Max Pechstein

Ida Kimche Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
Hirschl & Adler, New York (acquired from the above in 1969 and sold: Rhode Island School of Design Art Museum, Benefit Auction, December 1969)
Acquired at the above sale

The canvas has been lined with a thin layer of wax. The wax lining has significantly obscured the original signature and title on the reverse, so the work has been re-signed and titled by another hand. The colors are extremely rich and vibrant. Under UV light: certain original areas fluorescence and a few extremely minor dots and strokes of in-painting are visible, particularly in the upper right corner. Overall, this work is in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Pechstein’s interest in the expressive works of Vincent van Gogh, which he saw at the Galerie Arnold in 1905, had a powerful influence on his own nascent strand of Expressionism which he would rapidly develop from 1906 onward. This development was further spurred by his involvement with Fauve artists such as Kees van Dongen as well as artists of Die Brücke, including Ernst-Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Erich Heckel. The confident and discernible brushwork, bright colors and exaggerated forms that characterize Die Brücke aesthetic are all visible in the present work. Gone however are the harsh black outlines, leaving a strikingly imaginative palette applied in angular and captivatingly descriptive strokes. By the time Pechstein painted Am Fluss in 1923 his mastery of form and color had fully matured. The art critic Paul Fletcher commented on Pechstein's remarkable stylistic development in the 1920s: “The strong impact evident in Pechstein's works of that period is probably due to a newly acquired balance between experience and his own creation. In his earlier work either one or the other is dominant, whereas in the 1920s Pechstein found the perfect harmony. The artist abandons the stylization of forms and creates compositions in which the elements of color, shape and form merge into one organic whole” (quoted in Max Pechstein im Brücke-Museum Berlin (exhibition catalogue), Brücke-Museum, Berlin & traveling, 2001-02, p. 44, translated from German). 
The present work is a remarkable example of this outburst of energy that characterized Pechstein’s work in the interwar period. Am Fluss depicts a scene in the small seaside fishing town of Leba in what is now Poland. Nearly every summer from 1921 to 1945 Pechstein fled to this coastal haven. The carefree environment supplied him allowed him to redirect his focus and create the extraordinarily vibrant and enigmatic canvases that reflect his long-held vision of the pastoral idyll. Am Fluss is rendered in a manner that is typical of Pechstein’s work from this period, with short, horizontal brushstrokes, dramatic planes of color and an angular composition. The bright coloration of the sky is treated in almost abstract manner, with three horizontal bands whose vibrant colors imbue this landscape with a profound feeling of harmony and tranquility.