Max Pechstein

Loewenthal Collection (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, April 8, 1964, lot 68)
Leonard Hutton Gallery, New York (acquired at the above sale) 
Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above in 1964)
Thence by descent

The board is sound. The layer of varnish on the surface is slightly dirty. There are three small dimples along the top edge with very minor associated cracks. Under UV light a few small areas of fluorescence are visible in the sky, along the right edge and just to the right of center. Pigment testing has revealed these to be from a later date, though it is unclear if these are from the artist or another hand. This work is in overall 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.
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Recognized as one of the most prominent painters of the German Expressionist movement, Max Pechstein exemplified in his paintings the confident brushwork, bright colors and exaggerated forms that characterize the Die Brücke group’s approach to art, which was quite evidently influenced by the French Fauves. While the present work depicts a quiet scene on country roads leading to a village in the German countryside, a certain sense of agitation and tension is exuded through the artist’s choice of simplified forms, energetic brushstrokes and a somber palette punctuated with vivid orange and mauve pigments. The emotional force of the imagery runs in conjunction with the German Expressionists’ desire to capture the immediate atmosphere of a scene rather than its formal qualities and exact likeness. In this way, the fundamental tenets of the Die Brücke artists echoed those of their Impressionist predecessors; they largely believed that process took precedence over product, and that impressions should be captured spontaneously.

The present picture was likely completed during the Weimar years immediately following World War I. During this time, Pechstein travelled around the country and painted extensively. He once observed in a letter: "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, already at eight in the evening I fall into bed dead tired, and yet I have still got mountains [of work] to deal with, if it were possible I would have to spend three years here without interruption and work like a horse to finish it at some point... Only painting still keeps me going, once it is over, I will certainly collapse, so [one has to] harvest, bring into the barn, as long as still possible" (quoted in Bernhard Fulda & Aya Soika, Max Pechstein: The Rise and Fall of Expressionism, Berlin, 2012, p. 229).