878 - Erwin Kettemann, Winter Evening near Cortina in the Dolomites with Monte Pomagagnon

Erwin Kettemann, Winter Evening near Cortina in the Dolomites with Monte Pomagagnon Erwin Kettemann (1897 Munich to 1971 Tegernsee). Oil on canvas on a stretcher. Signed lower left „E. Kettemann Mchn.". Inscribed on the reverse on the lower stretcher bar „Winterabend bei Cortina (Dolomiten) m. Pomagagnon". A wide, deeply snow-covered valley basin in the last evening light: in the foreground an open stream winds between high banks of snow, crossed by a narrow footbridge, behind it a snake fence. To the right a farmstead with a snow-covered gable roof, a masonry chimney and a snow-covered woodpile against the wall, surrounded by bare deciduous trees; a group of dark conifers stands at the left in the middle ground. Above the valley rise the jagged rock faces of the mountains, glowing golden yellow against a pale green evening sky with rosy streaks of cloud. Good condition. Image 90x110 cm (HxW). Framed in a gilt stucco moulding with rocaille cartouches and flower swags, the frame overpainted, scuffed and with losses to the stucco, frame width 13 cm Erwin Kettemann is among the best known representatives of Munich landscape painting of the 20th c. He studied at the Munich Academy and later lived on the Tegernsee; his subjects are the Alpine foothills, the Karwendel, the Chiemsee and the Dolomites. The winter landscape in the evening with the last light on the rock faces is his best known subject and appears regularly in auction catalogues under titles such as „Winterabend bei Klais" or „Winterabend bei Zell am See". Monte Pomagagnon is the local mountain to the north of Cortina d'Ampezzo. At 90 by 110 cm the present picture is among the large formats in his oeuvre.