Auction Monday December 12 2016 at 14:00
Munch, Edvard(1863-1944)
Gorilla

Lithograph printed in black on medium heavy cream paper
Sheet: 277-279x240 mm Image: 260x147 mm
Signed in pencil lower right: Edv Munch

1908-09
Woll 322.

Provenance:

Annotated in pencil on the backside of an older framing, glued to present framing: "Nr. 59 Kjøpt på auksjonen efter Jens Thiis 9/12-42 Paul Lorck Eidem. Dette er Egil Johans eie Egil Johansen. Kjöpt av Paul Lorck Eidem 1956 PLE. Tilhörer Bente Helly-Hansen. Julegave 1962. Karen og Geir Helly-Hansen" (No. 59 Bought at Auction from the late Jens Thiis 9/12-42 Paul Lorck Eidem. This belongs to Egil Johan, Egil Johansen. Bought from Paul Lorck Eidem 1956 PLE. Belongs to Bente Helly-Hansen. Christmas Present 1962. Karen og Geir Helly-Hansen).

Jens Peter Thiis (12.05.1870-27.06.1942), Norwegian art historian. Director of Nasjonalgalleriet i Oslo (The National Gallery in Oslo) 1908-41. He was a close friend of Munch from the early 1890s, and became an important advocate of his art. He wrote articles and held lectures as well as purchasing works by Munch for Nasjonalgalleriet (The National Gallery). In 1933 he published the book "Edvard Munch og hans samtid" (Edvard Munch and his times). Munch painted a full-length portrait of him in 1909, Woll 837 and made a lithographic portrait of him in 1913, Woll 447. Woll 2012, p. 306.

Estimate
NOK 40,000USD 4,700EUR 4,500

Auctioned Monday December 12 2016 at 14:00

Hammer price NOK 60,000

LITERATURE: Gerd Woll: Edvard Munch – The complete graphic Works, Oslo 2012.

This lithograph has also been called “Ape” and “Mandrill” which would be more zoologically correct than “Gorilla”. The mandrill was formerly classified among the baboons, but has today its own order, Mandrillus. Mandrills are the world's largest monkeys. Mandrill is part of Cercopithecoidea family of apes, while Gorillas are the largest of the primates, of the Hominidae family. However, the motif is called “Gorilla” as was the denomination given by the artist himself.