August Macke
Sitzende Männer im Park
1913
Brush and India ink on smooth paper. Colour chalk drawing verso, presumably by Walter Macke 15.8/15.4 x 21 cm Framed under glass. Unsigned. Oval estate stamp "Nachlass AUGUST MACKE" (Lugt 1775 b) verso, next to it inscribed "Sitzende Männer im Park 1913 15,8 : 21" in pencil. - Numbered "1" in pencil by an unknown hand recto lower right. - The upper margin irregularly torn, the upper left corner with an old addition. 2 drawing pin holes in the left margin.
In 1912/13, August Macke consistently occupied himself with nonrepresentational studies of form and decorative-abstract designs that served as models for embroidery or ceramic painting. Similar references can also be found in this small vignette-like India ink and wash drawing, which features as its theme a park motif typical of Macke's work. The seated men are captured in a few broad brush strokes; the vegetation of the park is reduced to emblematic shapes and subjected to a certain symmetry. The composition resembles the medallion-like India ink and wash drawing "Paar auf der Bank" (Heiderich 1842) created in the same year, which probably served as a design for a decorative work, but which is far less abstract.
On the verso of the sheet, there is a charming children's drawing, probably by the hand of Walter Macke, the artist's then three-year-old son.
Catalogue Raisonné
Heiderich 1850
Provenance
Formerly Collection Gisela Macke, Bonn; Private collection since, Baden-Wuerttemberg
Exhibitions
Münster/Bonn/Munich 1986/1987 (Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte/Städtisches Kunstmuseum/Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus), August Macke. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen), cat. no. 300 with illus.