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Lot Essay
Although Alfred Maurer explored the theme of single and double heads throughout his career those of his later career such as Two Heads are by far the most complex. The present work, which is unique in its large size, is a riveting convergence of Cubist and Expressionist influences. "Maurer's late abstract heads, with their intense emotional presence and highly tactile paint quality...erupt into startling images that tend to be violently distorted and subvert physiognomy for the sake of expressiveness...Maurer fuses Cubist structure and Expressionist form into a single forceful composition." (S.B Epstein in Hollis Taggart Galleries, Alfred H. Maurer: Aestheticism to Modernism, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1999, p. 50)
Heightening the impassioned composition of Two Heads is the juxtaposition of images achieved by the shadow of Maurer's earlier more Modigliani-esque heads showing from beneath the later more dynamic heads. "The overlapping of imagery in this abstraction reinforces the intriguing psychological aspect of the work and highlights its Expressionist character." (Alfred H. Maurer: Aestheticism to Modernism, p. 50)
Heightening the impassioned composition of Two Heads is the juxtaposition of images achieved by the shadow of Maurer's earlier more Modigliani-esque heads showing from beneath the later more dynamic heads. "The overlapping of imagery in this abstraction reinforces the intriguing psychological aspect of the work and highlights its Expressionist character." (Alfred H. Maurer: Aestheticism to Modernism, p. 50)