Lot 321 R

Oil on canvas 73.2 x 92.1 cm, framed. Signed 'H. Purrmann' lower right. - Fine original condition. With minimal rubbing to the upper edge and few minimal unobtrusive losses of colour.

Lenz/Billeter 1932/02 (here with black and white illus. and the erroneous dimensions 58 x 73 cm)

With a confirmation of authenticity from Felix Billeter, Hans Purrmann Archive, Munich, dated 10 October 2013. The painting is listed in the files of the Hans Purrmann Archive under the archive-no. 1158.

Provenance
Formerly private collection, France; private possession, France

This painting depicts the topographical setting at Langenargen, which lies on Lake Constance and is also where Purrmann had owned a house since the First World War. On account of his painting in a manner learned from Henri Matisse, Purrmann creates something here that could be said to be a seemingly southern autumn landscape, with high-contrast, luminous colours. Purrmann frequently painted the town of Langenargen on the north side of the lake. A very similar view with a depiction of the Moorish-style Montfort Castle is featured in the composition “Landschaft bei Langenargen” (Landscape near Langenargen; cf. Lenz/Billeter 1932/01, dimensions 60 x 73 cm), which was also painted in 1932. However, our much larger painting displays a more thorough articulation in its details and a more nuanced colourfulness - particularly in the foreground and middle ground - in comparison to the smaller version. It can thus be recognised as the more mature of the two paintings. An open, bright expanse is created here through the blue of the sky and the lake; nonetheless, all of the passages are pulled together compositionally through the forms bordering them, the peninsula across the lake and the distant mountains. In Purrmann's work we often find thinned-down paints, which give expression to the principle of the transparency of light and space. The branches of the tree motif utilised as a repoussoir are arranged in an arabesque-like and captivating manner. The painting's delicate palette is convincing: the charming contrast of the blue, green and turquoise tones and the warm, luminous umber and ochre.