Lovis Corinth

Dr. A. von Wilke, Berlin (acquired directly from the artist)
Private Collection, Bochum
Sale: Sotheby's, London, June 18, 1985, lot 99, illustrated

Berlin, Berliner Sezession, 1913, no. 37

Charlotte Berend-Corinth, Die Gemälde von Lovis Corinth, Munich, 1958, p. 73, no. 159, illustrated; 1992 revised edition, p. 384, no. 159, illustrated
Christoph Vitali, Barbara Butts and Peter Klaus Schuster, Lovis Corinth, exh. cat. Haus de Kunst, Munich, 1996, p. 182

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This large portrait seems to be well restored. The canvas has been lined, and there is no reason to adjust the lining or the restoration. This painting is very heavily textured. The artist moved the signature from the lower right corner to the bottom of the wall behind the figure, and remnants of the old signature that was painted over by the artist can still be seen. There have been some retouches in the lower right and lower left corners to address some thinness, but it seems that it is only in this dark color that there is any real thinness. The work should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

As a result of his unbridled creativity and near constant studio production, Lovis Corinth became a major figure in German painting through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He benefitted from a broad artistic training as he trained at the avant-garde Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and then moved to Paris to study at the Academie Julien and under William Bouguereau. This, combined with his rebellious sensibility, makes his idiosyncratic artistic style, bridging Impressionism and Expressionism,  difficult to classify. Corinth does not adopt the romantic idealism of many of his early contemporaries and instead embraces the eclecticism of the nineteenth century. He describes the ever-changing fads and fashions of the artists he worked alongside in Munich: “1875 Old Masterly, 1879 plein air or Munkacsy style, 1883 Dutch, 1888 Scottish, 1892 Impressionism or Böcklin, 1896 Neo-idealism and Allegorism, 1900 Posters” (as quoted in Stephan Koja, Lovis Corinth, A Feast of Painting, exh. cat. Belvedere, Vienna, March 25-July 19, 2009, p. 14)

In 1891, after his training in Paris, Corinth moved back to Munich and was occasionally commissioned to paint portraits. Adolf von Wilke, a lawyer and later art writer who was friendly with the artist, commissioned Corinth to paint this portrait of his companion in 1898, and Eleanor's black and pink costume creates a lively impression. Hoisting up her long skirt and raising a feather fan in the air with a jeweled hand,  Ellÿ is about to dance, greeting the viewer in a direct and coquettish manner. Charlotte Berend-Corinth reported that “before Corinth painted a woman’s portrait, he would visit her so that she could show him her wardrobe. He would then select an outfit that he found especially stimulating for the sitter to wear. He would be fully preoccupied with the portrait for days before the sitting, and he would work at such a speed that his models were astonished” (as quoted in Vitali, p. 182). Corinth would paint her portrait again, also holding a fan in a comparatively reserved manner in 1907 (Portrait of Eleanore von Wilke, Countess Finkh, Nationalgalerie, Berlin)

In 1901, shortly after the first portrait of Ellÿ was painted, Corinth and a group of avant garde atists founded the Berlin Secession. Paul Cassirer, Corinth’s dealer at the time, was a central figure in organizing the exhibition and acted as its business manager since its foundation. Cassirer was a very influential figure on the German art scene and played an important role in promoting Impressionist and post-Impressionist painting, notably the work of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne, and exerted a strong influence towards an embrace of modernism within monarchist Germany. After the exhibition of 1912, Cassirer left the Secession and was succeeded in his role of president by Corinth, who would exhibit the present Portrait of Ellÿ in 1913.