Hermann Max Pechstein

Hermann Max Pechstein Self-portrait, lying 1909 Oil on canvas. 73,5 x 98,5 cm. Framed. Upper left monogrammed in brown 'HMP' (ligatured). - In good, freshly colored condition. Partially weak craquelé. Soika 1909/55 Provenance Collection Dr. med. W. Blank, Cologne; Rhenish private collection in third generation Exhibitions Königsberg 1914; Berlin 1959 (Hochschule für bildende Künste in association with the Nationalgalerie der Ehemals Staatlichen Museen), Der junge Pechstein. Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings, cat. No. 57 with color illustrations; Bonn 1965 (Rheinisches Landesmuseum), Expressionismus aus rheinischem Privatbesitz, cat. No. 36, with full-page color ill. p. 41; Frankfurt am Main/Hamburg 1966 (Frankfurter Kunstverein/Kunstverein in Hamburg), Vom Impressionismus zum Bauhaus. Masterpieces from German Private Collections, cat. No. 65, with ill.; Paris/Munich 1966 (Musée National d'Art Moderne/Haus der Kunst), Le Fauvisme francais et les débuts de l'Expressionisme allemand/The French Fauvism and German Early Expressionism, cat. No. 258, with ill. p. 342 (on stretcher twice with exhibition label); Düsseldorf 1967 (Kunsthalle), Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts aus rheinisch-westfälischem Privatbesitz. Painting, sculpture, hand drawing, cat. No. 278 with fig. 32; Schaffhausen/Bonn 1972 (Museum zu Allerheiligen/Rheinisches Landesmuseum), Die Künstler der "Brücke," cat. No. 153, with color ill. plate 17; Braunschweig/Kaiserslautern 1982 (Kunstverein/Pfalzgalerie), Max Pechstein, color ill. p. 51; Berlin/Tübingen/Kiel 1996/97 (Brücke-Museum/Kunsthalle Tübingen/Kunsthalle zu Kiel), Max Pechstein. His Painterly Work, cat. No. 35 with color ill. Literature Robert Breuer, Max Pechstein - Berlin, in: Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, vol. 29, October 1911 - March 1912, issue 6, pp. 423-431, with ill. p. 429; Walther Heymann, Max Pechstein, Munich 1916, with ill. p. 7; Max Osborn, Max Pechstein, Berlin 1922, p. 168; Jean Leymarie/Ewald Rathke, L'espressionismo e il fauvismo. Parte seconda, volumi 8 (L'Arte Moderna), Milan 1967, color illus. p. 129; Diether Schmidt, Ich war, ich bin, ich werde sein! Selbstbildnisse deutscher Künstler des 20. Jahrhunderts, Berlin (Ost) 1968, p. 270, color ill. plate 9; Ewald Rathke, L'Espressionismo, Milan 1970, p. 55 with ill.; Braunschweiger Zeitung, 20.3.1982, exhibition review, with ill.; Andreas Andermatten, Max Pechstein, in: Pan, 1985, issue 6, pp. 4-21, with color ill. on cover; Ewald Rathke, Expressionismus von Paul Gauguin bis Oskar Kokoschka, Herrsching 1988, with color ill. 29; Andreas Hüneke, Zweierlei Augen - Ein Deutungsvorschlag, in: Magdalena Moeller (ed.), Schmidt-Rottluff. Druckgraphik, Munich 2001, with ill. p. 44; Roman Zieglgänsberger, "Es war immer dieselbe Pfeife". Max Pechstein in his Self-Portraits, in Max Pechstein. Künstler der Moderne, exh. Cat. Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg 2017, pp. 167-170. With the "Self-Portrait, Lying," the most important self-portrait by Hermann Max Pechstein is offered. It dates from a period that is generally considered his best creative phase - a high point of German Expressionism. Painted energetically with bright colors, "Self-Portrait, Lying" from 1909 is the earliest and probably the highest quality self-portrait by Max Pechstein. Until then, the artist had only depicted himself in two small woodcuts of a private character. Here, however, he presents himself confidently in full figure and filling the entire picture format, in a completely unconventional manner. Lying on a green background, he props himself up on one elbow while the other outstretched arm holds the brush to paint on the canvas just protruding into the picture. This extraordinary self-portrait of museum quality is captivating in its choice of complementary color contrasts of red-green and blue-yellow, with which Pechstein achieves maximum luminosity and a confident presence. The strong colors are accompanied by the painter's direct, almost challenging gaze. Pechstein, who in 1909 was on the threshold of his artistic breakthrough, looks confidently into his own future. The year 1909 was a time marked by trend-setting changes for the artist. The young painter was 28 years old at the time of his creation, had been living in Berlin since mid-1908, and was initially still largely penniless. The spring exhibition of the Berlin Secession therefore became a milestone for him, where he was represented with three paintings and was able to sell two of them. "The ice was broken, and my art, later called 'Expressionism' by art scholars, had gained the beginning of the road," he wrote retrospectively (quoted in Aya Soika, Max Pechstein. Das Werkverzeichnis der Ölgemälde, vol. 1, Munich 2011, p. 13). The proceeds from the sale enabled Pechstein to spend his first summer on the Baltic Sea in the fishing village of Nidden on the Curonian Spit, where he stayed from late June to