ARTHUR SEGAL (1875-1944)

Born in Jassy, Romania, to Jewish parents, Arthur Segal started his student days in Berlin, before moving to Munich in 1896 and becoming a pupil of Schmid-Reutte and Hölzel. After travelling to the art capitals of Europe, Segal settled in 1904 in Berlin where he exhibited with Kirchner and the other Die Brücke artists. In 1920, Segal returned to Berlin, becoming a director of the Novembergruppe. After declining the offer of a teaching post at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Segal continued to develop his own distinct painting style of which Die Lastträgerinnen is a powerful example. In this work, Segal employs his quite unique approach of dividing the composition into equal fields that interact as single pieces of an entire puzzle, as well as individual and independent images. The flows of colour continue onto the artist's frame, with the palette carefully selected and arranged to provide a universal order. Acquired by the present collector in the 1960s, this rare, large-scale example by Segal has not been seen on the market until now.