Marc, the son of a painter, at first could not decide between a career in theology, philosophy, or art. In 1910, Marc painted "Bathing Girls," inspired in part by an exhibition of Cézanne's "Bathers," which encouraged Marc to create his own image of a primitive paradise, with his own visual language. In Marc's lyrical version, the same undulating lines and fluid forms that animate the bodies also animate the landscape. It is a deliberate effort to point to the universal force that moves through all the world, the vital force that Marc called "the organic rhythm that beats in all things."
Details
- Artist Name: Franz Marc (German, 1880-1916)
- Title: Bathing Girls
- Date: 1910
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 43 x 56 in. (109.2 x 142.2 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1968.11.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Dr. Franz Haniel, donated 1924 to;
Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf;
Städtische Kunstsammlungen, Dusseldorf, until 1937;
Depot Schloss Niederschönhausen (sale, Lucerne, Galerie Fischer, Gemälde und Plastiken moderner Meister aus deutschen Museen, 30 June 1939, lot 91, for Sf 3,300, to);
Emil Georg Bührle (d. 1956), Zurich, by descent in;
Bührle family, Zurich, until at least 1967;
[Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, London];
[Marlborough-Gerson Gallery Inc., New York, sold 8 May 1968 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation
Kollektion Franz Marc
- Munich, Moderne Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser, 1911-05 to 1911-05
Gedächtnis-Ausstellung Franz Marc
- Nationalgalerie Berlin, 1922 to 1922
Franz Marc Gedächtnisausstellung
- Hanover, Kestner Gesellschaft, 1936-03-04 to 1936-04-19
Der Blaue Reiter, München und die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, 1908-1914
- Munich, Haus der Kunst, 1949-09 to 1949-10
Deutsche Malerei: Ausgewählte Meister seit Caspar David Friedrich
- Wolfsburg, Kunstausstellung, 1956-04-15 to 1956-05-13
Franc Marc
- Munich, Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachaus, 1963-08-10 to 1963-10-13
Franz Marc: Gemälde, Gouachen, Zeichnungen, Skulpturen
- Hamburg, Kunstverein, 1963-11-09 to 1964-01-05
International Expressionism, Part I
- New York, Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, 1968-04 to 1968-05
[on loan]
- Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY), 1968-06-01 to 1969-03-15
The Blue Four and Their Contemporaries
- Norton Simon Museum, 1991-06-20 to 1992-05-24
Selections from the Norton Simon, Inc. Museum of Art
- Princeton University Art Museum, 1972-12-03 to 1974-07-17
Reinstallation of South Wing
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-10-07 to 1995-08-13
- Steadman, David W., Art Journal, fig. 17 p. 40
- Steadman, David W., University: A Princeton Quarterly, no. 57 p. 11
- Schardt, Alois J., Franz Marc, 1936, under "1910" no. 9 p. 163
- Lankheit, Klaus, Franz Marc: Katalog der Werke, 1970, no. 121
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 178
- Barron, Stephanie, "Degenerate Art": The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany, 1991, p. 163
- Jansen, Isabelle, Franz Marc et l'art francais du XIXe siècle, 2007, fig. 25 p. 57
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 454 p. 300
- Under the direction of Jean-Patrick Duchesne, Degenerate Art According to Hitler - Lucern Auction, 1939, 2014, 91 pp. 42, 43, 178 and 189
- Schoeller, Wilfried F., Franz Marc : Eine Biographie, 2016, 27 Plate 27 [illustrated on unnumbered 12th page of plates]
- Schoeller, Wilfried F., Franz Marc: Biografie, 2017, 27 Plate 27 [illustrated on unnumbered 13th page of plates]
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