Hermann Max Pechstein - Interieur/Kneipenraum. Verso: Zwei Boote (Flundernfischerei) - image-1
Hermann Max Pechstein - Interieur/Kneipenraum. Verso: Zwei Boote (Flundernfischerei) - image-2
Hermann Max Pechstein - Interieur/Kneipenraum. Verso: Zwei Boote (Flundernfischerei) - image-3
Hermann Max Pechstein - Interieur/Kneipenraum. Verso: Zwei Boote (Flundernfischerei) - image-1Hermann Max Pechstein - Interieur/Kneipenraum. Verso: Zwei Boote (Flundernfischerei) - image-2Hermann Max Pechstein - Interieur/Kneipenraum. Verso: Zwei Boote (Flundernfischerei) - image-3

Lot 461 N

Hermann Max Pechstein - Interieur/Kneipenraum. Verso: Zwei Boote (Flundernfischerei)

Auction 1070 - overview Cologne
03.06.2016, 18:00 - Modern Art
Estimate: 10.000 € - 15.000 €
Result: 17.360 € (incl. premium)

Hermann Max Pechstein

Interieur/Kneipenraum. Verso: Zwei Boote (Flundernfischerei)
Circa 1909 - 1912

Watercolour and India ink on firm, slightly textured laid card 37.5/37.8 x 46.2/46.9 cm. With two India ink sketches (unrelated, in horizontal and vertical format) to the reverse of the sheet (the motifs approx. 11 x 25.8 cm resp. 14.4 x 24.5 cm) Monogrammed 'HMP' (joined) in pencil recto lower right within depiction. - Labelled to the reverse lower margin, therein stamped by the Graham Gallery New York with a hand-written annotation by former owner. - With traces of pin-holes. - The slightly irregular sheet browned throughout and with marginal defects due to age partly professionally restored. With fine vibrant colours.

This vibrant and expressively hued watercolour shows the interior of a tavern with a cropped bar window, as already depicted in the 1909 painting of “Fischer in der Schankstätte” (Soika 1909/31), partly with similar details. This seaside tavern was located in Nidden on the Baltic coast, and this was also where Pechstein made the ink sketches of flounder fishers on the reverse of the work, jotted down with virtuosity, which attest to his maritime knowledge and preoccupation in Nidden.
“Life among the fishermen not only occupies a significant portion of his Erinnerungen, but is also reflected in the many drawings which Pechstein made during his sojourns to Nidden and later Leba, as well as the time he spent in Monterosso al Mare in Italy. He helped out as early as 1909: 'My art, my work as a fisherman's mate and the joys of this work are inseparably linked.' Pechstein became friends with the fishermen, painted their coloured wooden huts and depicted their harsh daily realities or angular faces during conversations in the cabin. The artist summed up his experiences in the series of paintings Fischerleben in 1920, the majority of which is now considered lost.” (Maren Welsch, Keitel- oder Kurenkahn, Yacht und Dampfer, Schiffe und Meer in den Bildern von Max Pechstein, in: Exhib. cat. Max Pechstein, Ein Expressionist aus Leidenschaft, Retrospektive, Kunsthalle Kiel, Munich 2010, p. 112).

Certificate

With an expertise from Alexander Pechstein of the Max Pechstein-Urheberrechtsgemeinschaft, Dobersdorf, dated Boston, MA, 29 March 2008; we would like to thank Alexander Pechstein for additional information.

Provenance

Graham Gallery, New York; Salander O'Reilly Galleries, New York; Private possession, New York/Jerusalem; Sotheby's New York, Modern Paintings auction 5071, 22. Jun.1983; Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York; Private possession, New York (since 2006)

Exhibitions

Gallery St. Etienne, New York