Lot 61 Dα

While staying at Tegernsee in 1910, August Macke was inspired by Ferdinand Hodler’s painting “Die Schlacht bei Näfels” (1896/97; Kunsthalle Basel) and his own reading of Hans Jacob Grimmelshausen’s “Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch” (1668) to use his sketchbook as well as a number of ink drawings to explore motives related to fighting soldiers within a historical context.
These drawings provided the basis for his development of the painting offered here, which reduces the prior works’ chaotic battle scenes containing many figures (see Heiderich Drawings 482-485) to two combatants in a composition which appears simultaneously forceful and ornamental. Diagonal lines dominate the image and convey an intense impression of force and forward momentum. The bodies’ superimposition and their legs’ interlocked position combine the combatants into a single unit. This effect is further intensified through the figures’ black contour lines and coloration: their realisation in tones of violet, orange and yellow stands in contrast to the blue and green of the background and the ground beneath them.
The connection to an artistic reference image is thoroughly typical of Macke’s work from this period. At Tegernsee, together with his cousin the painter Helmuth Macke, the artist devoted himself in drawings and occasionally also paintings to exploring the works of masters he admired – in addition to Hodler, these also included Dürer, Rubens, Rembrandt and Daumier.