Rudolf Schlichter
(Calw 1870 — Munich 1955)

The Drunkards
signed in pencil R. Schlichter in the lower right and indistinctly inscribed with title Die L ? ? in the lower left

charcoal on paper

485 mm×455 mm

PROVENANCE:
Lafayette Parke Gallery, New York, where acquired by Private Collection, since circa 1988 until the present time

Rudolf Schlichter, born in Calw in the Black Forest, was the sixth child of a laborer. He studied at the Art Academy in Karlsruhe from 1911-1916, and supported himself by selling pornographic illustrations. In 1916 he was drafted but managed to be discharged by staging hunger strikes. He moved to Berlin in 1919 and embraced the style of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), particularly a wing of it labeled Verism, which chose as its subject matter the harsh realities of the present day. He also joined the Communist Party and became a champion of the working poor, unemployed and outcasts. Besides politics, he was attracted to violence and oddity, as well as obsessed with prostitution and sexual fetishism that particularly focused on boots.(1) ("The Boot Girls" were part of the erotic life of Berlin; prostitutes positioned outside cheap hotels wore black, green, blue, or gold boots that signaled the wearer’s particular sadomasochistic talent.(2) )

This early drawing from the twenties is a riveting portrayal of the aftereffect of excessive drinking, and within it themes of revolution, prostitution, boots, poverty and despair entwine. In Schlichter’s eyes the losses felt after World War I and the ensuing chaos reduced man to his most base instincts. Avoiding caricature, his art was realistic reportage, which serves to make this group all the more chilling.

After 1933 and Hitler’s rise to power, Schlichter’s art was labeled degenerate and he was not allowed to exhibit. He moved to the South German provinces and with the aid of friends survived the war.(3) After the war, he resumed exhibiting works that had become more surrealistic in nature.

(1) Biographical information taken from Sabine Rewald, Glitter and Doom, German Portraits from the 1920s , The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, November 14, 2006 — February 19, 2007, pp. vi., 9, 26, 243, 258.

(2) Jan Buruma, "Faces of the Weimar Republic", op. cit., p. 19.

(3) Matthias Eberle, "Neue Sachlichkeit in Germany: A Brief History", op. cit., p. 37.

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