Heinrich Pforr, Collection of 6 Drawings on 4 Sheets Woman Handicrafts, 1920s, Pencil

Heinrich Pforr (Laudenbach am Hohen Meißner 1880-1970 Hann. Münden), collection of six drawings on four sheets, Woman at Handwork — Studies of Women in Domestic Activity, undated, BLEIST/PP, dimensions twice approx. 16.5×11.7 cm and approx. 15.3×22.5 cm (unfolded approx. 15.3×45.3 cm, both sides). The collection comprises three thematically closely related sheets: Sheet 22 shows, in lively pencil technique, a woman with downcast eyes, her hands occupied in front of her body — presumably sewing or tinkering, with firmly grasped hands and a soft facial expression; Sheet 23 shows the same or a similar female figure with a cat on her lap or in her arms, below which is a quick animal sketch — an intimate genre double image on one sheet; Sheet 24 is the most significant piece in the collection: a large-format, meticulously detailed study of a knitting woman, depicted in half-figure, with her head and hands rendered in relief. It is presented on a hinged double sheet, the reverse of which shows a sweeping landscape sketch with geese. When unfolded, the sheet measures approximately 15.3 x 45.3 cm. The close thematic connection between the three sheets—all depicting women engaged in quiet domestic activities—suggests that they were created in close temporal and geographical proximity and portray the same or a related model from Pforr's North Hessian milieu. The hinged double sheet is an unusual format in Heinrich Pforr's estate and lends the collection particular rarity. As a thematically coherent group of studies of women from the documented estate of an early 20th-century German realist, this collection possesses both artistic and cultural-historical collector value.