Jeanne Kosnick-Kloss (1892-1966) - Constructivistic Composition

Jeanne Kosnick-Kloss: Composition from La Lune en Rodage III (1977)

A woodcut by Jeanne Kosnick-Kloss — painter, sculptor and lifelong studio partner of Otto Freundlich — issued in Carl Laszlo's legendary La Lune en Rodage III, the third and final volume of Edition Panderma's portable museum of post-war and contemporary avant-garde. Kosnick-Kloss appears in the portfolio alongside Erich Buchholz, Christian Schad, Markus Raetz, Lajos Kassák, Thilo Maatsch, Otto Nebel, Béothy-Steiner, and others — a generation that anchors the constructive and abstract lineages of twentieth-century European art.

The woodcut belongs to Kosnick-Kloss's constructive vocabulary developed in close dialogue with Otto Freundlich, with whom she shared a studio from 1930 and who was a foundational figure of European non-objective art (and one of the first artists whose work was singled out as Entartete Kunst by the National Socialists, on the cover of the 1937 exhibition catalogue; he was murdered in Lublin-Majdanek in 1943). Kosnick-Kloss spent the post-war decades safeguarding and promoting Freundlich's œuvre while continuing her own practice in painting, sculpture, and weaving until her death in Paris in 1966. The print bears her estate stamp — issued from the Kosnick-Kloss / Freundlich estate after her death — which gives this impression direct documentary value.

Printed on laid paper, woodcut from the original block, in mint archival condition. Edition Panderma, Basel.

La Lune en Rodage was published in three volumes (1960, 1965, 1977) by Carl Laszlo and contains in total approximately 180 works by the leading figures of the period. Laszlo invited many artists to contribute pivotal pieces — Enrico Castellani's contribution to volume I is his first documented graphic work; Piero Manzoni's Achrome multiple in the series is the only multiple he ever produced. This is an unnumbered copy from the total edition of 230 of volume III (of which 65 hors commerce impressions were issued unnumbered).Provenance: Edition Panderma, Carl Laszlo, Basel — Galerie von Bartha, Basel — Private Collection, Basel.

Jeanne Kosnick-Kloss (1892 Glogau – 1966 Paris) was a German-French painter, sculptor, tapestry weaver and singer. She was a member of the seminal group Abstraction-Création (founded in Paris in 1931, with Theo van Doesburg, Auguste Herbin, Jean Hélion, Otto Freundlich and others) and exhibited throughout Europe in galleries and group exhibitions. From 1930 she was the partner of Otto Freundlich and worked alongside him in his Paris studio. Her work is held in public collections including the Musée de Pontoise, Donation Freundlich, and the archive of the Atelier Freundlich.