Rudolf Großmann

Hussar balls are celebrated to this day – in guard uniform and festive apparel. Rudolf Großmann captured this kind of social gathering as a motif on several occasions between 1910 and 1913 using a variety of techniques: in oils, lithography and etchings. Großmann chose an elevated vantage point for this depiction, with the result that the ballroom virtually becomes a theatrical backdrop. The small painting thrives on bold colour contrasts in yellow, red and blue, which lend the scene a distinct dynamism. It was even used as a prefatory study, reproduced in colour, to his first monographic publication, published in 1919.