Max Liebermann

Private Collection, Berlin (and sold: Ball & Graupe, Berlin, March 21, 1932, lot 45)
Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)
Thence by descent

Matthias Eberle, Max Liebermann, Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde und Ölstudien, vol. II, Munich, 1996, no. 1919/37

The board is bowed at upper center and lower right. There is a .5-inch scratch at the lower right corner. Under UV light: certain original pigments fluoresce but no inpainting is apparent. The work is in otherwise very good condition.
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Images of horses and riders figured prominently in Liebermann’s art throughout his career, particularly in scenes depicting horse races and polo games. However, they are rarely depicted with such elegance and poise as in the present work, featuring a finely dressed couple, perhaps romantically engaged, riding horseback through a forested glade.

Liebermann approached his paintings with a spontaneity and palette that were clearly indebted to the French Impressionists, and in their subject matter and style of execution his equestrian scenes evoke the painting of Edgar Degas. Barbara C. Gilbert has written about Liebermann’s production: "He had achieved his most inventive and exuberant body of work, in a series that explored aspects of painting beyond a direct portrayal of a subject...This more experimental period of Liebermann’s career coincides with his expanding rise as an art theorist and writer. Each artist must look closely at the life around him, he wrote, and have the courage and freedom to interpret it from his own perspective: 'Nature viewed by all artists according to their individuality remains fundamental—the alpha and omega.' Such an attitude allied him with the avant-garde and set him in opposition to the official, academic art community. Liebermann took advantage of his position in the Berlin Secession to promote his theories in speeches, in written introductions to Secession catalogues, in essays in art journals, and in books published by Bruno Cassirer" (Barbara C. Gilbert, Max Liebermann: From Realism to Impressionism (exhibition catalogue), Skirball Center, Los Angeles, 2006, pp. 43-44).