The Foxes (Die Füchse)

Details

FRANZ MARC (1880-1916)
The Foxes (Die Füchse)
signed with initial ‘M.’ (lower right)
oil on canvas
34 3⁄4 x 26 1⁄4 in. (88.3 x 66.4 cm.)
Painted in 1913

Provenance

Maria Marc, Ried, by descent from the artist, in March 1916.
Galerie Der Sturm [Herwarth Walden], Berlin, by whom acquired from the above, by September 1916.
Franz Kluxen, Berlin, by whom acquired from the above, by August 1917.
Max Leon Flemming, Hamburg & Berlin, by whom probably acquired from the above in May 1920.
Kurt & Else Grawi, Berlin, by whom acquired from the above in 1928.
William & Charlotte Dieterle, Beverly Hills, by whom acquired from the above in 1940 (through the agency of Ernst (Ernest) Simon and Karl Nierendorf, New York); offered for sale, Klipstein und Kornfeld, Bern, 8 June 1961, lot 64.
Helmut Horten, Berlin, by whom acquired via private treaty prior to the above sale and subsequently gifted to the Städtische Kunstsammlung, Dusseldorf in 1962.
Restituted by the city of Dusseldorf to the heirs of Kurt & Else Grawi, in 2021.

Literature

The artist's notebook (Merkbuch), no. 103, p. 64.
W. Cohen, ‘Die grosse Kunstausstellung in Düsseldorf 1920’, in Feuer, no. 1, vol. 1, Saarbrücken, October 1919 - March 1920, p. 733 (illustrated).
P.E. Küppers, ‘Die Sammlung Max Leon Flemming in Hamburg’, in Der Cicerone, no. XIV, vol. 1, Leipzig, January 1922, p. 10 (illustrated p. 13).
C. Einstein, Die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 1931, p. 530 (illustrated).
A.J. Schardt, Franz Marc, Berlin, 1936, no. 15, p. 164.
K. Lankheit, Franz Marc, Berlin, 1950, p. 51 (illustrated).
W. Hess, 'Franz Marc', in Goya, no. 11, Madrid, March - April 1956, p. 318 (illustrated).
R. Carrieri, Futurism, Milan, 1963, p. 112 (illustrated fig. 35; titled ‘The Fox’).
H. Althöfer, Restauriert und neu entdeckt aus der Arbeit der Restaurierung, Dusseldorf, 1968, p. 21 (illustrated fig. 36, p. 22; details illustrated figs. 37-38, p. 23; titled 'Die roten Füchse').
K. Lankheit, Franz Marc: Katalog der Werke, Cologne, 1970, no. 204, p. 71 (illustrated).
P. Vogt, Geschichte der deutschen Malerei im 20. Jahrhundert, Cologne, 1972, pp. 178, 182 & 500 (illustrated p. 179).
K. Lankheit, Franz Marc. Sein Leben und seine Kunst, Cologne, 1976, fig. 23, p. 125 (illustrated).
W. von Kalnein, ed., Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, vol. II, Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts Ausgewählte Werke, Dusseldorf, 1976, n.p. (illustrated fig. II-5).
W. von Kalnein, ed., Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, vol. I, Die Gemälde des 20. Jahrhunderts, Dusseldorf, 1977, n.p. (illustrated).
P. Vogt, Expressionismus. Deutsche Malerei zwischen 1905 und 1920, Cologne, 1978, p. 96 (illustrated p. 97).
G. Meissner, ed., Franz Marc. Briefe, Schriften und Aufzeichnungen, Leipzig, 1980, no. 34, p. 355 (illustrated on the cover; illustrated again pl. 34).
A. Grosskopf, 'Traum vom Paradies- die Bilder des Franz Marc, der vor 100 Jahren geboren wurde', in Der Stern, no. 7, Hamburg, 7 February 1980, p. 146 (illustrated).
F. Tobien, Franz Marc, Ramerding, 1982, no. 13, p. 79 (illustrated pl. 13).
Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, ed., Führer durch die Sammlungen 2. 20. Jahrhundert. Gemälde, Skulpturen, Objekte, exh. cat., Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf, 1986, no. 469, p. 31 (illustrated).
W. Stadler, Franz Marc. Mit den Augen der Tiere, Freiburg, 1986, p. 32 (illustrated pl. 10).
F. Tobien, Der Blaue Reiter, Kirchdorf-Inn, 1986, p. 63 (illustrated).
M.M. Moeller, Der Blaue Reiter, Cologne, 1987, p. 31 (illustrated; with inverted dimensions).
C. Pese, Franz Marc. Leben und Werk, Stuttgart, 1989, p. 179 (illustrated on the cover; illustrated again pl. 94).
S. Partsch, Franz Marc, 1880-1916, Cologne, 1990, p. 71 (illustrated p. 70).
H. Düchting, Franz Marc, Cologne, 1991, p. 169 (illustrated pl. 16).
E. Franz, ed., Franz Marc. Kräfte der Natur. Werke 1912-1915, exh. cat., Staatsgalerie moderner Kunst, Munich, 1993, p. 196 (illustrated fig. 7, p. 197).
C. Providoli, ed., Jean-Bloé Niestlé, 1881-1942, Un peintre animalier entre tradition et avant-garde, exh. cat., Musée d’art et d’histoire, Neuchâtel, 1997, p. 54 (illustrated fig. 35, p. 55).
A. Walter-Ris, Kunstleidenschaft im Dienst der Moderne: Die Geschichte der Galerie Nierendorf Berlin/New York 1920-1995, Zurich, 2003, no. 12, pp. 213 & 215 (dated '1914').
J.-H. Martin & H. Ricke, eds., The Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Paris, 2003, no. 83, p. 84 (illustrated).
A. Hoberg & I. Jansen, Franz Marc: The Complete Works, vol. I, The Oil Paintings, London, 2004, no. 208, p. 242 (illustrated p. 243; illustrated again on the frontispiece).
R.M. de Puydt, Felix de Boeck and the Pioneers of Abstract Art, 1920-1930, Ghent, 2010, p. 28 (illustrated).
Museum Kunstpalast, ed., The Collection, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf, 2011, p. 162 (illustrated).
K.H. Carl & F. Marc, Franz Marc, New York, 2020, p. 156 (illustrated p. 157).

