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Lot 27
FINE OIL PORTRAIT OF ALBERT EINSTEIN BY EUGEN SPIRO. EINSTEIN, ALBERT. 1879-1955. SPIRO, EUGEN. 1874-1972. Original large portrait of Albert Einstein writing at his desk in Princeton in 1941, oil on canvas,
13 – 23 October 2024, 12:00 EDT
Online, New YorkSold for US$46,080 inc. premium
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FINE OIL PORTRAIT OF ALBERT EINSTEIN BY EUGEN SPIRO.
EINSTEIN, ALBERT. 1879-1955. SPIRO, EUGEN. 1874-1972. Original large portrait of Albert Einstein writing at his desk in Princeton in 1941, oil on canvas, 88 cm x 71cm (36 x 28 inches), signed ("Eugen Spiro/ '41"), framed to 109 x 93 cm (43 x 37 inches).
WITH: Autograph Note Signed ("A. Einstein/ 1946") in German, admiring the work, (in translation): "The picture is excellent. It convincingly expresses the mental state: 'I don't know what to write.' And this is precisely what is proving true at this moment," inscribed on the verso of an 8 x 10 photograph of the painting.
Exhibited: Twentieth Century Portraits, curated by Monroe Wheeler, Museum of Modern Art, December 9, 1942–January 24, 1943.
Provenance: purchased directly from the artist at his studio; then by descent.
A REDISCOVERED FAMOUS PORTRAIT OF EINSTEIN. Eugen Spiro first earned fame in Paris between 1906-1914, where he co-founded the Salon d'Automne and was an active member in a group of artists who gathered at the Café du Dôme. With the onset of World War I, he returned to Berlin, where he was his most productive. He was elected chairman of the Association of Berlin Artists in 1924. With anti-semitism on the rise, Spiro fled Germany for Paris in 1935, and was granted a visa to come to the United States in 1941. In the US, he earned fame for his portraits of German-Jewish expatriates, including Thomas Mann, Artur Schnabel, and Albert Einstein. Spiro's work is now held in major institutions around the world, including the Library of Congress, Washington; the National Gallery, Berlin; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and the Bezalel Museum, Jerusalem.
Irmgard Wirth, art critic and first director of the Berlin Museum, wrote about this painting in her obituary for Spiro, published in 1972. Spiro, his fame at its height during the 1920s, approached Einstein to sit for a portrait. Einstein, acutely aware of the prestige attached to any portrait of him, wrote Spiro that he did not need to portray him, since he was already a recognized artist. Einstein would only sit for unknown artists. When they met again in America in 1941, Spiro now arriving as a poor and little known painter, fleeing oppression, Einstein gladly acceded to Spiro's request, which was, of course, a great help to him. The following year, Monroe Wheeler, selected the portrait for his MOMA exhibition 20th Century Portraits (see image here).
Einstein himself was pleased with the portrait, and expressed this for Spiro in 1946. On the verso of a black and white photograph of the painting, Einstein expressed his appreciation of the work, adding a touch of humor, "The picture is excellent. It convincingly expresses the mental state: 'I don't know what to write.' And this is precisely what is proving true at this moment."
Spiro also produced a charcoal drawing and a lithograph of Einstein, a very recognizable and well-known bust portrait of this painting, but this original oil painting has been little seen or exhibited since its initial exhibition at MOMA in 1942 - a rediscovered rarity and an important piece of Einstein iconography. See Wirth, "Nobelmann der grossen Portraitkunst," Die Welt, October 9, 1972. Wheeler, Monroe, Twentieth Century Portraits, Museum of Modern Art, December 9, 1942–January 24, 1943, p 143.
WITH: Autograph Note Signed ("A. Einstein/ 1946") in German, admiring the work, (in translation): "The picture is excellent. It convincingly expresses the mental state: 'I don't know what to write.' And this is precisely what is proving true at this moment," inscribed on the verso of an 8 x 10 photograph of the painting.
Exhibited: Twentieth Century Portraits, curated by Monroe Wheeler, Museum of Modern Art, December 9, 1942–January 24, 1943.
Provenance: purchased directly from the artist at his studio; then by descent.
A REDISCOVERED FAMOUS PORTRAIT OF EINSTEIN. Eugen Spiro first earned fame in Paris between 1906-1914, where he co-founded the Salon d'Automne and was an active member in a group of artists who gathered at the Café du Dôme. With the onset of World War I, he returned to Berlin, where he was his most productive. He was elected chairman of the Association of Berlin Artists in 1924. With anti-semitism on the rise, Spiro fled Germany for Paris in 1935, and was granted a visa to come to the United States in 1941. In the US, he earned fame for his portraits of German-Jewish expatriates, including Thomas Mann, Artur Schnabel, and Albert Einstein. Spiro's work is now held in major institutions around the world, including the Library of Congress, Washington; the National Gallery, Berlin; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and the Bezalel Museum, Jerusalem.
Irmgard Wirth, art critic and first director of the Berlin Museum, wrote about this painting in her obituary for Spiro, published in 1972. Spiro, his fame at its height during the 1920s, approached Einstein to sit for a portrait. Einstein, acutely aware of the prestige attached to any portrait of him, wrote Spiro that he did not need to portray him, since he was already a recognized artist. Einstein would only sit for unknown artists. When they met again in America in 1941, Spiro now arriving as a poor and little known painter, fleeing oppression, Einstein gladly acceded to Spiro's request, which was, of course, a great help to him. The following year, Monroe Wheeler, selected the portrait for his MOMA exhibition 20th Century Portraits (see image here).
Einstein himself was pleased with the portrait, and expressed this for Spiro in 1946. On the verso of a black and white photograph of the painting, Einstein expressed his appreciation of the work, adding a touch of humor, "The picture is excellent. It convincingly expresses the mental state: 'I don't know what to write.' And this is precisely what is proving true at this moment."
Spiro also produced a charcoal drawing and a lithograph of Einstein, a very recognizable and well-known bust portrait of this painting, but this original oil painting has been little seen or exhibited since its initial exhibition at MOMA in 1942 - a rediscovered rarity and an important piece of Einstein iconography. See Wirth, "Nobelmann der grossen Portraitkunst," Die Welt, October 9, 1972. Wheeler, Monroe, Twentieth Century Portraits, Museum of Modern Art, December 9, 1942–January 24, 1943, p 143.