraction. Alongside this, Kasimir Malevich and his contemporaries developed Constructivism and Suprematism in the Soviet Union. These radical styles of art were demanding and politicised, and looked to serve a new world order. The first twenty years of the twentieth century can be viewed to be the most prolific, and are seen as the period in art history when modern and modernist philosophies initially began to take hold culturally. Mechanisation in production and ideas of order and rationality ensured the discipline of architecture to develop at an extraordinary rate, and was defined by in the work of Le Corbusier and Gerrit Rietveld. Bauhaus was prevalent at this time and defined the idea of a common discipline across all types of creative art. Most, if not all, of the ideologies of key art movements that we associate with modern and contemporary art can be traced back to the diverse range of work made during this era. The psychological uses of art began to be further explored and developed following the terrors of the WWI. Dadaism, a nonsensical and absurdist movement inspired directly by the war, appeared in Paris, Berlin, Zurich and Hannover, and launched the careers of artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, Hannah Höch and Kurt Schwitters. The vital philosophies behind Dadaism would go on to find ground in Surrealism, which was the first art movement to fully incorporate psychology and ideas about the subconscious, and took great inspiration from the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. In the meantime, Expressive painting was being developed and explored in various places across the world. the Nabis in France were the first to delve into this movement at the turn of the century, and German groups such as Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter soon followed suit, developing the careers of legendary artists such as Kirchner, Franz Marc, and Wassily Kandinsky......... And here are a few examples of his other works:

Small Bronze of a Nude Boy Sitting On A World Globe..... German Casting, Unsigned, Circa 1900 - 1930

This little guy is on his way from Germany. I found him lurking on eBay Germany and his cuteness was worth the small asking price. The little bronze (15cm high) is unsigned but after doing a little research it appears the concept was very popular in home art in Germany at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. He will go on display with the other small bronzes sitting on my computer desk! Enjoy.

Graduation Day seems to be the reason behind the theme of "Globe Sitting!"