August Macke

Dr Hubert Zink, Bonn
Frank Jaegger, Munich
Acquired from the above by the present owner on 8th July 1985

Gustav Vriesen, August Macke, Stuttgart, 1953, p. 328, no. 365a, illustrated

Macke was one of the first members of the Blaue Reiter group to recognise the importance of post-Impressionist art, and to adapt the colour-theories of the French avant-garde artists to his own style. He first visited Paris in 1907, and in 1909 he saw the works of the Fauve artists whose bold use of vibrant colours had a strong impact on Macke. Of particular importance was the work of Robert Delaunay, whom he met during his last trip to Paris in 1912. In the present work, the influence of Delaunay's Orphism is visible mainly in the top half of the composition, in which a veiw through the window is rendered in brightly coloured, overlapping geometric forms. Macke makes no attempt to give an illustion of depth and perspective. Instead, the vase of flowers appears to be floating against the geometrically composed background, emphasizing the artist's interest in pure colour and form.