Hermann Max Pechstein

Dr. Karl Lilienfeld, New York (by 1937)
Charles Kenneth Feldman, California
Acquired from the estate of the above in 1969

Berlin, Der Sturm, Der Blaue Reiter/Franz Flaum/Oskar Kokoschka/Expressionisten, 1912, no. 104
San Francisco, Museum of Art, Contemporary German Painting, 1937

Hermann Max Pechstein was one of the leading members of Die Brücke, a group of avant-garde German artists, including Emil Nolde and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, whose work defined the German Expressionist movement during the early 20^th century.  These painters had all been inspired by palette of the Fauvists Matisse and van Dongen, and, in 1906, they banded together to form their own expressive artistic group in Dresden.  The group’s manifesto, written by Kirchner, heralded their revolutionary mission: “With faith in growth and in a new generation of creators and those who enjoy, we call all young people together, and as the young that bears the future within it we shall create for ourselves elbowroom and freedom of life as opposed to the well-entrenched older forces.  Everyone who renders directly and honestly whatever drives him to create is one of us” (reprinted in Masterpieces of German Expressionism at the Detroit Institute of Arts, New York, 1982, p. 11).

The years between 1906-1910 are considered the most important for Pechstein’s production as a member of Die Brücke.  By 1910, the artist had developed his own distinct style of painting, which is demonstrated quite clearly in the present work.  Many of his compositions of that year, including this picture, were noted for their powerful color and vivacity of execution – all qualities that confirmed that the artist had indeed come into his own as a painter.   Around the time he painted this picture in 1910, Pechstein organized the Neue Sezession to promote a series of traveling exhibitions which brought the work of the German Expressionists to a wider audience.  But within two years, the artist defected from Die Brücke, a move that signaled the demise of the group in 1913.  Shortly before this, in 1912, the artist chose to exhibit this picture in an exhibition of Der Blaue Reiter, another avant-garde group that had been founded in Munich by Kandinsky and Franz Marc in 1911.   In letter to Ray Stark dated January 2, 1986, the artist’s son, Max K. Pechstein writes about this painting and its significance within the artist’s oeuvre, “According to an [sic] information received from Professor Dr. Klaus Lankheit, Karlsruhe a short time ago this painting allegedly has been presented within the exhibition “Der Blaue Reiter – Franz Flaum, Oskar Kokoschka – Expressionisten,’ which was opened on March 12, 191[2], and documented by ‘Der Sturm – Wochenschrift für Künste – Herausgeber; Herwerth Walden” as ‘Erste Ausstellung – Tubergarten strasse 34a’ catalogue no. 104, p. 9.  Thus, this painting gains importance.”