6163 - Büchsel, Elisabeth

Büchsel, Elisabeth Self-Portrait of the Artist Reading Gerhart Hauptmann. Oil on canvas. 100 x 80 cm. Signed “E. Büchsel” lower right; inscribed “Elisabeth liest G. Hauptmann” in gray pencil on the back of the stretcher. Completely absorbed in Gerhart Hauptmann’s book, the artist depicts herself sitting in a room in front of a mirror. The light streaming through the light-colored curtain accentuates the contours of her head and upper body and casts delicate highlights on her skin, creating a wonderful contrast to her pale blue blouse. Using a three-dimensional, impasto-like application of paint, Büchsel defines the simple interior, which appears as a place of tranquility. The names Gerhart Hauptmann and Elisabeth Büchsel are both closely associated with the island of Hiddensee. After completing her training in Berlin—under Walter Leistikow, among others—and in Paris and Munich, Büchsel began visiting Hiddensee regularly starting in 1904; she painted primarily there, as well as on Rügen, in Stralsund, and the surrounding area. Hauptmann, for his part, took his honeymoon to Rügen in 1886 at the age of 23 and also made his way over to Hiddensee; from the 1920s onward, he spent his family vacations there. In 1929, he purchased the “Seedorn” house in Kloster and spent every summer on the island with his wife Margarete until 1943. Elisabeth Büchsel occasionally attended Gerhart Hauptmann’s evening gatherings (see Kasten 2021, p. 84). Lit.: Dorina Kasten: Elisabeth Büchsel. Images of a Beautiful, Strong Life, Leipzig 2021, p. 129, no. 52 with ill. on p. 52. - Please ask for condition reports for the lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.