1227 - MACKENSEN, FRITZ

MACKENSEN, FRITZ 1866 Greene–1953 Bremen Title: Summer Landscape of the Hammeland. Technique: Oil on cardboard. Measurement: 49.5 x 69.5cm. Reverse: On the backing board label of the commemorative exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of Fritz Mackensen’s birth. Frame: Framed. The fact that the small village of Worpswede, located near Bremen, came to hold such a strong appeal for artists was down to a chance encounter: in 1884, Fritz Mackensen, a student at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, visited the village in the Teufelsmoor at the invitation of his landlady’s niece in the Rhineland. He was deeply impressed by the landscape, its atmosphere and the unique light. Back in Düsseldorf, he shared his discovery with his artist friends, and in 1889 Fritz Mackensen, Hans am Ende and Otto Modersohn decided to settle in Worpswede together. Fritz Overbeck joined them in 1893, and by 1894, with the arrival of Heinrich Vogeler and Carl Vinnen, the village had already become a small artists’ colony. As some of the artists also gave lessons, the circle grew. Among others, Clara Westhoff and Paula Becker – who would later marry Otto Modersohn – found their way to Worpswede. The unspoilt, flat landscape with its distinctive light conditions offered the artists ideal opportunities for their favoured form of plein air painting, through which they turned away from the academic studio tradition, following the French example of the Barbizon School and Impressionism. Rainer Maria Rilke also lived in Worpswede for a time. In the village on the moor, he found the simplicity he had longed for – and in Clara Westhoff, his future wife. The joint participation of the Worpswede artists’ circle in the 1895 Munich Annual Exhibition of Artists from All Nations, held at the Munich Glaspalast, brought the Worpswede artists to the public’s attention; they were soon to become among the best-known practitioners of naturalist painting in Germany. Provenance: - Private ownership, Baden-Württemberg; acquired from Galerie Cohrs-Zirus, Worpswede, 1996. Exhibition: Commemorative exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of Fritz Mackensen’s birth, Bremen, 27th March–22nd May 1966, cat. no. 39. Estimated shipping costs for this lot: Inland: 63.03 Euro plus 11.98 Euro VAT EU: 75.63 Euro plus 14.37 Euro VAT Third country: 121.85 Euro plus 23.15 Euro VAT additional shipping insurance Shipping insurance up to total invoice amount of 25,000 Euros: max. 41.65 Euro over a total invoice amount of 25,000 Euros: 1.8 o/oo USA by individual arrangement after the auction. #Fritz Mackensen #Karlsruher Malerschule #Germany #1. H. 20th C. #Landscape #Worpswede #Paintings.