836 - Waldemar Schlichting, seascape with sailing ship on a rough sea, Berlin marine painting

Waldemar Schlichting, seascape with sailing ship on a rough sea, Berlin marine painting Oil/canvas, signed 'W. Schlichting' lower left. Wide seascape: across a deep blue sea moving in short white crests a schooner under full sail steers towards the viewer in the left half of the picture, its pale hull set off against the dark sea. The horizon lies low, above it stands a hazy sky graduated in grey and ochre. The waves are applied in short, impasto strokes, the spray in pure white. Age-appropriate condition, canvas thinned, craquelure, hole in the canvas at upper centre, soiled. Image 30 x 40 cm (HxW). Framed in a gilt decorative frame with ornamental moulding, frame slightly bumped, frame width 7.5 cm. Waldemar Albert Heinrich Schlichting (1896 Berlin – 1970 ibid.) studied at the Koenigsberg Academy and at the Berlin Academy of Arts under Blank, Krause and Kahle; from 1946 he belonged to the Association of Visual Artists of Berlin. From 1925 to 1935 he worked regularly in the artists' colony of Nidden on the Curonian Spit, and for a time lived on Sylt. His marine painting lives on balanced compositions with atmospheric handling of light and shade; besides depictions of ships he painted above all dune and surf motifs. Works by him are held in the museums of Cuxhaven and Schwerin.