Exhibited

Hamburg, Kunstsalon Ludwig Bock & Sohn, Franz Marc, May 1913 (no cat.).
Amsterdam, Musée Municipal Suasso, Moderne Kunst Kring, Catalogue des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, dessin, gravure, November - December 1913, no. 159, p. 41.
(Possibly) Helsinki, Der Blaue Reiter, February - March 1914; this exhibition later travelled to Trondheim, April - May 1914; and Gothenburg, June - July 1914 (ex. cat.).
Munich, Münchener Neue Secession, II. Ausstellung, June - September 1916, no. 119, p. 23.
Munich, Münchener Neue Secession, Franz Marc. Gedächtnis-Ausstellung, September - October 1916, no. 117, p. 17.
Berlin, Galerie Der Sturm, Franz Marc, Gedächtnis-Ausstellung, November 1916, no. 17, n.p..
Berlin, Galerie Der Sturm, Sammlung Kluxen, August 1917, no. 39, n.p..
Dusseldorf, Städtischen Kunstpalast, Der Grossen Kunstausstellung, May - October 1920, no. 840, p. 62.
Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Gedächtnis-Ausstellung Franz Marc, 1922 (no cat.).
Hamburg, Kunsthalle, Leihausstellung aus Hamburgischem Privatbesitz, May 1925, no. 206, n.p..
Berlin, Galerie Nierendorf, Franz Marc. Gedächtnis-Ausstellung der Galerie Nierendorf, May 1936, no. 12, n.p. (dated ‘1914’).
Hamburg, Kunstverein, Franz Marc. Gemälde, Gouachen, Zeichnungen, Skulpturen, November 1963 - January 1964, no. 51, n.p. (illustrated pl. 52).
Leningrad, Hermitage, Deutsche Malerei, 1890-1918, May - July 1978, no. 54, p. 128 (illustrated p. 129); this exhibition later travelled to Moscow, Pushkin Museum, July - August 1978; and Frankfurt, Städtische Galerie im Städelischen Kunstinstitut, September - November 1978.
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Expressionism: A German Intuition, 1905-1920, November 1980 - January 1981, no. 236, p. 206 (illustrated); this exhibition later travelled to San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, February - April 1981.
Dusseldorf, Städtische Kunsthalle, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, 20. Jahrhundert, Gemälde, Skulpturen, Objekte, May - July 1982, p. 234 (illustrated p. 19).
Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Creation: Modern Art and Nature, August - October 1984, no. 90, p. 72 (illustrated on the front and back covers; illustrated again p. 72).
Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Figures du Moderne, 1905-1914, L’Expressionisme en Allemagne, Dresde, Munich, Berlin, November 1992 - March 1993, no. 323, p. 424 (illustrated p. 286).
Dusseldorf, Kunstpalast, El Greco und die Moderne, April - August 2012, p. 406 (illustrated p. 183).

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