Komposition mit 5 Figuren und Sonne. Wohl 1930s.
Oil on canvas, laid on hard fibre board.
Monogrammed lower left.With label with artist's address on verso, there with signature and title "Komposition mit 5 Figuren" and inscription "unverkäuflich". 42,5 x 53,5 cm (16,7 x 21 in).

We are grateful to Dr. Ursula Reinhardt, Stuttgart, for her kind expert advice.

PROVENANCE: Collection Erich Schurr, Stuttgart (acquired directly from artist).
Private collection Southern Germany.

EXHIBITION: Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart (with label on verso).

The composition that resembles a lamentation of the dead, seems to have been made under the strong influence of Adolf Hoelzel, as it ties in with depictions of the Holy Family that reoccur in Hoelzel's work. Kerkovius changes the scene in this early work, which, due to the destruction of her Stuttgart studio in an air raid, is one of her rare works from the 1930s. Based on a mixture of abstraction and real image objects, she followed the color compositions going back to the influence of Hoelzel. A seemingly mystical atmosphere hovers above the scene and adds a level of interpretation that is rarely found with Kerkovius. [KD].