PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLECTION
Lot 9
MAX PECHSTEIN(1881-1955)Sonnenflecken
Amended
6 December 2022, 14:00 EST
New YorkUS$1,000,000 - US$1,500,000
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MAX PECHSTEIN (1881-1955)
Sonnenflecken
signed 'HMPechstein' (lower right); signed again, inscribed and dated '1922(9 Sonnenflecken HMPechstein' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
39 5/8 x 31 15/16 in (100.7 x 81.1 cm)
Painted in 1922
signed 'HMPechstein' (lower right); signed again, inscribed and dated '1922(9 Sonnenflecken HMPechstein' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
39 5/8 x 31 15/16 in (100.7 x 81.1 cm)
Painted in 1922
Footnotes
Provenance
Private collection, Germany and Israel; their sale, Sotheby's, Munich, October 28, 1987, lot 92.
Private collection, Switzerland (acquired at the above sale).
Galerie Art Focus, Zurich, no. G5029.
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1997.
Exhibited
Zurich, Kunsthaus Zürich, Ausstellung H. M. Pechstein, March 11 – April 8, 1923, no. 63.
Literature
A. Soika, Max Pechstein: Das Werkverzeichnis der Ölgemälde, vol. II, 1919-1954, Munich, 2011, no. 1922/13 (illustrated p. 267).
Sonnenflecken by Max Pechstein is a masterwork within a series of boldly colored Expressionist landscapes painted by the artist during the early 1920s. The painting is emblematic of a period of great productivity and creativity in Pechstein's life – a rebirth, as he called it. During the inter-war years, Pechstein utilized a luscious color palette of saturated yellows, reds, blues, and greens and the application of black contours, drawing inspiration from French Fauve painting as well as the works of Paul Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh.
In the summer of 1919, three years before he painted the present work, Pechstein created a large volume of paintings featuring dunes, woods, and the coast. In October of 1919 he wrote to his friend, the author and art critic Paul Fechter, and passionately declared: "I drown everything in color, my brain is filled only with paintings, and the idea of what to paint drives me from one place to the other" (Max Pechstein quoted in B. Fulda & A. Soika, Max Pechstein: The Rise and Fall of Expressionism, Berlin, 2012, p. 229). Pechstein's work of this period was met with great critical acclaim and was highly sought after; in 1921 alone, three solo exhibitions of his work were held across Germany, and he was hailed as the "leader of the Expressionists" (B. Fulda & A. Soika, ibid., p. 237).
In February 1921, the new gallery Goyert in Cologne opened a lauded exhibition showing over 40 of Pechstein's paintings, primarily from the years 1919 and 1920; one critic mused: "The synthesis of Palau and East Prussia has resulted in a [...] culture of colorful surface and an increase in symbolic power" (A.S. quoted in B. Fulda & A. Soika, ibid, p. 236). Pechstein captured the surroundings of his adopted seaside home on the canvas with a luminous color palette, the chromatic range similar to his much-acclaimed South Seas pictures of 1914. Pechstein garnered major institutional recognition in December 1921 when the National Gallery organized a substantial solo exhibition in the Kronprinzenpalais on Unter den Linden. Ludwig Justi, the director, "considered Pechstein the first German painter in the group after Impressionism to have gained acceptance in wider sections of the population" (Ludwig Justi quoted in B. Fulda & A. Soika, ibid, p. 237).
In the same month, the renowned artist Max Liebermann launched an initiative to revitalize the Prussian Academy, and Pechstein was one of three painters suggested as potential candidates. "Liebermann defended the choice of Pechstein, Heckel and Weiss by claiming that there were currently no other painters with such strong artistic potential. Whether or not one liked their works, they clearly had talent, and should be admitted as the relatively best forces of the new generation. A handful of other colleagues spoke up in Pechstein's favor, arguing that he was not just a fashion phenomenon, but a born painter and an extraordinary artistic personality" (B. Fulda & A. Soika, ibid., p. 240); Pechstein was finally elected into the Prussian Academy in the fall of 1922.
