Before the Mirror
- Date
- 1931
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- made in
- Wroclaw, Wroclaw voivodship, Poland, Europe
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 25 7/8 x 15 7/8 in. (65.7 x 40.3 cm)
framed: 33 1/16 x 22 7/8 x 1 3/4 in. (84 x 58.1 x 4.4 cm) - Credit Line
- Bequest of Morton D. May
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 937:1983
NOTES
A strong light reflects off the shiny body of a strange figure. Critics described Oskar Schlemmer’s subjects as mechanical dolls for their metallic skin and segmented limbs. They resemble the costumes Schlemmer designed for dances he choreographed at the Bauhaus, where he taught theater in the 1920s. By the time Schlemmer made this painting in 1931, he described his mechanical dolls in terms of a “grand figural style,” in which the abstracted human form achieved conceptual precision.
Provenance
by 1950 - 1961
Hermann Müller-Edenborn, Müllheim, Baden, Germany, purchased from the artist [1]
1961/05/03 - 1983
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, USA, purchased at the 36th auction "Moderne Kunst," Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett (Roman Norbert Ketterer), Stuttgart, Germany, May 3-4, 1961, lot no. 456 [2]
1983 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton D. May [3]
Notes:
[1] Hermann Müller-Edenborn, an architect, purchased the painting directly from the artist. At the time, Müller-Edenborn was living and working in Badenweiler-Sehringen, Germany, where Schlemmer had moved in 1937. Müller-Edenborn's daughter, Dorothea Niketta, remembers the painting hanging in her parents’ house throughout the 1950s. She also confirmed that her family sold it through Roman Norbert Ketterer, although she could not provide a date [notes of telephone conversations between Dorothea Niketta and SLAM provenance researcher Anabelle Kienle, September 5 and 12, 2005, SLAM document files]. Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett records indicate that the painting was offered for sale at the 1961 auction by "Müller-Edenborn, Müllheim" [letter from Wolfgang Henze, Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett Archives, dated September 28, 2005, SLAM document files].
[2] Klipstein & Kornfeld, from Bern, Switzerland, acted as May's agent and bid for him at auction. The statement from Klipstein & Kornfeld is dated June 7, 1961 [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[3] Last Will and Testament of M. D. May dated June 11, 1982 [copy, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 20, 1983.
Hermann Müller-Edenborn, Müllheim, Baden, Germany, purchased from the artist [1]
1961/05/03 - 1983
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, USA, purchased at the 36th auction "Moderne Kunst," Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett (Roman Norbert Ketterer), Stuttgart, Germany, May 3-4, 1961, lot no. 456 [2]
1983 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton D. May [3]
Notes:
[1] Hermann Müller-Edenborn, an architect, purchased the painting directly from the artist. At the time, Müller-Edenborn was living and working in Badenweiler-Sehringen, Germany, where Schlemmer had moved in 1937. Müller-Edenborn's daughter, Dorothea Niketta, remembers the painting hanging in her parents’ house throughout the 1950s. She also confirmed that her family sold it through Roman Norbert Ketterer, although she could not provide a date [notes of telephone conversations between Dorothea Niketta and SLAM provenance researcher Anabelle Kienle, September 5 and 12, 2005, SLAM document files]. Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett records indicate that the painting was offered for sale at the 1961 auction by "Müller-Edenborn, Müllheim" [letter from Wolfgang Henze, Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett Archives, dated September 28, 2005, SLAM document files].
[2] Klipstein & Kornfeld, from Bern, Switzerland, acted as May's agent and bid for him at auction. The statement from Klipstein & Kornfeld is dated June 7, 1961 [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[3] Last Will and Testament of M. D. May dated June 11, 1982 [copy, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 20, 1983.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.