1280 - ALTENKIRCH, OTTO

ALTENKIRCH, OTTO 1875 Ziesar–1945 Siebenlehn Title: Reinsberger Allee in Early Spring. Date: 1925. Technique: Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 80.5 x 67.5 cm. Notation: Signed lower right: Otto Altenkirch. Reverse: Inscribed on the stretcher: “Alte Landstrasse” (Reinsberger Allee). Otto Altenkirch, Dresden. Also bears the catalog number, written by hand on the stretcher, and the manufacturer’s stamp. Frame: Framed. Otto Altenkirch’s works have been rediscovered by the public and the art market in recent years. Just this year, the Städtische Galerie Dresden staged an impressive exhibition of the artist’s work. Otto Altenkirch, who came from the Brandenburg countryside, began his professional career in Berlin with an apprenticeship as a decorative painter. Beginning in 1899, he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, but in 1902 he moved to the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts with his teacher Eugen Bracht. There, beginning in 1903, Otto Altenkirch became Bracht’s official assistant and gained his first experience exhibiting his work. After completing his studies, Altenkirch remained in Dresden as a freelance artist. In 1910, he was also appointed chief court theater painter there, a position that made him independent of the art market. Otto Altenkirch worked at the theater for ten years; in recognition of his service, he was awarded the title of professor. Alongside this, the artist always found time to produce his own work and participate in exhibitions. In 1920, he moved to the small town of Siebenlehn in Central Saxony, where he devoted himself entirely to landscape painting. The division of Germany meant that Otto Altenkirch’s work was, for decades, primarily appreciated in the former GDR. It is gratifying and fitting that his work now receives the recognition it deserves from a broad, pan-German audience. The painting “Linden Avenue in Reinsberg in Early Spring” from 1925 (Lot 1280) is bathed in the diffuse and artistically intriguing light of a still wintry day. The trees lining the avenue almost completely obscure the sky. The leafless giants stand out against the black sky, but the pale green on the ground already heralds the end of winter. This avenue was a subject the artist explored very intensively for over two decades. Provenance: Private collection, Germany. Exhibition: Kunstsalon Louis Bock & Sohn, Hamburg, August 1926; Kunstgenossenschaftsausstellung Zwickau, December 1925; Kunstsalon Gustav Gerstenberger, Chemnitz, November 1925. Literature: M. Petrasch: Otto Altenkirch 1875–1945. Life and Work, Dresden 2005, p. 271, no. 1925-16-S. Estimated shipping costs for this lot: Domestic: 77.31 euros plus 14.69 euros VAT EU: 100.84 euros plus 19.16 euros VAT Third country: 159.66 euros plus 30.34 euros VAT Additional shipping insurance Shipping insurance up to a total invoice amount of 25,000 euros: max. 41.65 euros over a total invoice amount of 25,000 euros: 1.8 per thousand Shipping to the U.S. by individual arrangement after the auction. #Otto Altenkirch #Berlin School #Post-Impressionism #Germany #First Half of the 20th Century #Landscape #Tree #Paintings.