August Macke

Berlin, Galerie Der Sturm, Erster deutscher Herbstsalon, 1913, possibly no. 262
Berlin, Erste Ausstellung der Freien Sezession Berlin, 1914, possibly no. 145
Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, August Macke - Heinrich Nauen, 1918, no. 16
Bonn, Museum Villa Obernier, August Macke, 1918, no. 4
Berlin, Galerie Ferdinand Möller, Neuere deutsche Kunst aus Berliner Privatbesitz, 1928, no. 15
Hannover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, August Macke, 1935, no. 36
Heidelberg, Neue Universität, August Macke, 1946, possibly no. 22
Dortmund, Museum am Ostwall, August Macke, 1949, no. 30
The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, August Macke, 1953-54, no. 31 (with incorrect measurements)
Münster, Kunstverein/Landesmuseum, August Macke, 1957, no. 67
Cologne, Galerie Aenne Abels, 1957, no. 12, illustrated in the catalogue
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 50 Jaar Verkenningen, 1959, no. 97
Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, August Macke, 1962, no. 124, illustrated in the catalogue
Hamburg, Kunstverein and Frankfurt, Steinernes Haus am Römerberg, August Macke, 1969, no. 76, recto illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Figures du Moderne - L'Expressionnisme en Allemagne 1905-1914. Dresden - Munich - Berlin, 1992-93, no. 295, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Emden, Kunsthalle and Munich, Haus der Kunst, Tanz in der Moderne. Von Matisse bis Schlemmer, 1996-97, no. 89, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Munich, Galerie Thomas, Meisterwerke, 1999-2000

This remarkable double-sided work unites two very different subjects that are central to Macke’s art: whilst the theme of bathers reflects the Brücke artists’ fascination with the harmony of man and nature, and with idyllic environments far removed from the metropolis, the subject of dancers and circus performers reflects the excitement of urban nightlife. Executed at the pinnacle of the Macke’s short career, both Badende Frauen (recto) and Pierrot mit Tänzerpaar (verso) reflect his artistic experimentations and innovative painterly technique. Whilst Macke never veered into abstraction, the year 1913, when the present two works were executed, saw some of his most daring compositions, in which his main preoccupation was to explore the pictorial elements of colour and form. In Badende Frauen, he takes up the traditional subject of bathers, breaking down his figures and surrounding landscape into geometricised planes of pure colour.

Macke was one of the first members of Der Blaue Reiter group to recognise the importance of Impressionist and 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, but it was not until 1909 that he saw the works of the Fauve artists, whose bold use of vibrant colours had a strong impact on Macke. The most immediate and profound influence on him, however, was that of Robert Delaunay, whom he met during his last trip to Paris in 1912. Delaunay’s progressive pictorial technique, that came to be known as Orphism, in which the planes of colour rather than objects constituted the main structural element of his paintings, became the basis of Macke’s own style. The wide patches of colour applied in somewhat geometric shapes of which the composition of Badende Frauen is built up, point to the similar technique in Delaunay’s La Ville de Paris of 1912 (fig. 2).

The theme of a nude figure in nature was a favourite of a number of Macke’s contemporaries working in Germany, including Kirchner, Pechstein and Heckel. In his treatment of this subject, Macke was also close to his French counterparts, whose nudes appear in total harmony with their warm, sunlit environment. In 1913 Macke wrote: "The most important thing for me is the direct observation of nature in its light-filled existence […] What I most cherish is the observation of the movement of colours. Only in this have I found the laws of those simultaneous and complementary colour contrasts that nourish the actual rhythm of my vision. In this I find the actual essence, an essence which is not born out of an a priori system or theory" (quoted in G. Vriesen, op. cit., p. 120, translated from German).

Pierrot mit Tänzerpaar belongs to a series of paintings and drawings Macke executed in 1912-13, fascinated by a Ballets Russes performance (fig. 4) he had seen in Cologne in October 1912. In exploring the subject of circus and dance, Macke here follows a long tradition of the treatment of this theme, going back to artists such as Degas, who was fascinated by ballet performers, and Toulouse-Lautrec, whose interest lay more in the vibrant night-life of the city with its cabarets and concert halls. In the contemporary German avant-garde art, this theme was famously treated by his fellow Brücke and Blaue Reiter members such as Nolde (fig. 5), Pechstein and Kirchner. Macke’s inspiration with the theme of dance was probably also influenced by the famous series of dancers by the Italian Gino Severini, whose works were exhibited in the spring of 1912 at the Galerie der Sturm in Berlin. Despite its low critical acclaim, this first exhibition of Futurist art ever shown in Germany was extremely popular with the Berlin public, and was to play a crucial role in the artistic development of Macke, Franz Marc and other German Expressionist painters. Macke’s innovative technique and daring compositions put him at the forefront of the European avant-garde, before his life was tragically cut short in the early days of the First World War.



Fig. 1, August Macke, Badende Frauen II, 1913, pencil on paper, Private Collection

Fig. 2, Robert Delaunay, La Ville de Paris, 1912, oil on canvas, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris

Fig. 3, August Macke, Badende Mädchen mit Stadt im Hintergrund, 1913, oil on canvas, Staatsgalerie moderner Kunst, Munich

Fig. 4, August Macke, Russisches Ballett, 1912, oil on paper, Kunsthalle, Bremen

Fig. 5, Emil Nolde, Kerzentänzerinnen, 1912, oil on canvas, Nolde-Stiftung, Seebüll