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Dick Beer
Dick Beer Dancer Tying Her Shoes 1916 Swedish Modernist Oil Painting

c. 1916

$22,000
£16,512.32
€19,267.75VAT Included
CA$31,081.62
A$31,161.67
CHF 18,057.96
MX$380,771.05
NOK 209,266.08
SEK 213,695.74
DKK 144,020.97

About the Item

Dancer Tying Her Shoes, executed around 1916, stands as one of the most important works within Dick Beer’s oeuvre. Created during a pivotal moment in his life, shortly after the trauma of the First World War and his recovery from severe injuries, the painting captures a rare balance between intimacy, structure and emerging modernist form. The composition presents a seated female figure, absorbed in the act of tying her shoes. The pose is introspective and self contained, the head inclined and the body slightly turned inward. The figure is placed within a simplified interior, where the bed forms a soft, horizontal counterpoint to the angular articulation of the body. The surrounding space is reduced to fields of color, allowing the figure to emerge with quiet intensity. Beer’s handling of form reveals a transitional phase in his development. While the subject remains firmly rooted in observation, the figure is constructed through simplified planes and controlled contours. The limbs are subtly elongated and the modeling reduced, suggesting an early engagement with the structural concerns that would soon lead him toward cubism. This synthesis of naturalism and abstraction is central to the work’s significance. The palette, dominated by cool blues and greens with restrained accents of warmer tones, contributes to the emotional atmosphere of the painting. Rather than describing light in a naturalistic manner, Beer uses color to unify the composition and to evoke a sense of stillness. The brushwork remains visible yet controlled, reinforcing the immediacy of execution without dissolving the form. Within the broader context of Beer’s career, this painting occupies a crucial position. Following his service in the French Foreign Legion and the injuries he sustained in 1915, Beer resumed painting during his convalescence, initially working within a light, impressionistically inflected manner. Around 1916 and 1917, however, his work began to shift. The present painting belongs precisely to this moment of transformation, where the artist moves beyond impressionism toward a more structured and expressive language. Beer would soon develop a distinctly personal interpretation of cubism, particularly in the years around 1918 and 1919. In this context, it is significant that he returned to this motif in a later, more explicitly cubist version. The present painting can therefore be understood as the origin of that development, where the figure is still observed but already reconfigured through a modern sensibility. The subject of the dancer also connects Beer to a broader European tradition. While parallels may be drawn to Degas in the choice of motif, Beer’s interpretation is fundamentally different. Rather than emphasizing movement or spectacle, he focuses on a moment of preparation and inward concentration. The result is not a depiction of performance, but of presence. The painting’s importance is further underscored by its exhibition history, having been included in several key presentations of Beer’s work throughout the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Its continued presence in these contexts confirms its status as a central work in understanding his artistic development. Dancer Tying Her Shoes thus represents not only a masterful figure composition, but also a decisive moment in Beer’s evolution as an artist. It reveals the emergence of a modern pictorial language grounded in both observation and structure, and stands as one of the most compelling expressions of his early maturity. title: Dancer Tying Her Shoes (Dansösen knyter sina skor), c. 1916 oil on canvas unframed 102 × 80 cm (40.2 × 31.5 in) Not signed Provenance Within the Beer family until the present day Exhibited Göteborgs konsthall, 1944 Konstgalleriet Borås, 1947 Malmö museum, 1950 Konstakademien, Stockholm, 1973 Åmells Konsthandel, En internationell kubist, Stockholm & London, 2008 Millesgården, Dick Beer – Impressionist & Kubist, 2012
  • Creator:
    Dick Beer (1893 - 1938, Swedish, British)
  • Creation Year:
    c. 1916
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 40.16 in (102 cm)Width: 31.5 in (80 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    The painting remains unrestored and would benefit from evaluation by a professional conservator. Certain areas of the canvas require reinforcement to the stretcher to ensure its long-term stability. These considerations have been reflected in price.
  • Gallery Location:
    Stockholm, SE
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1445217955692

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