82.88 Head of young woman with dark hair

c. 1924

Watercolor, 8 x 7 1/2" (20.2 x 19.3 cm)

Signed, ll: Hoerle

Provenance: Lempertz Auction, Cologne, Nr. 455, June 1959

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82.88 Head of young woman with dark hair

c. 1924

Watercolor, 8 x 7 1/2" (20.2 x 19.3 cm)

Signed, ll: Hoerle

Provenance: Lempertz Auction, Cologne, Nr. 455, June 1959

Head of a young woman with dark hair  c. 1924

 During the mid-1920s, Hoerle did several watercolor studies of women’s faces, all with similar emphasis on large dark eyes and delicate, almost elegant, washes of color.  This period was the only time when he concentrated on watercolor instead of the hard-edge oil paintings that connect him more logically with The New Objectivity.  This interlude may have been a response to his grief over the death in 1923 of his 23-year-old wife, Angelika, a concrete attempt to expiate his guilt for deserting her in her last months.