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38

Ulfert Wilke (1907-1987), Oil Painting, View of Bruges, 1932

Currency:EUR Category:Collectibles Start Price:1,400.00 EUR Estimated At:2,240.00 - 2,800.00 EUR
Ulfert Wilke (1907-1987), Oil Painting, View of Bruges, 1932
The present painting by Ulfert Wilke was created in 1932 and is thus a very rare early work, which the artist painted before his emigration to the United States. It depicts a view of the Belgian city of Bruges. The center is occupied by a channel traversed by a bridge, which is lined on both sides by rows of houses. The pictorial language shows the influence of the New Objectivity. Works by Wilke in this style are uncommon for he later adopted a purely abstract, calligraphic manner of painting. The painter was highly regarded among fellow artists, some works by Wilke were, for instance, in the estate of the American sculptor George Rickey.



The painting is overall in very good condition, with minimal speckles on the surface. It is signed and dated ‘Ulfert Wilke 32’ lower right. The frame shows some wear. The framed work measures 65 x 78 cm, the stretcher measures 54 x 67 cm.



Ulfert Wilke (1907-1987)

Ulfert Wilke was born in Bavaria in 1907 and immigrated to the United States in 1938. He studied at Harvard on a scholarship and later at the University of Iowa. During the 1940s and 50s Wilke worked as an art teacher and was the director at several universities and museums. He received the Guggenheim Fellowship twice, which he used to travel to Munich, Rome and later Japan where he studied Japanese calligraphy. In the 1960s Wilke returned to New York where he had ties to many of the main figures of the New York school such as Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Lyonel Feininger, Max Beckmann and Robert Motherwell. During this time he created the series ‘Interstices’, which earned him international recognition. Already in the 1930s he had had solo exhibitions in Germany. From the 1950s onwards he continued to show his works in numerous exhibitions in the US and abroad. Wilke was fascinated by the written word, which is evident in many of his works. Especially his later work is characterized by abstract shapes, bold colors and calligraphic elements. Wilke was also an avid collector, particularly of tribal art. Today his works are held at MoMA and the Whitney Museum in New York as well as several major private collections.
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