Lot 446 Dα

The distinctive charm of this rustic still life, which fits so well into the surroundings of its former home on Majorca, is based on its ostensible simplicity and the focused depiction of a small number of objects. In combination with the deliberate and abstract manner of its painting, this makes it simultaneously cheerful and intellectually captivating. Stylistically, this includes the emphatic use of colour and the wilful contours, the chromatic and painterly tonalities and the modernist two-dimensionality of the coloured patterns and individual forms: not only is the large cloth of the foreground remarkable in this respect but, in particular, the two round red circles of fruit, which set a strong optical geometrical accent shifted away from the centre. Perspective and space have largely been cast aside, instead, the objects at the centre of the painting are subjected to a rigorously - horizontal as well as vertical - axial arrangement.
Rudolf Levy left Germany in 1933 and fled by way of France to Majorca, then in 1937/1938 to Italy - Ischia, Rome and Florence formed brief stations prior to his deportation. “The gathering momentum of fate seemed not to lame him but instead to spur him on to his highest achievements”, observes G.F. Hartlaub: “Certainly, Rudolf Levy adhered to what Matisse referred to as 'expression' while repeatedly preaching to his students. But he wanted to be expressive, not Expressionist. He also had no interest in replacing what Matisse called 'sensibilité' through a kind of ecstasy.” (from: Exhib. cat. Rudolf Levy, Oelbilder, Gedächtnis-Ausstellung, Frankfurter Kunstkabinett, Hanna Bekker vom Rath, Hofheim/Ts 1959, n.p.) Regarding his friend's work, Hans Purrmann had also already remarked: “The Expressionism of our native land, with the woodcut-like, chromatically wild aspect of its vision was recognised by us only with reservations, and we did not feel that it was a parallel movement to the 'Fauves'. We were too much under the power of the Latinate, to which our inclinations and inner affinity more powerfully pulled us.” (Erinnerungen an den Freund, in: Genia Levy (ed.), Rudolf Levy, Bildnisse, Stilleben, Landschaften, Baden-Baden 1961, p. 37)