Mädchen vor Architektur. 1949.
Oil on canvas.
Lower left monogrammed (in ligature) and dated. Stretcher titled "2 Frauen vor Architektur". 101 x 70.5 cm (39.7 x 27.7 in).
The work is documented on a photo shot by the Berlin art photographer Ewald Gnilka, with whom Karl Hofer worked together as of the mid 1940s, archive number 25620. [CH].

• One of the artist's most important and sought-after couple paintings.
• With the bright, reduced color palette, the clear repertoire of forms and the unusual architectural background framing the figures, the artist achieves a particularly modern, timeless quality.
• The introverted female figures, characteristic of Hofer's oeuvre, only appear vulnerable at first glance, here he shows them as strong personalities thanks to their size, physical condition and self-confidence.
• A modern development of the motif in the earlier painting "Two Girlfriends" in the Hamburger Kunsthalle (1923/24).
• In these post-war years, Hofer was able to build on his success; hi paintings were part of the legendary exhibition "German Art of the 20th Century" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1957.

PROVENANCE: Galerie A. M. Bänninger, Berlin/Zürich.
Galerie K. Meissner, Zürich.
Private collection Switzerland.
Galerie Salis & Vertes, Salzburg.
Private collection Southern Germany (from the above).

EXHIBITION: Retrospektiv. Karl Hofer 1878-1955, Baukunst-Galerie, Cologne, January 27 - April 15, 1967, cat. no. 60 (fig.).
Commemorative Exhibition Karl Hofer 1878-1955, Kulturamt der Stadt Salzburg / Museum Carolino Augusteum, Museumspavillon im Mirabellgarten, Salzburg, July 4 - August 31, 1975, cat. no. 19 (fig.).

LITERATURE: Karl Bernhard Wohlert, Karl Hofer. Catalogue raisonné of paintings, vol. 3, Cologne 2007, p. 66, no. 2207 (black-and-white illu.).

Doris Schmidt (ed.), Briefe an Günther Franke. Porträt eines deutschen Kunsthändlers, Köln 1970, p. 122, Karl Hofer an Günther Franke, letter from December 22, 1951 (foot note 4).
Christie's, London, German and Austrian Art, October 11, 1995, p. 210, lot 197 (color illu.).


"His figures huddle together as if to give each other protection, with fearful, unsuspecting or introverted, waiting expressions."
Dr. Frank Schmidt, then director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2012, in: ex. cat. Karl Hofer. Von Lebensspuk und stiller Schönheit, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2012, p. 90.