It was during this time, in the year that Sonnenflecken was painted, that Pechstein reached the apex of his fame. He was the first and only (for several years) Expressionist artist of his generation to be admitted into the Prussian Academy, a stamp of formal approbation from the institutional sphere. In late 1922, Max Osborn, a critic writing for Vossiche Zeitung and an early advocate of Pechstein's art, published a biography on Pechstein with the renowned Propyläen Verlag press. Osborn declared in the introduction that Pechstein was an artist "who with strong hands opened the gate to an unknown country." He believed that Pechstein's art offered a new, optimistic, and "unspoiled" experience: "self-confident, laughing, bursting with the fullness of sensuous jubilation, drunken of the glowing beauty of pure color, which increases and multiplies the beauty of the outer world" (Max Osborn quoted in B. Fulda & A. Soika, ibid., p. 241).
While 1921 and 1922 were prime years during which Pechstein's artistic career flourished, it was also a time of personal tumult for him. His relationship with his wife Lotte became increasingly strained, and they divorced in December 1921. The catalyst leading to this was Pechstein's burgeoning relationship with Marta, one of the daughters of the proprietor of the Strandhotel Moller, where Pechstein would stay in Leba. "In previous years, Lotte had always featured as Pechstein's main model, Now Marta took her place. Pechstein produced over a dozen paintings of Marta and her younger sister Liese during his first summer in Leba [...] in earlier pictures, Marta is shown in full dress, or at the beach in a swimsuit. Over the course of the summer, the paintings' settings become more intimate, and finally Pechstein was able to paint Marta as a nude" (B. Fulda & A. Soika, ibid., p. 246). Marta was only 16 years old when they met, half Pechstein's age; he spent the summer of 1922 and following Christmas and Easter near Marta on the Pomeranian seaside, and the couple eventually married in September 1923, once Marta had turned 18 and Pechstein returned from his extended visit to Switzerland precipitated by his solo exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich (B. Fulda & A. Soika, ibid., p. 250).
The other major upheaval in his life during the early 1920s was the rift with his art dealer, Wolfgang Gurlitt; he was the cousin of Hildebrand Gurlitt, who would come to be one of the four authorized dealers of "degenerate art" appointed by Adolph Hitler and Hermann Goering. Gurlitt was Pechstein's exclusive dealer until 1923. For years, Gurlitt had managed sales of Pechstein's works without ever providing invoices or other accounting statements to the artist. Pechstein began to question if Gurlitt was compensating him with his true share of profits, and his concerns were further amplified by the fact that Gurlitt held in his control and possession (in the basement storage of his art gallery) virtually the entire oeuvre of Pechstein's oil paintings.
In the summer of 1922, Pechstein attempted to terminate his contract with Gurlitt and requested for his artworks to be returned. By the end of 1922, Gurlitt had temporarily stopped selling works by Pechstein but refused to return the inventory of paintings, leading Pechstein to sue Gurlitt; to fund the lawsuit, Pechstein sold several of his paintings to Galerie van Diemen in Berlin – 11 years later this Jewish-owned gallery would be seized by the Nazis (B. Fulda & A. Soika, ibid., p. 243). Pechstein was able to recover 39 paintings early in the proceedings for his solo exhibition in Zürich, and he and Gurlitt eventually settled out of court in March 1923 due to the exorbitant legal fees. Gurlitt was allowed to keep 14 paintings in his private collection and another 10 in his gallery inventory with the agreement that 50% of proceeds with go to Pechstein or his descendants if the works were ever sold; Pechstein had the rest of his works returned: 129 oil paintings in addition to the 39 claimed for the exhibition in Switzerland, nearly 500 works on paper, approximately 2,000 prints, and three bronze sculptures (B. Fulda & A. Soika, ibid., p 244). Without his established dealer, Pechstein regained his independence but would remain in a financially precarious position for the rest of the 1920s.
