Hans Unger (1872-1936)
Erwachen [Awakening]
1926
oil on cardboard over pencil
framed with a lightly profiled wooden strip
30,5 x 47,1 cm (framed 35,9 x 52,6 cm)
signed lower right: "H. Unger"
This painting is an oil study for the larger painting of the same name from 1926 in the collection of the Städtische Galerie Dresden, Inv. No. 1980 / K566, oil on canvas, 108,5 x 173 cm. For the finished painting, see Rolf Günther, Hans Unger: Leben und Werk mit dem Verzeichnis der Druckgrafik (Dresden 1997), pg. 55, ill. 44; Jutta Hülsewig-Johnen and Henrike Mund, eds., Schönheit und Geheimnis: Der deutsche Symbolismus, Die andere Moderne [Beauty and Mystery: German Symbolism, The Other Modern] (Bielefeld: Kerber Verlag, 2013), pg. 121, ill. 059.
Hans Unger is known for his symbolist paintings of ethereal and haunting female figures. His tactile painting shows the influence and ideal of beauty of Pre-Raphaelite art.
