Lot description
MATI KLARWEIN (GERMAN, 1932-2002) SELF PORTRAIT WITH PEPPERS, 1954 Oil and tempera on canvas laid on board: 12 3/4 x 18 1/4 in., 16 x 22 1/4 in. (framed) Framed in original gold velvet lined frame Note: Warhol called him "the most famous unknown painter in the world," and viewing the scope and reach of Mati Klarwein's work it is easy to see just how true that is. Klarwein's oeuvre is probably best known for the albums his works have graced the covers of rather than his individual canvases. His work is on the covers for artists Earth, Wind & Fire, Miles Davis, and Santana, to name a few, and his paintings are a highly influential set of imagery from the psychedelic 1960s and 70s. Both the present portraits are wonderful pieces from an artist whose impact has just recently started to be fully realized. Born in Hamburg in 1932, Klarwein fled Germany for Palestine with his parents at the age of 2. He and his mother moved in 1948 to Paris, where he later studied with artist Fernand Leger and was introduced to the works of Salvador Dali and the realm of Surrealism. By the 1960s and 70s, while working in New York, Klarwein was an integral part of the psychedelic countermovement. Jimi Hendrix was a fan of his work and the two were close collaborators. Klarwein's imagery, though, defies any genre and his portraits and landscapes show a keen eye and delicate painterly skill in their creation. The present works are two great examples from the portraiture aspect of Klarwein's early oeuvre. The self-portrait was painted as a young man and the introduction of seemingly random elements, like the peppers, show an inclination towards the surreal that would mark Klarwein's career. The details in the portrait of Daniel H. Silberberg also highlight Klarwein's painterly skill with oil and tempera and his ability to create powerful imagery through a simple portrait. Provenance: From the artist to the Daniel H. Silberberg family and by descent