POSCH Alexander (1890-circa 1950) - Lot 102

POSCH Alexander (1890-circa 1950) Nude woman. Graphite on paper. Signed lower right Stamp of the Paul and André Horn collection, STRASBOURG Dated 1921 H_41 L_ 25 cm Alexander Posch, born June 21, 1890 in Schönberg/Bergstraße, Germany, was a major German painter, active mainly in Darmstadt and associated with the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement. Born into a family whose father, Christian Posch, was an Austrian-born locksmith, he began his artistic training with an apprenticeship with master glassmaker Hans Müller-Hickler, then studied at Adolf Beyer's Malschule in Darmstadt. From 1910, he attended the Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich before continuing his studies in Vienna, where he perfected his technique and became familiar with modern trends. After the First World War, Posch settled as a freelance artist in Darmstadt. In 1920, together with Marcel Wilhelm Richter and Hartmut Pfeil, he co-founded the "Darmstädter Gruppe", conceived as a counterpoint to the more politicized Darmstädter Sezession, in the sober, objective spirit of the Neue Sachlichkeit. He also helped found the Reichsverband bildender Künstler Hessens, of which he became director, and in 1931 received the Georg-Büchner prize from the state of Hesse. His work focuses mainly on still lifes of flowers, fruit and domestic objects, but also includes a few landscapes and human figures. His painting is characterized by a moderate palette and a precise, objective rendering, faithful to the aesthetics of New Objectivity. Posch's life was marked by severe hardship: during the bombing of Darmstadt on September 11, 1944, his studio and most of his works were destroyed, and his wife lost her life. After a two-year stay in the Allgäu, he returned to Darmstadt in 1949 and joined the new "Neue Darmstädter Sezession". He died on August 2, 1950 in Darmstadt after a long illness. Despite the destruction of much of his work, Alexander Posch remains a central player in the local and Hessian art scene, and his paintings continue to feature in databases and auctions, testifying to his role in structuring and modernizing visual art in Hesse at the beginning of the XXᵉ century.