50 - Max Slevogt

Max Slevogt Weinlese in der Pfalz 1918 Oil on canvas. 65.2 x 88.3 cm. Framed. Signed and dated 'Slevogt 1918' in black lower left. Inscribed "Besitzer Dr. Otto Jordan, Mannheim [...] 54" on folded canvas verso. - Very good, colour-fresh condition. Minor frame-related abrasions, minor paint loss on the left. Imiela 1968, S. 420, Anm. 4 We would like to thank Karoline Feulner, Max Slevogt-Forschungszentrum, GDKE, Landesmuseum Mainz, for additional information. We would like to thank Bernhard Geil for affirmative and additional information. Provenance Galerie Thannhauser, Munich (1922); Irma Scharff Collection, Munich (since at least 1924); Dr. Otto Jordan Collection, Munich (1954?); thenceforth, family ownership, South Germany Exhibitions Munich 1922 (Moderne Galerie Thannhauser), Max Slevogt, cat. no. 29, with illus.; Munich 1924 (Neue Staatsgalerie), Deutsche Malerei in den letzten fünfzig Jahren. Ausstellung von Meisterwerken aus öffentlichem und privatem Besitz, p. 37, cat. no. 235; Pittsburgh 1926 (Carnegie Institute), 24th Exhibition of Paintings, cat. no. 353; Saint Louis 1926 (City Art Museum), Foreign Section of the 24th International Exhibition of Paintings at Carnegie Institute, p. 68, cat. no. 291; Berlin 1927 (Moderne Galerie Thannhauser), Eröffnungskatalog der Modernen Galerie Thannhauser, cat. no. 313, illus. p. 137; Berlin 1928 (Preußische Akademie der Künste), Max Slevogt. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Pastelle, Zeichnungen zu seinem 60. Geburtstage ausgestellt, cat. no. 128 Literature Wilken von Alten, Max Slevogt, Bielefeld/Leipzig 1926, p. 67, with col.illus.; Ewalt Skulima, Max Slevogt malt die Pfalz, in: Das neue Kunstarchiv, Bd. 2, hg. von der Pfälzer Künstlergenossenschaft, Speyer 1970, without p. (as "Mädchen mit roter Bluse") There is scarcely another German impressionist who was as gifted a landscape painter as Max Slevogt. Beginning with images of nature primarily depicted in dark tones in keeping with the School of Munich, landscape painting became a more and more important and sometimes very personal theme for Slevogt from 1909, when he started finding success with his thematic compositions and portraits in Berlin. In October 1914, only a few months after returning from his productive journey to Egypt, Slevogt went to the western front in Belgium and northern France as a military artist. Completely shocked by his experiences on the front, he came back after just three weeks and sought refuge on his Neukastel estate, which he had purchased from the family of his wife when they found themselves in financial difficulties. Set within marvellous surroundings, the castle-like complex became a place of refuge and a new home offering an abundance of motifs. In this landscape, “Weinlese in der Pfalz”, from 1918, he has selected a southward view from Neukastel into the Leinsweiler valley and thematised the work of the grape harvest so typical of the Palatinate. During the years of the First World War, these landscapes became a deeply felt expression of an alternative world in which people lived in harmony with nature. Depressed by the horrors of the war, Slevogt simultaneously gathered strength to resist death and destruction as he painted. In our painting, which is among the most beautiful landscape paintings from this period, the depicted view extends out from Neukastel across the autumnal colours of the vineyard and down into the valley with the recognisable roofs of its houses before wandering back up the meadows and slopes of the Hämmelsberg. A spirited palette featuring shades of green, yellow and brown defines this autumnal image. The splendidly painted Palatinate woman on the right serves as a repoussoir figure and gazes into the distance, full of hope for better years to come.