Lot 59 N

Mela Muter was a masterful portrait painter, and her talents were in great demand among her Parisian contemporaries after the end of World War I. She portrayed countless famous public figures, including the gallerist Ambroise Vollard and the politician Georges Clemenceau, but she also had an interest in people from the simplest of backgrounds. Muter was able to depict every one of her models with an unmistakable intensity. Usually captured in a serious and contemplative mood, they are completely mindful and alert. They do not present a pose, and sometimes they do not even seem to be aware of the painter’s presence.
This also applies to both of the male portraits up for sale at this auction. The men, whose identities are now unknown, represent very different types of people and have also been approached differently on a painterly level. They are, however, equally effective in displaying Muter’s capacity for empathy. Still, the artist always emphatically resisted being seen as a psychological authority. “No, I don’t make psychological portraits. I don’t even know how one would go about painting a psychological portrait. Is the person that I’m painting good, generous, inauthentic or intelligent? I don’t even ask myself this question. I simply try to get a grasp on this person, like I do with a flower or a piece of fruit or a tree. I penetrate them – if I succeed – and express myself through them. (Without a doubt, a certain melancholia, certain pains and a certain despondency come more naturally to me than elegance and cheerfulness.)” (cited in: Mela Muter. Retrospektiv-Ausstellung, Galerie Gmurzynska, Cologne 1967, n.p.)