Heinrich Campendonk

Heinrich Campendonk Lizard Around 1919 reverse painting on glass. 25 x 30 cm. Framed. Unmarked. - At the left edge of the image tiny color losses, otherwise in perfect condition. Geiger/Bretz 12; Firmenich 860 Provenance Collection Prof. Stefan Waetzoldt, Berlin (until 1961); Collection Gerd Rosen, Berlin; Private collection Berlin Exhibitions Berlin 1961 (National Gallery in the Orangery of Charlottenburg Palace), Der Sturm. Herwarth Walden and the European Avant-Garde Berlin 1912-1932, cat. No. 38 During the winter months of 1911/1912, Heinrich Campendonk became acquainted with the art of reverse painting on glass with representatives of the artists' association "Der Blaue Reiter." It was Gabriele Münter who discovered the popular reverse glass paintings during her stays in the Bavarian town of Murnau and was instructed in this technique by the Murnau master Heinrich Rambold (1872 - 1953). Apart from Münter and Campendonk, Franz Marc also created his first reverse glass paintings. They were all fascinated by working with the unmixed, luminous colors that had to be applied in reverse order to the transparent picture surface. Equally new were the strictly two-dimensional treatment of the motifs and the 'naive' neglect of perspective and proportion. After the end of World War I and after the death of Campendonk's role model and mentor Franz Marc, he resumed reverse glass painting under changed and matured auspices. As it turned out, the intensive work with woodcuts that had taken place in the meantime had been of decisive importance. So Campendonk also created for the offered "Lizard" first a pencil drawing à la Marc and then worked with a graphic template, which he placed under the glass and whose contours he traced with a fine brush. He filled the resulting inland areas with opaque, slightly marbled colors, including various shades of red and a shimmering turquoise, which he further enhanced with small golden scales. In the fine but manageable early work of his glass paintings, the colorful "Lizard" is one of the few works with the sole motif of an animal.