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Auction sale reference

Oskar Gawell (Chawlodno 1888 - 1955 Vienna)

Sold for €500 at Widder Auctions on May 28, 2026.

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Lot description

Oskar Gawell (Chawlodno 1888 - 1955 Vienna) Fishermen on the Curonian Spit mixed media/paper 47,5 x 66 cm signed O. Gawell SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 300 - 500 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 300 The German-Austrian painter Oskar Gawell (1888 Chawłodno near Gollanz/Gollantsch, Province of Posen – 1955 Vienna) devoted himself primarily to genre and landscape painting, capturing motifs of lakes, boats, and houses in an expressive, color-intensive manner. From 1909 to 1912, he studied at the art academies in Breslau and Weimar, maintained close contact with the artists of Die Brücke, and in 1913/14 was a student of Lovis Corinth in Berlin. At the first exhibition of the Free Secession Berlin in 1914, he showed works alongside Max Oppenheimer, Max Pechstein, and Pablo Picasso. From 1924 onwards, he undertook extensive study trips to Lithuania, Russia, Romania, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, North Africa, Belgium, Positano (1926), Algiers and Finland (1929), the Masurian Lakes (1931), and repeatedly to the artists' colony of Nidden on the Curonian Spit. In 1926, Gawell received the Albrecht Dürer Prize from the city of Nuremberg and exhibited in Zwickau in 1927 with Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff; he was friends with, among others, Marc Chagall and Oskar Kokoschka. An exhibition followed in 1935 at the Nierendorf Gallery with Grete Csaky-Copony; from 1928 to 1933, he taught at the State Art School in Berlin, but lost his professorship due to National Socialist cultural policies. From 1937 onwards, he spent more time in Vienna, received Austrian citizenship in 1947, and was awarded the title of professor in 1949. He was a member of the German Artists' Association, the Berlin Secession, and the Vienna Secession. Gawell's style combines the expressionistic dynamism of Die Brücke with the painterly power of Corinth and Kokoschka, resulting in vibrant landscapes and genre scenes that blend European modernism with personal travel experiences. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights. In the case of normal taxation (marked ° at the estimate), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax is added to the sum of the highest bid and the buyer's premium. This amounts to 13% for paintings, drawings, graphic works and sculptures and 20% for photographs and all other items. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.

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