AUGUST MACKE | SONNTAG IN TEGERNSEE (SUNDAY IN TEGERNSEE)

Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin

Sale: Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 18th-21st June 1980, lot 836

Collection Albin Schram, Switzerland (probably purchased at the above sale)

Thence by descent to the present owners

Ursula Heiderich, August Macke Zeichnungen Werkverzeichnis, Stuttgart, 1993, no. 426, illustrated p. 255

Berlin, Galerie Nierendorf, Expressionismus, 1967, no. 70, illustrated

The years 1909-1910 were pivotal for the newlywed August Macke. He had relocated to Tegernsee, a charming resort town on a lake located near the Bavarian Alps in Germany. This move was to enrich Macke’s artistic development: he befriended fellow-artist Franz Marc, who in turn introduced him to Wassily Kandinsky – both of whom had a profound effect on the direction of the artist’s œuvre. The works produced during this period now rightly count amongst some of the most important of his entire career. In this wonderful pencil sketch, August Macke depicts the tradition of putting on one’s Sunday best and going for a stroll. The bold foreshortening ensures that the smart hats of both men and women dominate the foreground, while more hats and canes proliferate in the background. With his free and confident lines, Macke wonderfully conjures the air of relaxation, easy contentment and community on this Sunday outing. The sketch relates to Macke’s celebrated paintings of people at leisure: women in their finery window-shopping and men in top hats reading on a park bench.