Sonnenflecken likely belongs to the series of Colorist landscape paintings which Pechstein executed in and around Leba – a small village on the Baltic coast of what is now Poland – from July to September 1922. The central subject of this series is the reflection of the sun on water, the study of which would recur in his later works. Pechstein's fascination with the play of natural light on the open water is revealed in the titles he marked on the verso of his canvases, for example: "Spiegelung" (Reflection), "Fischkutter in Nachmittagssonne" (Fishing Boats in the Afternoon Sun), "Morgensonne" (Morning Sun), "Sonne im Schilf" (Sun in the Reeds), and, of course, "Sonnenflecken" (Dappled Sunlight).
"He wants to capture the [...] interweaving of the light and the wonderful clear air, or the filtering effect that occurs through the humid atmospheric veil. It evokes an Impressionist theme, but the execution is entirely different. There is nothing analyzed, nothing dissolved into a maze of details...The whole series of Leba pictures allows us to observe a new development. The colorful expression has kept its layered flatness, but it is richer, and more lively in its structure. A stream of atmospheric and luminous elements floods into the landscape and merges with the local colors" (M. Osborn, Max Pechstein, Berlin, 1922).
Pechstein traveled to the Baltic Sea in 1909 for the first time and became acquainted with the simple life of the local fishermen. From then on, he focused on that pristine coastal landscape as a primary subject matter. He was unable to continue residing for periods of time in Nidden, as the former East Prussian town became part of Lithuania under the new League of Nations established by the Treaty of Versailles. He yearned for his lengthy stays on the Baltic Sea, so the following year elected to visit the coastal town of Leba in Eastern Pomerania. In 1921, Pechstein spent the summer in Leba with his wife, Lotte, and their child, just months before their separation.
Leba effectively became Pechstein's second home; he would frequently return to this locale until 1945. The village of Leba is located on a narrow, almost island-like land formation between Lake Leba and Lake Sarbsko and the open sea. Following the Great War, Leba has been a popular but not overcrowded beach resort town, surrounded by a rugged landscape of dunes. Pechstein repeatedly retreated to Leba and the fishing village of Rowe about 12 miles away, tranquil havens from the frenetic and anonymous city of Berlin, stresses of business matters, trauma following World War I, and the threat of Nazi rule.
In his memoirs, Pechstein wrote about Leba retrospectively: "In April 1921 I went on my own search, only with the most necessary material in my rucksack. According to the map in East Pomerania I found a similar spit between Lake Leba and the Baltic Sea. [...] not only did I learn to appreciate this coast, but also came to love it. [...] Everything I saw and experienced around me was relentlessly recorded and taken home with me like the trout, salmon, pike and eels that I had caught. This gave me a security that would not let me drown in the collapse after the war." (M. Pechstein, Erinnerungen, Stuttgart, 1993, p. 107).
During his stays on the Baltic Sea, Pechstein not only captured bathing scenes, the challenging life of local fishermen, coastal landscapes, cloud formations, sunsets, and impressive sea scenes, but also atmospheric compositions of docking ships, fishing boats, and barges and rowing boats on the high seas. Pechstein devoted himself to a large number of ship depictions during these stays on the Baltic coast. Despite the artistic reduction and simplification of the vessels – from fishing boats to ocean liners – revealing details of each type of ship are featured in the depictions. Pechstein had a foundation of maritime knowledge as he had owned a canoe in Palau in the South Seas, and later bought his own sailing boat in Germany. His paintings most often include the so-called "kuren" or "keitel" barges, commonplace in the Baltic region, with towering, colorful sails.
