Oil (partly mixed with sand [?]) on canvas 39.7/40.2 x 60.2 cm, framed. Signed and dated twice in Sütterlin script, lower right parallel to right margin in light green 'Ew. Mataré 23' (date barely legible) and lower right parallel to lower margin in brown 'Ew. Mataré 23'. - Reverse of stretcher with adress stamp from W. & J. Amler, Charlottenburg. - Below the image there is an older version which has been worked over by the artist. - Lower edge partially with small losses of colour.
The present work is one of the rare paintings from the oeuvre of Ewald Mataré. It was created during his long stay in List, on the island of Sylt, in the summer of 1923.
With regard to his pictorial activities the artist, in a diary entry dated 26 June 1923, wrote: "If, after this summer, I would be able to come home with at least a good handful of watercolours, watercolour must be able to again create a link with oil painting for me, just as the woodcut created a link to relief and sculpture in its time." (Sonja Mataré and Sabine Maja Schilling (ed.), Ewald Mataré. Tagebücher 1915 bis 1965, Cologne 1997, p. 62).
The watercolour 'Sailboat in the harbour', 1922/24 (Museum Ludwig, Cologne; see Köcke 15) depicts a similar harbour motif from the time.
Certificate
We would like to thank Sonia Mataré, Büderich, and Guido de Werd, Kleve, for kind confirmatory information.
Provenance
Private possession, Rhineland