2 - Conrad Felixmüller

Conrad Felixmüller Nackte am Meer 1926 Oil on canvas. 65.3 x 91.5 cm. Framed. Signed and dated 'C.Felixmüller, 1926.' in light brown lower left. - In excellent condition with fresh colours. Inconspicuous abraision at the bottom. T. Felixmüller 371 Provenance Galerie Brockstedt, Hamburg (1984); Private collection, Lower Saxony Exhibitions Papenburg 1979 (Städtisches Rathaus), Conrad Felixmüller, cat. no. 2 (as "Frau am Meer"); Hamburg 1984 (Galerie Brockstedt), Conrad Felixmüller. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, cat. no. 16, with colour ill. Literature Cf. for preparatory drawing Christian Rathke (ed.), Conrad Felixmüller. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik, Skulpturen, exh. cat. Schloss Gottorf Schleswig i.a., Neumünster 1990, p. 219, cat. no. 144; Antje Birthälmer, Conrad Felixmüller. Die Dresdner Jahre. Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, exh. cat. Wuppertal/Altenburg, Cologne 1997, p. 86, cat. no. 120 With his first exhibition at Herwarth Walden’s Berlin gallery “Der Sturm” in 1915, the Dresden painter Conrad Felixmüller suddenly became well-known. Following his initial expressionist work, he rapidly developed into one of the leading painters of the New Objectivity. Like many artists of his generation, Felixmüller created life studies from the nude as part of his training at the academy in Dresden. After initially only rarely dealing with this theme, the weeks he spent on vacation in Le Lavandou in the South of France in August 1926 provided him with inspiration and an opportunity to return to painting the nude for the first time. The series of drawings and three paintings he created at that time also includes the work coming up for auction: “Nackte am Meer”. Taking his precise drawing (see comp. ill.) as his starting point, he has interpreted the nude model – probably his wife Londa – lying on the beach directly next to the foamy sea. For the painting, Felixmüller has transformed the sometimes hard lineation of the drawing into a sensitive and soft oil painting, which brings out vividly the well-rounded forms of her body. A select palette in tones of yellow, rose, red and lilac transforms the summery painting into a sensual and simultaneously very natural nude. Contemporary photos document the fact that Felixmüller probably painted directly at the beach, meaning that the reddening of the model’s face in the sun did not escape his attention either. According to his memories of the South of France, “burning hot above it all stood the sun and the radiant blue sky of the South” (cited from: Conrad Felixmüller. Werke und Dokumente, Nuremberg 1982, p. 104).