Pechstein's enthusiasm for the rustic landscape and sailing vessels of Leba permeates Sonnenflecken. Here, he has depicted a river of intense blue and yellow pigment – striking complementary colors – flanked by verdant fields and foliage, with intensity and vigor. Under the vivid gold and emerald sky, the sailboats and waterscape come alive with energetically applied, angular streaks of color, immersing the viewer in Pechstein's distinctive vision of the world. Sonnenflecken exemplifies the artist's formal explorations of the time. The large-scale canvas is dominated by a blaze of vibrant color, and a bold contrast is created between the flatness of the picture plane and abundance of rich detail. Karl Scheffler proclaimed in Kunst und Künstler: "Within the orchestra of new German art Pechstein's talent is the trumpet. He blares out forceful passages in such a way that no one can ignore them; his painting is characterized by an intensity which one cannot evade" (Karl Scheffler quoted in B. Fulda & A. Soika, op. cit., p. 238).
Pechstein's landscapes and waterscapes of Leba, such as Sonnenflecken, are distinguished by dazzling play of light and an almost hallucinatory use of pure, bold color. He was fascinated by the atmospheric and climatic changes of the coastal region and felt a deep connection to the area and its people. Pechstein emphatically declared: "Nature has always been important to me in my work and my intense studies of its forms are milestones. I liberate myself working on nature and can, like through a filter, render the whole experience on paper or canvas" (Max Pechstein quoted in Hermelin-Verlag (ed.), Künstlerische und kulturelle Manifestationen, Ulm, 1924, p. 38). While working in Leba, Pechstein developed his own original, hallmark style while still strongly informed by the principles of the Expressionist movement, particularly manifest in the color values of his paintings and drawings.
Sonnenflecken carries a prestigious provenance and exhibition history. It was exhibited at the prestigious Kunsthaus Zürich from March 11 through April 8 of 1923 in the solo show Ausstellung H.M. Pechstein alongside 73 other paintings by the artist; Sonnenflecken was catalogued as work number 63 in the exhibition. The art collector Walter Minnich sponsored Pechstein's travel to Zurich so the artist was able to attend the opening of his own solo exhibition. There is only one recorded owner of the canvas in the artist's catalogue raisonné; Sonnenflecken has remained in the same esteemed Northern California private collection for a quarter of a century.
This friendship between patron and artist had been growing since 1919 when Minnich met Pechstein during a visit to Berlin. Minnich bought Pechstein's recent oil paintings on a regular basis and they exchanged correspondence. They became closer when Pechstein accepted Minnich's invitation to visit Switzerland in the autumn of 1922 after concluding a summer stay in Leba. In their letters, Minnich provided effusive positive feedback regarding the paintings he acquired from Pechstein, and the artist described a variety of personal thoughts and emotions to his close friend. In April 1922, Pechstein wrote to Minnich: "[I] have my work, and when I am tired my books [...] also I can cope on my own very well, or go through the streets picking up people like beetles for a collection. But I readily admit that the city depresses me, and [that it] sometimes paralyses me, I need air, the sky, and an unrestricted view" (Max Pechstein quoted in B. Fulda & A. Soika, op. cit., p. 247). Like his coastal sojourns to Leba, Pechstein's visit to Switzerland for his solo exhibition opening raised his spirits. Minnich remained a loyal patron and confidante to Pechstein throughout the decade of the 1920s.
At the earliest possible opportunity in 1922, Pechstein returned to Leba "in order to forget during spring the sickening shadowy side of life" but he was bitterly disappointed when both spring and summer turned out cool and rainy. "[T]he sun, for which I had longed so much and which I needed so desperately, remained absent," he reported to a friend just before leaving Leba in mid-September 1922 (Max Pechstein quoted in B. Fulda & A. Soika, ibid., p. 247-248).
Sonnenflecken majestically captures Pechstein's exaltation of the sun and simple coastal life through the lens of the Expressionist avant-garde. Fundamental pictorial elements such as distortion of form and perspective and stridency of color and vision, and the bold and simplified forms and distinctive black outlines brilliantly exemplify Pechstein's continuous experimentation with the lexicon of Expressionism applied to a region, a culture, a season, an atmosphere, a feeling so profoundly beloved by the artist.
Saleroom notices
Please note this work was not included in the 1923 Kunsthaus Zürich exhibition.
