Lot 160: Topp, Arnold 1887 Soest - 1962 Brandenburg Bedrohte Stadt.

Topp, Arnold
1887 Soest - 1962 Brandenburg

Bedrohte Stadt. 1918. Oil on artists's cardboard. 42 x 33,5cm. Signed lower right: A.Topp. Framed.
Verso marked with four stamps: Dipl.-Ing. R. Burk.

Accompanied by an expertise from Dr. Rainer Enders, Frankfurt (Oder), September 19, 2009. The work will be included with the number 18.Oe.24 in the revised edition of the catalogue raisonné.
Dr. Enders describes the present work as "a study explicitly for Topp's great painting 'Verlassene Stadt' from 1918, (...)." Both works were created with wartime impressions from 1918 still fresh in the artist's mind, "as the situation of the German Reich intensified on most fronts, civil unrest increased, and a military defeat with dramatic repercussions seemed imminent (...) Clearly, the city is deserted; the windows of most houses are now gaping black holes. [...] In the upper left portion of the image, the city bursts into a flaming inferno, already engulfing a few buildings. (...) Bedrohte Stadt is a painting of unadulturated colors; mingled colors can hardly be found. The resulting contrasts between red, yellow, and blue produce an image of great tension. The masterful distribution of yellow and resulting light-dark contrasts elicit a sense of disquietude, as well as danger and demise. (Dr. R. Enders, 2009, translated from the German.)