Picture "Bathers" (1917) (Unique piece)
Picture "Bathers" (1917) (Unique piece)
Quick info
unique piece | signed | dated | watercolour over ink on Japanese paper | framed | size 67 x 51 cm
Detailed description
Picture "Bathers" (1917) (Unique piece)
In his 1917 work "Bathers", Max Pechstein explores a central theme of his Expressionist oeuvre: the close connection between humanity and nature. The depiction of bathing figures is one of the artist's recurring motifs and embodies that primal, unadulterated world which many Expressionist artists sought to capture.
Pechstein, one of the most significant representatives of the "Brücke" group of artists, developed a visual language of great emotional intensity. Characteristic features include the simplified forms, the expressive lines and the immediate impact of the composition. In "Badende", this expressive power coalesces into a scene full of tranquillity and primal simplicity, yet at the same time brimming with inner tension. The figures do not appear as individual portraits, but as symbols of a free, nature-loving attitude to life.
It was particularly around 1917 that the motif of bathers took on special significance for Pechstein. Amidst the experiences of the First World War, many Expressionist artists developed a longing for retreat, simplicity and harmony with nature. Pechstein found this inspiration primarily on the Baltic Sea and during his travels to landscapes he perceived as unspoilt. His works from this period combine powerful forms of expression with an almost meditative atmosphere.
This unique piece impressively illustrates Pechstein’s extraordinary sense of composition and rhythm. The reduced formal language and the dynamic effect of the figures lend the work a timeless modernity. At the same time, "Bathers" reflects that central idea of German Expressionism: to understand art not as a mere representation of reality, but as a direct expression of feeling, freedom and inner experience.
Watercolour over ink on Japanese paper, 1917, signed and dated. Expert's report from Galerie Bayer, Bietigheim-Bissingen, from 2015 available. Motif size 41 x 28 cm. Sheet size 51 x 32.5 cm. Size in frame 67 x 51 cm as shown.
Producer: ARTES Kunsthandelsgesellschaft mbH, Bödekerstraße 13, 30161 Hannover, Deutschland, E-Mail: [email protected]
About Max Pechstein
1881-1955
Max Pechstein is considered today, as he was then, one of the most important representatives of German Expressionism. In spring 1906, he joined the artists' group "Die Brücke", which had been founded the previous year by Kirchner, Heckel, Schmidt-Rottluff and Bleyl. In the field of graphic art, he produced an oeuvre of over 850 woodcuts, lithographs and etchings in addition to his paintings.
What Tahiti was to Paul Gauguin, the Baltic Sea coast was to Max Pechstein: a paradise where he found peace, but above all great inspiration. From 1909 onwards, he travelled several times to Nidden on the Curonian Spit, where Lovis Corinth had worked as a young art student more than a quarter of a century earlier. However, when the Treaty of Versailles placed the Curonian Spit under Allied administration in 1920, the way there was blocked. In his own words, Pechstein had to "once again go in search of a spot of earth that was not overrun by painters, tourists and bathers". He found it in Leba, where from then on he spent his summers on a regular basis.
"For more than twenty years Max Pechstein went to the Baltic coast every summer, first to the Curonian Spit, then to Pomerania, which naturally connected him closely to our house. When he rented a room here with his first wife in 1921, he had no idea how attached he would soon feel to the small harbour town of Leba, for he fell in love with Marta Möller, the daughter of his innkeeper. The pristine nature with its beach lakes and the fishing boats in the harbour, the pipe in his mouth, tanned and the anchor tattooed, those things stayed with the passionate angler Pechstein until the end of his life, even when he and his wife could no longer go to Pomerania after the Second World War." (Dr. Birte Frenssen, Deputy Director at the Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald)
Painting with glazing watercolours, that are characterised by their transparency, which let deeper layers and painting surfaces shine through.
Often the paper surface is omitted. This contributes significantly to the effect of the work. The aquarelle or watercolour painting requires skilful use of colour, as it dries quickly and corrections are almost impossible.
A one-of-a-kind or unique piece is a work of art personally created by the artist. It exists only once due to the type of production (oil painting, watercolour, drawing, lost-wax sculpture etc.).
In addition to the classic unique pieces, there are also the so-called "serial unique pieces". They present a series of works with the same colour, motif and technique, manually prepared by the same artist. The serial unique pieces are rooted in "serial art", a genre of modern art that aims to create an aesthetic effect through series, repetitions, and variations of the same objects or themes or a system of constant and variable elements or principles.
The historical starting point is considered to be Claude Monet's "Les Meules" (1890/1891), where, for the first time, a series was created that went beyond a mere group of works. The other artists, who addressed to the serial art, include Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian and above all Gerhard Richter.