New Objectivity: Heinrich Davringhausen
Male Portrait (Male Portrait, Männliches Porträt, 1912/13)
Oil on canvas
97 × 91 cm (38.1 × 35.8 in)
Auctioned at Ketterer Kunst in 2019 for € 62,500

Painted around 1912–13, this striking male portrait belongs to the early phase of Heinrich Maria Davringhausen’s development, before his mature association with the New Objectivity movement. The sitter’s composed, frontal posture is set against a richly patterned field of stylized birds, flowers, and abstract forms, creating an exuberant ornamental backdrop that heightens the painting’s expressive character. The vibrant palette and decorative density reflect Davringhausen’s early Expressionist tendencies, a period in which he explored bold color and surface patterning before moving toward the cooler clarity that would later define his New Objectivity work.

Heinrich Maria Davringhausen (1894–1970) was born in Aachen and began his artistic life as a sculptor before turning largely to painting. Mostly self‑taught, he briefly attended the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts but developed his style independently, gaining early attention by 1914. A childhood accident had cost him his left eye, and this disability exempted him from military service during World War I. Instead, he moved to Berlin, where he joined a circle of left‑wing artists and became part of the vibrant cultural scene that shaped the postwar avant‑garde. His partner was the painter Marta Hegemann, associated with Cologne Dada and the Cologne Progressives, whose ornamental and symbolist interests resonated with elements in some of his early works.

His career accelerated quickly. In 1919 he held his first solo exhibition in Munich, and he participated in the inaugural “Young Rhineland” exhibition in Düsseldorf. By 1925, Davringhausen was included in the landmark Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) exhibition in Mannheim, which helped define the movement and cemented his reputation as one of its key figures. His work from this period is characterized by sharp contours, cool tonalities, and a detached, almost clinical observation of modern life — qualities that would become hallmarks of the movement.

The rise of the Nazi regime in 1933 forced Davringhausen into exile. First fleeing to Majorca and later settling in France, he continued to work despite increasing hardship. The Nazis confiscated around 200 of his works from public collections, removing them under the Degenerate Art campaign and banning him from exhibiting in Germany. After the war, he settled permanently in Cagnes‑sur‑Mer near Nice, adopting the name Henri Davring. There he continued to paint, exploring a quieter, more introspective style until his death in 1970.

Seen in this context, Male Portrait stands as an early but revealing example of Davringhausen’s evolving sensibility. The interplay between the sitter’s calm, self‑possessed presence and the exuberant ornamental background shows him experimenting with expressive color and pattern, a direction that would later crystallize into the more controlled visual language of New Objectivity.