Wolfgang Willrich (attributed): Portrait Of A Young Man In Pastel

Astonishing frontal portrait of a young man, emaciated features, a straight, almost violent gaze, and of an icy beauty. This high-quality work was produced in the 1940s. Unframing the work allowed us to observe a written trace that was clearly deliberately erased, the same corner torn off and reconstructed, and an unintelligible sign on the back. These details support our attribution, made on the quality and stylistic typology of the drawing. Indeed, giving this portrait to Wolfgang Willrich (1897-1948) is plausible. Born in Gottlingen, from an academic family, he entered the Berlin School of Fine Arts and participated in youth movements. Mobilized in 1916 as a prisoner for the first time in France, he resumed his art and made portraits of high-ranking military officers (Luddendorff in particular). He gradually became a particularly appreciated artist in the service of the propaganda of the Third Reich, building drawing after drawing, the Nordic image of the German soldier, distributed in the form of a postcard. Taken prisoner by the Americans in a camp in Normandy, placed in a military hospital because of the mistreatment he suffered, he was released in 1946. He tried to resume his activity but his health deteriorated and he died in 1948. By observing the numerous portraits produced, using a chilling ease, often in pastel, one can only observe a singular proximity in the technique, and the energy, on the verge of violence, that he exhales. This also explains the removal of a monogram and the erasure of a compromising dedication after the war. This is and remains a constructed proposition, but it is only a proposition. I am attaching in the photos some reproductions of portraits whose characteristics seem related to me. A visit on the internet will complete the process of forming an opinion.
Beautiful frame in carved wood from the forties