Lot 245 Dα

Recording people engaged in their daily activities was one of Max Liebermann's major themes. In contrast to his later motifs from Berlin's Wannsee and Tiergarten, in his early years he devoted his attention to observing rural labour and production processes during stays of several weeks spent painting in the Netherlands. Thus, for example, lace braiders, laundry bleaching, flax scutchers or a weaving workshop drew Liebermann's eye. He had already created several studies of “Nähende” early on in Brabant, at the beginning of the 1880s, and in Amsterdam orphanages or, alternatively, convents in Amsterdam or to the south-east, in Huizen near Laren (see, e.g. Eberle 1881/20 ff.; Eberle 1881/3 ff.; 1882/1; 1883/1; 1886/2 ff.).
Our study shows four young women sitting in front of the wall of a house - almost like beads on a string - earnestly absorbed in their sewing and embroidery. This work probably marks the beginning of a relatively small series from Huizen depicting sewing women; they were not converted into larger compositions and can be found today in the collections of the Kunsthalle Bremen and the Kunstkreis Berlin, for example (see Eberle 1889/8-10). The rapid brushstroke and the canvas ground's being presumably deliberately left exposed - the 'non finito' - underscore the ephemerality of the moment, leaving the delight in detail undefined. The delicate brown and blue values with their white accents lend the motif a simple elegance in spite of the presumed poverty. Liebermann's reservedly austere and largely non-psychological depiction shows the dignity of the simple girls at work and pays respect to them.