Wood
Tate Collection
Works with images
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Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/karl-schmidt-rottluff-1904" aria-label="More by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Karl Schmidt-Rottluff</a>
Male Head
Presented by the executors of Dr Rosa Schapire 1954
abstraction
adults
body
figure
from recognisable sources
head / face
man
people
<p>Schmidt-Rottluff was primarily a painter, but during the First World War he briefly turned to sculpture. This is one of around twelve carvings influenced by African sculpture that he made in 1917–18. Most were heads, and some were painted red, blue or green. Traces of colour around one eye and at the base of the head suggest that this example was originally red.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2008</em></p>
sculpture wood
14 April 2009 – 16 June 2013
2013-06-16
14 April 2009 – 16 June 2013
2013-06-16
2009-04-14
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2009-04-14
This is Sculpture
Collection based display
29 January 2010 – 25 April 2010
2010-04-25
29 January 2010 – 25 April 2010
2010-04-25
2010-01-29
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2010-01-29
Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic
Exhibition
15 July 2010 – 15 October 2010
2010-10-15
15 July 2010 – 15 October 2010
2010-10-15
2010-07-15
Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea (Santiago, Spain)
2010-07-15
Afro Modern
Loan-out
25 May 2012 – 24 September 2012
2012-09-24
25 May 2012 – 24 September 2012
2012-09-24
2012-05-25
Centre Pompidou, Metz (Metz, France)
2012-05-25
1917
Loan-out
17 October 2017 – 19 February 2018
2018-02-19
17 October 2017 – 19 February 2018
2018-02-19
2017-10-17
Musée de l’Orangerie (Paris, France)
2017-10-17
DADA and African Art
Loan-out
Male Head
object: 343 × 133 × 165 mm
base: 137 × 150 × 165 mm
overall: 480 × 150 × 165 mm
Presented by the executors of Dr Rosa Schapire 1954
<p>Schmidt-Rottluff was primarily a painter, but during the First World War he briefly turned to <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculpture</span></a>. This is one of around twelve carvings influenced by African sculpture that he made in 1917–18. Most were heads, and some were painted red, blue or green. Traces of colour around one eye and at the base of the head suggest that this example was originally red.</p>

Display caption
2008-07-30T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<div class="text">
<p>
<b>Karl Schmidt-Rottluff</b> 1884-1976<br/>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="/art/artworks/N06250" onclick="popTateObjects(event, -1, 'N06250');" title="View details of this artwork"><span>N06250</span></a> <b>Male Head</b> 1917<br/>Inscribed 'S. Rottluff | 1917' on back of neck<br/>Wood, 13 ½ x 5 ¼ x 6 ½ (34.3 x 13.3 x 16.5)<br/>Presented by the Executors of Dr Rosa Schapire in accordance with her wishes 1954<br/>
<br/>
<i>Prov:</i> Dr Rosa Schapire, Hamburg and London (purchased from the artist)<br/>
<br/>
<i>Exh:</i> <i>Exotische und moderne Kunst</i>, Kunst- und Museumsverein, Wuppertal, April-May 1968 (14); <i>Pioneers of Modern Sculpture</i>, Hayward Gallery, London, July-September 1973 (190)<br/>
<br/>
<i>Lit:</i> Carl Einstein, <i>Die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts</i> (Berlin 1928), p.563, repr. p.379 as 'Roter Kopf' and wrongly dated 1918; Will Grohmann, <i>Karl Schmidt-Rottluff</i> (Stuttgart 1956), pp.159-61, 251; Gerhard Wietek, 'Dr phil. Rosa Schapire' in <i>Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunstsammlungen</i>, IX, 1964, pp.140-2, repr. p.141 as 'Männerkopf'</p>
<p>Schmidt-Rottluff's first <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture">sculptures</a> were made in 1912 when he carved four <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/relief">reliefs</a> with heads of the Evangelists for the chapel of the Sonderbundausstellung in Cologne. Then during the war, in 1917-18, when he had temporarily given up <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting">painting</a> in oils, he made a further twelve or thirteen carvings, including this one. Most were of the head only, and some were coloured red, blue or green. Three which are now in the <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/b/brucke">Brücke</a>-Museum in Berlin are lightly tinted all-over with a thin wash of water-soluble paint, which is only thick, opaque and positive in colour in the hollows around the eyes, nose, mouth and so on.</p>
<p>The present work has the wood stained dark brown. It was reproduced by Einstein in 1928 as 'Red Head', but this was thought to be a mistake until it was removed from its base, when patches of dark red paint were found on the underside. There are also a few small traces of red paint around one of the eyes.</p>
<p>
<b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Ronald Alley, <i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.673, reproduced p.673.</p>
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Catalogue entry
2021-04-09T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction adults body figure from recognisable sources head / face man people