1473 - Erich Heckel (1883, Döbeln – 1970, Radolfzell)

Erich Heckel (1883, Döbeln – 1970, Radolfzell) "Flowers." Original title In 1918, while World War I was still raging, Heckel painted these "Flowers" along with the painting "Yellow Still Life" (cat. no. Hüneke 1918-15), which is closely related in subject, style, composition, and technique. The circumstances under which this work was created are of crucial importance for its interpretation. From 1905 until its dissolution in 1913, Heckel was a member of the artists’ group “Die Brücke,” which also included Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Mueller, Max Pechstein, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. In 1913, Heckel held his first solo exhibition at the Fritz Gurlitt Gallery in Berlin. That same year, he began a lifelong friendship with the young art historian and collector Walter Kaesbach, a relationship that would soon prove to be a lifesaver for Heckel and a boon to his artistic career. Amid the general patriotic fervor of World War I, Heckel also enlisted as a volunteer in 1914. Deemed unfit for frontline service, he instead began training with the Red Cross in Berlin. In March 1915, Heckel was very fortunate to be transferred to Flanders to serve in a medical unit at the Ostend casualty collection center under Kaesbach’s leadership. Kaesbach also spared Max Beckmann, Otto Herbig, Max Kaus, Anton Kerschbaumer, and Heinrich Nauen from the front lines. In addition to their medical service, which involved a relatively light workload, these painters were able to continue their artistic work. In May 1916, Heckel even took over command of the medical unit from Kaesbach. In addition to landscapes and figure paintings, Heckel also created floral still lifes there during World War I, such as the one presented here: On a table covered with a tablecloth, Heckel has placed three glass vases, carafes, or bottles and arranged yellow, dark blue, and violet meadow and garden flowers within them. Heckel contrasts the horrors of war with the beauty and delicacy of the flowers and the luminous transparency of the glass. At the same time, an intensely luminous, partly complementary interplay of colors unfolds against the yellow-green wall in the background. Although the flowers are ephemeral phenomena in their transience and vulnerability, Heckel succeeds in preserving them through art. Especially in such times of external threat, it was evidently important for Heckel to turn to the timeless theme of the floral still life. Due to the war, he used a simple, readily available striped canvas as his painting surface; however, something else contributes significantly to the painting’s effect—the technique. With the outbreak of World War I, Heckel switched from oil paints to tempera in his paintings. He continued to use this technique until around 1919/1920. Heckel used tempera paints he prepared himself—so-called “World War I tempera” made from casein—but he also experimented with glue paints and egg tempera. It can be assumed that the change in technique was primarily due to the difficulty during wartime of obtaining commercially available painting materials, particularly oil paints. Shortly after its creation, Heckel exhibited this still life, “Flowers,” in two major solo exhibitions in 1919. Tempera on brown-striped canvas; signed, monogrammed, and dated (19)18 on the reverse. Signed and dated on the reverse. 1918. Titled on the stretcher; original label from the Heckel special exhibition at the Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, 1919. Also includes a label from the Brockstedt Gallery, Hamburg. 70.5 cm x 60.5 cm. Framed. Lit./Exhibitions/Catalog: Kestner-Gesellschaft e. V., “XXII. Special Exhibition. Erich Heckel,” Hanover, Jan. 15–Feb. 25, 1919, no. 58; “Erich Heckel,” Kunstsalon Ludwig Schames, Frankfurt am Main, April 1919, no. 41; Paul Vogt: “Erich Heckel,” Recklinghausen 1965, catalog no. 1918-16 (unillustrated, erroneously listed as “destroyed”); Andreas Hüneke: “Erich Heckel. Catalog Raisonné of Paintings, Murals, and Sculptures," Vol. I (1904–1918), Munich 2017, Cat. No. 1918-14 (with color illustration), p. 356. Provenance: Regensburger Collection, Frankfurt am Main; Galerie Nova, Brussels; Arthur Tommelein Collection, Brussels (1956; died 1981); Auction “Impressionist & Modern Paintings and Sculpture—Part II,” Sotheby’s, London, March 29, 1984, Lot 554; Galerie Koch, Hanover (1986), exhibition catalog “Flowers and Gardens," p. 27; private collection in Lower Saxony; Brockstedt Gallery, Hamburg (1994); Schlichtenmaier Gallery, Dätzingen Castle, Grafenau (1996). Tempera on canvas. Monogrammed and dated (19)18. Signed and dated 1918 on the reverse, titled on the canvas stretcher. Shown in the special exhibition “Erich Heckel” at the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hanover in 1919 (with original label). Additional label from Galerie Brockstedt, Hamburg (1994).