511 - Max Slevogt (1868 Landshut – Neukastel, Palatinate, 1932)

Max Slevogt (1868 Landshut – Neukastel, Palatinate, 1932) Lady in the Garden (Mrs. Slevogt in the Garden in Neukastel) Oil on canvas. (19)21. Approx. 91 x 110.5 cm. Signed and dated lower right. We thank Dr. Karoline Feulner, Mainz, for her helpful insights during the cataloging of this work. • A summery motif from the series of garden paintings created at Slevogt’s country estate in Neukastel • In this series, he develops an emancipated, independent interpretation of Édouard Manet’s famous garden paintings • Slevogt had a decisive influence on German Impressionism Since his youth, Max Slevogt has had a close connection to the Palatinate. During his time at the academy in the 1880s, he maintained close contact with the family of tobacco and cigarette manufacturer Dr. Peter Finkler, whose daughter, Antonie Finkler, he married in 1898. In addition to the villa in Godramstein near Landau, the wealthy family also owned a summer home near Leinsweiler: the Neukastel estate, which was dedicated to viticulture. These two locations in the Palatinate became Slevogt’s second home; in 1914, he acquired the estate, which is known today as the Slevogthof. The charming natural surroundings greatly inspired the painter, resulting in his body of work being characterized by numerous Palatinate landscapes. The painting “Lady in the Garden” was created in 1921 alongside the very similar work “Sunny Garden Corner in Neukastel,” which has been in the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich since 1922 (Inv. No. 9094). Both works are part of a series of summer garden scenes that Slevogt painted in Neukastel. Against the backdrop of a red sandstone wall, we see Nini Slevogt, the artist’s wife, reading on a garden bench. Slevogt composes the scene using numerous diagonal and vertical lines, as well as the semicircular bench and the corresponding round table. With each brushstroke—which appears effortless—and the fluid application of paint, he skillfully captures the sunlight. The bold red-green contrast between the wall and the ground, as well as the plants and the green bench, is softened by the radiance of Nini, dressed entirely in white, and the hollyhock blossoms. With their relaxed, light-filled atmosphere, Slevogt’s garden motifs are reminiscent of Édouard Manet’s garden paintings, which the painter saw in 1903 at the Berlin Secession exhibition and in 1910 at Paul Cassirer’s gallery. Yet Slevogt adds a uniquely familiar and intimate element to his works through the pictorial space bounded at the back by the sandstone wall. Bibliography: Scheffler, Karl, Max Slevogt. With 125 illustrations and 4 color plates, Berlin 1940, b/w ill. p. 80; Imiela, Hans-Jürgen, Max Slevogt. A Monograph, Karlsruhe 1968, p. 438, note 2; Roland, Berthold, Max Slevogt. Palatinate Landscapes, Munich 1991, b/w ill. p. 152. Exhibition: Max Slevogt, Moderne Galerie Thannhauser, Munich 1921/22, no. 34, b/w ill.; Berliner Secession, catalog of the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein 1981, b/w ill. 358, with label on the reverse; Max Slevogt. Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken/Landesmuseum, Mainz 1992, cat. no. 175, color ill.; Max Slevogt. The Berlin Years, Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal/Max Liebermann House, Berlin 2005, cat. no. 43, color ill. p. 107 (“Mrs. Slevogt at the Stone Table”); Max Liebermann and Members of the Berlin Secession. Paintings and Sculptures from the Wolfgang Schuller Collection, Museum Schlösschen im Hofgarten, Wertheim 2010, color ill. p. 111. Provenance: Else Aufricht, Breslau and the U.S., 1930; Paul Cassirer and Hugo Helbing, Berlin, Nov. 14, 1930, Lot 87, unsold; Private collection, Hamburg; Private collection, Baden-Württemberg, acquired from the aforementioned in 1979. Taxation: subject to margin scheme (VAT: Margin Scheme).