Walter Leistikow

Private collection Berlin, probably acquired directly from the artist; thence by descent to the present owner

The canvas has not been lined. Ultra-violet light reveals signs of retouching, notably in the sky, some strokes along the bigger crane towards the centre and other minor scattered spots. The picture is otherwise in good condition and ready to hang. Presented in a decorative gilt frame with a nameplate.
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Painted in the late 1890s, White Cranes is a superb example of the atmospheric and poetic depictions of one of Germany's most important modern landscape painters.

A founding member with Max Liebermann of the oppositional artists Group The XI in 1892, and of the Berlin Secession in 1898, Walter Leistikow was one of the principal trailblazers and forerunners of modern art in Germany. Having been sacked from the conservative Prussian Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin for 'lack of talent', and having his and his friend Edvard Munchs' paintings refused for exhibition at their annual Salon, Leistikow set out to create his own exhibition and commercial space for showcasing contemporary art, with great success. He became a leading artist and champion of the Berlin Secession despite incurring the wrath of emperor Wilhelm II, who scoffed: 'He ruined the whole Grunewald for me!'

Throughout his career, Leistikow focused on landscape painting, his main subjects being his native countryside, the lakes and forests of the Grunewald and Mark Brandenburg, and the coastlines of Sylt and Rügen. His stylised landscapes were a mix of naturalism and abstraction, Impressionism and expressive colour eccentricities. He mostly tried to capture the mood of  the landscape through the play of light and shadow, exploring the effects of sunny contrasts and dusky sunsets on the landscape. 

Leistikow had been a student of the Norwegian painter Hans Gude, who himself often worked along the shores of Rügen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and had travelled to Paris and Scandinavia to encounter different currents of contemporary art for inspiration and enrichment of his own work. White Cranes clearly shows affinities with Nordic Jugendstil painting, as well as Parisian 'Japonisme' inspired by Japanese woodcuts of artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige. Apart from their innate beauty, which could have inspired the artist, and the fact that the Baltic Coast is indeed home to grey cranes which he could have observed in flight whilst painting on the shore line, it is probably no coincidence that Leistikow chose to depict white cranes in this composition. White cranes are an important symbol in Asian art, denoting loyalty, longevity, good fortune, happiness and success. On the eve of organising the first Berlin Secession, the present work may well have been painted as a personal talisman.