Hermann Max Pechstein

Private Collection, Bad Oeynhausen (acquired in 1978)
Sale: Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 12th-13th June 1981, lot 1087
Acquired by the present owner circa 1990

Cappenberg, Schloss Cappenberg, Max Pechstein, 1989, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

The canvas is not lined and there appear to be no signs of retouching visible under UV light. Apart from some minor specks of paint loss, mainly to left of the figure's face and in the lower left quadrant, and some minor paint shrinkage in the hair, this work is in good condition.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Painted circa 1922, Frauenportrait is a wonderfully vivid example of Pechstein's mature Expressionist style. Despite painting fewer works in his later career, the intensity and vibrancy of the artist's work was increased, producing some of his most significant paintings. With its loose, spontaneous brushwork and its wild colouration of pink, green, orange and blue. The present work demonstrates the enduring influence of the artist's involvement with the Brücke group and Pechstein's debt to Fauve painters. Although it was argued among the members of Die Brücke precisely how much their work was influenced by the Fauves, Pechstein acknowledged the profound influence of his French contemporaries, having met Kees van Dongen on a trip to Paris in 1908 (fig. 1).

Stylistically the present work corresponds closely to Expressionist ideas aiming towards a simplification of form and perspective and a stridency of colour and vision. Indeed the woman's bold and 'primitive' features and distinctive outlines brilliantly exemplify the artist's continuous experimentation with the painterly language of Expressionism.

The art critic Paul Fletcher commented on Pechstein's remarkable stylistic development in the 1920s: 'The strong impact evident in Pechstein's works of that period is probably due to his acquired balance between experiences and his own creation. In his earlier work either one or the other is dominant whereas in the 1920s Pechstein found the perfect harmony. The artist abandons the stylisation of forms and creates compositions in which the elements of colour, shape and form merge into one organic whole' (quoted in Max Pechstein im Brücke-Museum (exhibition catalogue), Brücke Museum, Berlin, 2001-02, p. 44, translated from German).

FIG. 1, Kees Van Dongen, Femme au collier vert, 1906, oil on canvas, Private Collection