MAX PECHSTEIN | Seenebel (Sea Mist)

Helen Feiler, Frankfurt (acquired directly from the artist in 1936)
Dr & Mrs Peter N. Witt, Knightdale, North Carolina (by descent from the above; sale: Sotheby's, New York, 14th May 1980, lot 136)
Private Collection, USA (sale: Christie's, London, 3rd February 2010, lot 488)
Private Collection (sale: Farsettiarte, Milan, 27th May 2017, lot 669)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner 

(Possibly) Darmstadt, Kunsthalle, Deutsche Kunst 1923, 1923, no. 142

Aya Soika, Max Pechstein: Das Werkverzeichnis der Ölgemälde, Munich, 2011, vol. II, no. 1922/54, illustrated in colour p. 288

The canvas is not lined. UV examination reveals scattered areas of fluorescence to the composition, some of which may relate to previous old restoration. There is a patch to the reverse of the canvas which measures 20cm in length and appears to be consolidating an area of fragility. There are further tiny scattered losses and areas of craquelure in the impasto. This work is in overall fairly 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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Recognised as one of the most prominent painters of the German Expressionist movement, Max Pechstein’s paintings exemplify the confident brushwork, bright colours and amplified forms that characterise the Die Brücke group’s approach to art, which was influenced by the French Fauves. Whilst the members of Die Brücke absorbed the influences of their French counterparts, they also invested their art with a freshness and naïvety that expressed the self-confidence of their youth. Theirs was the first distinctly German artistic movement of the twentieth century, and their bold aesthetic established Pechstein and his colleagues as a reckonable force among the European avant-garde. In 1921, Pechstein was looking for a new summer retreat, and along the Pomeranian coastline he fell for the huge sand dunes around the village of Leba and decided to stay the summer. In numerous letters he testified for the beauty of the area and the stimulation he received for his work. He returned the following summer—when the present work was created—at the height of his fame: ‘He was the first – and for some years to come the only – Expressionist of his generation to become a member of the Prussian Academy, and thereby part of the institutional art establishment’ (Bernhard Fulda & Aya Soika, Max Pechstein: The Rise and Fall of Expressionism, Berlin, 2012, p. 241).

It was from these sand dunes in Leba he produced a number of canvases under different light and weather conditions, rendering the misty, suggestive landscape in bold application of paint. Here the fundamental tenets of the Die Brücke artists echo those of their Impressionist predecessors; they largely believed that process took precedence over product, and that impressions should be captured spontaneously.

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 his acquired balance between experience and his own creation. In his earlier work either one of the other is dominant whereas in the 1920s Pechstein found the perfect harmony. The artist abandons the stylisation of forms and creates compositions in which the elements of colour, shape and form merge into one organic whole’ (quoted in Max Pechstein im Brücke-Museum (exhibition catalogue), 2001-02, p. 44, translated from German).