Hans Purrmann
Birnenstillleben mit Krug
1939
Oil on canvas 55 x 64.5 cm Framed. Signed 'H Purrmann' lower right. - The surface with age-related patina, partially with slightly altered tones.
After having had to endure his first disparagements from the Nazis since the beginning of the 1930s, Hans Purrmann was surprisingly elected head of the German artist's foundation in Florence, the Villa Romana, in 1935. During the eight years that he held this honorary post, Purrmann maintained ties not only with numerous German artists, but also with the heads of other German institutions.
In Italy Purrmann took advantage of the opportunity to be able to work more freely during these years. His preferred motifs during the years spent in Florence were light-filled views of the landscape in the neighbouring countryside as well as still lifes of flowers and fruits, which were carried out in subtle tonalities. In usually simple and generously spaced arrangements, he created combinations of local fruits and plants in baskets and rustic ceramic vessels. These works were carried out with paint applied in a translucent manner, and they depict the surrounding space primarily in dark, reserved tones that permit the finely nuanced tonality of the fruits, leaves and blossoms to develop their luminosity. In their simple beauty, these still lifes testify to the artist's fascination with the abundance of the Mediterranean vegetation all around him.
Catalogue Raisonné
Lenz/Billeter 1939/13 (erroneously with the dimensions "57 x 68 cm" and described as "unsigned")
Provenance
The H.M. collection; Private collection, Switzerland