Mann mit Fisch (Man with Fish)

An exceptional early work by Oskar Schlemmer, ‘Mann mit Fisch (Man with Fish)’ (1916 – 1918) was created at a pivotal moment in the formation of the artist’s multidisciplinary oeuvre. Painted whilst Schlemmer served in a cartography unit in Colmar, France, shortly after recovering from wounds sustained on the front lines of the First World War, the work is a masterful exploration of the fragmented human form. Both whimsical and restrained, it depicts an abstracted figure rendered in neutral shades and minimal linework, with geometric shapes floating at the center of its curved body and a small, buoyant fish catching its eye.

Drawing on German expressionism, cubism and abstraction, the painting distills the figure into its most essential elements, forming a critical link between the humanist and cubist influences of Schlemmer’s early years, and his later explorations at the Bauhaus. The work has been shown at leading museums and in landmark retrospectives across Europe and the United States.