Philipp Bauknecht

Philipp Bauknecht Hirtenkinder Pre 1924 Oil on canvas. 80.5 x 70.5 cm. In studio frame. Signed 'PH. BAUKNECHT' lower right in blue and inscribed 'Ph. Bauknecht Stuttgart-Davos (Schweiz)' verso in blue chalk in Sütterlin script. - In fine condition with very vibrant colours. Few surface scratches and rubbings near the stretcher bars professionally retouched. Wazzau/Smid 101 Provenance Gift from the artist's widow Ada Bauknecht to the grandfather of the previous owner, thenceforth family property, the Netherlands Exhibitions Berlin 1924 (Lehrter Bahnhof), Juryfreie Kunstschau Berlin; Stuttgart 1924 (Kunstgebäude am Schlossplatz), Ausstellung Neuer Deutscher Kunst, cat. no. 9; Stuttgart 1928 (Kunsthaus Schaller) (with stretcher label verso, "4069 Ph. Bauknecht Hirtenkinder"); Berlin 1928 (Galerie Möller), Frühjahrsausstellung (with fragmented stretcher label verso); Freiburg 1928 (Kunstverein) Literature Otto Fischer, Die Ausstellung Neuer Deutscher Kunst im Kunstgebäude, in: Kunst und Kultur in Schwaben, Jahrbücher Schwäbischer Kultur vol. I., Stuttgart 1924; p. 81 ff.; Sylvia Laun, Philipp Bauknecht. Leben und Werk, Peter Lang Europäische Hochschulschriften, 1992, p. 46 ff. Having contracted tuberculosis, the German artist and architect Philipp Bauknecht moved to the Swiss spa town of Davos, where he was once again able to dedicate himself to painting after his health improved. His work, which was initially created under the influence of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, was subjected to a stark break through the renewed worsening of his tuberculosis and his relocation from Davos to the farmhouse “In den Büelen” in the secluded Dischma valley in 1920. His contact with the rural population there - with shepherds and farmers - altered his palette, style and understanding of his motifs, and his paintings became more expressive. The enormous chromatic intensity of the pictures created in those years has been muted somewhat in the “Hirtenkinder” in favour of a finer palette in the dry-looking complementary colours of pink-violet, green, blue and orange. It is the blue hour, which causes the mountains and meadows to glow mysteriously, as though with their own inner light. The low-hanging, orange crescent of the moon not only points to early evening as the time of day, it also invests the scene with a poetic atmosphere. With its complementary colour harmonies and seemingly simplistic abbreviations of form, the composition possesses a novelly exotic-looking and powerful presence. Its effect was so remarkable that it was selected by Otto Fischer, director of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, for his pioneering exhibition of 1924 on the present state of German painting. Together with current works by artists like Beckmann, Dix, Grosz, Heckel, Kirchner, Klee, Kokoschka and Schmidt-Rottluff, Bauknecht's “Hirtenkinder” was presented to a wide audience for the first time at the exhibition “Ausstellung Neuer deutscher Kunst” - and other important exhibitions would follow.