The Making of Modern Genius

Jürgen Schops and Thomas Turowski have been running their auction house in Germany since February 2018, where they specialise in art and design. On 21 November, 611 lots in these two categories are set to be auctioned. Here are the highlights.

Two of Hans Coper's Great Spate form vessels are being called in separate lots. The combination of different shapes into a complex construction led to one of Coper's favourite works.

In 1954, Herbert Zangs chose a cardboard tube, a much less stable basic material for the design of this work, which leads the auction catalogue. The tube is coated with a light grey layer of paint, onto which Zangs, who had recently started his 'whitening', dropped thick drops of white paint.

Four years after the Murano glass artist Egidio Costantini founded his own workshop, he began working with the most famous artists of his time in 1954, including Alexander Calder, Gino Severini, Jean Arp and Max Ernst. The glass sculpture Centauro Testa emerged from the collaboration with Pablo Picasso, five of which are known today. The present lot is probably the only one in lemon yellow.

The bid for two-dimensional art is led by Richard H. Pettibone's portrait of Andy Warhol from 1976. Pettibone was a pioneer of appropriation art, in which artists specifically and openly copied the works of their colleagues. Pettibone's earliest works of this kind include scaled-down copies of works by his contemporaries such as Warhol, Lichtenstein and Jasper Johns.

Alex Katz is also represented in the auction with a work in his typical style, somewhere between Pop Art and Modern Realism. September Afternoon is the name of the screen print, which appeared in 1994 in an edition of 60 copies.

A 100 x 75 m acrylic painting from 1999 by the Cologne artist CO Paeffgen, who died last year, is being called up. A photograph of the first public kiss between Camilla Parker-Bowles and Prince Charles seems to have served as a model. However, the major royal event did not take place until two years after in was completed.

Like Paeffgen's work, this work by Sigmar Polke is also untitled. It is dominated by a head shaped with loose brushstrokes. The misspelled designation 'Pohlke on the back is interesting; the wrong spelling of his name often appeared in exhibition catalogues in the 1960s.

The serigraphs collection 'Sarajewo' by Günther Uecker should also be highlighted. The 20-sheet work was published in 2005 in an edition of 60 pieces. A special edition of the book Sarajewo 96 by Ingrid Bacher, which contains ink images by Uecker (the templates for the serigraphs), was added to the serigraphs. Wooden boxes serve as folders, each of which was individually designed by Uecker.

Fans of Nordic design can look forward to the PK 61 coffee table, which Poul Kjærholm designed in 1956. The present example with a top made of Cipollini marble was made by the Danish furniture manufacturer E. Kold Christensen, as the stamp on the base reveals, out of matte chrome-plated flat steel.

Arteluce celebrated the moon landing with the 'Moon' series, released in 1969. The lighting series was created by company founder Gino Sarfatti, who had studied aerospace before starting his career as a designer.

One lot that clearly stands out from the rest is this cello, made in 1967 by Mittenwald master violin maker Josef Kantuscher, who founded his workshop in the 1950s. A copy of the certificate from the workshop accompanies the instrument.

The first lots of the catalogue will be part of a charity auction for the benefit of the cooldown° earth foundation. The lots, including these three drawings by Fritz Huhnen, will be auctioned without premium.

The auction will take place on 21 November 11am at the Art & Design auction house Schops Turowski, Wiedstrasse 21, Krefeld. Pre-viewing is possible from 13-19 November by appointment.

Discover all the lots in the auction right with Barnebys