Oil on canvas approx. 43.5 x 72 cm, with doublesided framing. Signed 'OModersohn' lower left. - Good condition. Minor rubbing marks to the margins, (not examined out of frame).
In an expressive horizontal format, Otto Modersohn has depicted an everyday scene in the wintery, peacefully slumbering village of Fischerhude. The straight line of the street, set into the composition at a slight diagonal, is accompanied by the clear, solid contours of the fence, the half-timbered farmhouses and the silhouettes of trees. The cool palette emphasises the icy, hushed atmosphere. Only the two figures, a mother and daughter, turning towards each other in conversation, give the impression of warmth, life and movement.
The scene on the reverse, a landscape in springtime, is of a very different character. The fields and meadows, painted in a wide variety of green tones, stretch out in broad diagonals under the pale-grey sky, accentuated by trees, bushes and foliage. The figure of a farm woman stands out with her dark clothes against the bright expanse of land.
After Paula Modersohn-Becker's death, Otto Modersohn moved, in 1908, to Fischerhude. The unspoiled quality of this village had fascinated him since his very first stay there in 1896.
Certificate
We would like to thank Rainer Noeres, Otto-Modersohn-Archive Fischerhude, for confirmative and additional information.
Provenance
Private collection, Hamburg