Max Pechstein

Private collection, Germany (acquired from the artist; thence by descent)
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1970 

Unna, Schloss Cappenberg, Max Pechstein, 1989, illustrated 
Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza & Fundación La Caixa, Brücke: el nacimiento del expresionismo alemán, 2005, no. 28, illustrated in the catalogue (as La Fuente)
Barcelona, Museo Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Brücke: el naixement de l'expressionisme alemany, 2005, no. 22, illustrated in the catalogue (as La Font)
Berlin, Brücke Museum in der Berlinischen Galerie, Brücke, die Geburt des deutschen Expressionismus, 2005-2006, illustrated in the catalogue
Dresden, Galerie Neue Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden, Die Brücke in Dresden 1905-1911, 2006, illustrated in the catalogue
Hamburg, Kunsthalle Hamburg; Leipzig, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Max Klinger und die Folgen, 2007-2008, no. 154
 

Gerd Dieterich, Beate Gruber-Thrurow, Günther Krüger & Petra Lewey, Max Pechstein, Das ferne Paradies, Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik, Zwickau, 1995-96, p. 8, illustrated
Magdalena M. Moeller, Max Pechstein: Sein malerisches Werk, Munich, 1996, no. 1, p. 41, discussed; p. 43, mentioned, p. 306, catalogued; p. 137, illustrated
Gerhard Leistner, Max Pechstein, Blauer Tag 1911, Regensburg, 2003, p. 10, discussed & illustrated

This condition report has been provided by Hamish Dewar, Hamish Dewar Ltd. Fine Art Conservation, 14 Masons Yard, Duke Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6BU. Structural Condition The canvas is unlined and is supported by a wooden keyed stretcher. Paint surface The paint layer has a rather uneven varnish layer and revarnishing with a more even surface coating would certainly be beneficial. Scattered retouchings are visible under ultraviolet light, predominately around and just in from the framing edges but also on the figure. These retouchings have obviously been crudely applied and I would be confident that should they be removed many would be found to be excessive and at least partially unnecessary. Summary The painting therefore appears to be in reasonably good condition but does have a number of old retouchings. I would be confident that should these be removed and the painting more carefully treated, restored and revarnished not only would the overall appearance be significantly improved but the number and size of retouchings would be markedly reduced.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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Painted in 1906, the year Pechstein joined Die Brücke, the present work offers a fascinating insight into Pechstein's early predilictions and formative influences. The composition is dominated by the monumental form of a female nude astride an effulgent spring landscape. A giant within the verdant setting, the nude's arms are held forth as if to steady her crouching pose as she alights above a thickly wooded forest that is dwarfed by her presence. Behind her, framed between two rocky outcrops, fields carpeted with wild flowers stretch into the distance. In the foreground a miniature river in full flow snakes around her feet. 

Using bold lines and a vibrant palette, the painting reveals the influences that informed Pechstein's style at the time, from his teacher Otto Gossmann in Dresden, to the influence of fellow Brücke painters including Erich Heckel, and the work of the artists that inspired the group, among them Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch. In turn, Pechstein expresses both his innermost hopes and fears, and the supreme power of nature, the composition offering an aesthetic bridge between Symbolist allegory and Die Quelle as a powerful precursor of Expressionism.

The ideas crystalised in Die Quelle were shared by many other artists of the time. One of the most enduring approaches to nude composition is the setting of bathers in a landscape, an evocation of a Virgilian longing for a vanished paradise where man could exist in timeless and innocent harmony with nature. In 1900, the myth of the Golden Age resurfaced in modern settings that anticipated twentieth-century nature cults, whether in Hodler's or Puvis de Chavannes' Arcadian idylls, Zorns's earthy bathers or Gauguin's Tahitian nudes.
 
The re-invention of the nude figure within a landscape setting to represent the visual expression of a 'pure' arcadia, unadulterated by civilisation and contemporary society became a primary concern for Pechstein and Die Brücke. In Die Quelle Pechstein sets the scene amidst the distinctive sandstone rocks found in the valley of the river Elbe near Dresden (now a national park). Later he and fellow Brücke artists would venture further afield to paint the nude en plein air on the shores of the Moritzburger lakes, and on the beaches of the Baltic Sea from Osterholz to the Flensburger Förde, to Fehmarn, Hiddensee and up to Nidden.

In his portrayal of the female figure as the personification of the Fount of Life Pechstein grapples with one of the central dichotomies of Symbolism: on the one hand the celebration of the beauty of the female form, womankind's life-giving powers and her capacity to nurture and protect; on the other the demonisation of the female as a temptress and seductress, her nefarious deeds fuelled by the male imagination. The dramatic stance and powerful physicality of the girl in Die Quelle, her flesh almost palpable, suggests this ambivalence. Does she bestride the natural world in glory, or does the viewer surprise her, glimpsing her as if Susannah spied on by the Elders? In turn, is her semi-squatting pose, curvaceous form and disarming expression the portrayal of trust and innocent, or suggestive of a wild and untamed force within?

For Pechstein the allegorical figure is benign and personal. Not simply the source of life, she is the personification of the artist's own muse - the origin of his creativity, his spiritual anima figure, inspiring, encouraging and willing him to create. Like Gaia, she is both goddess and Mother Earth.  As a supernatural being the figure's open gesture recalls the god-like nudes of Fernand Hodler in his painting Day I of 1899-1900; the richly ornamented landscape in the background and the figure's cascade of golden tresses evokes Gustav Klimt's Water Serpents of 1904-07. Simplified decorative forms also appear in Kandinsky's early Symbolist works of this period. Within Western European tradition, however, she is also Eve, the seducer. And posed as she is between the two sandstone rock outcrops, blocking the way to the lush meadows, her role is transformed into that of gatekeeper to earthly pleasures and man's baser instincts and desires.

The son of a textile worker, Pechstein was born in Zwickau in 1881. His family recognized and nurtured his artistic talent early on – often despite extreme financial hardship. He was eventually taken under the wing of Otto Gussmann, who taught at the Dresden Academy, and who saw to it that Pechstein was granted a scholarship, had access to a free studio, and was given the opportunity to work on commissions in his free time. Pechstein finished his education at the Academy in 1906 having won its highest accolade, the Sächsischer Staatspreis. It was whilst working on a number of murals for the Internationale Raumkunstausstellung in Dresden the same year that Pechstein met Erich Heckel. In one of the murals Pechstein had depicted flaming red tulips, which, unbeknown to him, had been toned down by the architects who had commissioned the work. Whilst venting his anger upon spotting this, Pechstein was approached by Heckel and the two quickly realised that they shared the same ' forward charging urge to be freed from artistic conventions'. It was thus that Pechstein joined Die Brücke. Having chosen a path free from the constraints of academic art, Pechstein embraced the avant-garde.  

Pechstein executed two small gouache paintings in 1906, which bear thematic parallels with the present work, Frühlingslied and Tanzende.