“ Portrait with Apples: The Artist’s Wife ” - ( German: Porträt mit Äpfeln: Frau des Künstlers ) - painting by German artist August Macke , painted in 1909. Currently stored at the Lenbachhaus Gallery ( Munich ).
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| August Macke | ||
| Portrait with apples: Wife of the artist . 1909 | ||
| Porträt mit Äpfeln: Frau des Künstlers | ||
| Oil on canvas . 66 × 59.5 cm | ||
| Lenbachhouse , Munich | ||
Content
- 1 History of creation
- 2 Description
- 3 notes
- 4 Literature
Creation History
On October 5, 1909, Macke married Elizabeth Gerhardt , whom he met in Bonn in 1903 on the way to the gymnasium. Elizabeth, the daughter of a pharmaceutical industrialist, introduced Augustus to her parents' house, where he was soon accepted as a family member. Communication with Elizabeth herself, their long walks around the city and the banks of the Rhine, became an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the young artist. In his sketchbooks, drawings and paintings, the motif of a young couple walking in the lap of nature constantly appeared [1] [2] .
Shortly after the wedding, the newlyweds moved to Lake Tegern , where the artist painted about two hundred paintings [3] . At the end of 1909, he created three portraits of Elizabeth - at that time she was already pregnant - of which “Portrait with apples” was recognized by Macke, and after him the researchers of his work, the most successful. The portrait was exhibited in 1912 at the "International Exhibition [4] " in Cologne. Subsequently, he entered the collection of Bernhard Köhler , Uncle Elizabeth [1] .
Description
According to Elizabeth, Macke built a small podium for posing, and a tablecloth was adapted as a curtain. In order not to get tired at the sessions, Elizabeth posed while sitting on a chair. For her, Macke’s work on the painting became "one of the most beautiful memories" of a sense of ownership, cooperation with the artist, experienced at that time [1] .
The young woman is represented in a frontal spread, slightly shifted to the left. The soft, fluid contours of her hair, a figure, a shawl draped over her shoulders echo the folds of the yellow curtain. Elizabeth does not look directly at the viewer, her eyes slip away, the woman is lost in her thoughts. All colors - white, yellow, brown, blue, red - are dimmed, softened, but against a dull background her figure takes on weight, comes to the fore. The artist focuses on the problem of gradation of light and shadow in the shallow space of a room and the transition from private to general [1] .
Undoubtedly in this case, the influence of the work of Cezanne - Macke borrows the key points of his later paintings, solving his tasks. The composition of the painting repeats the composition of one of the portraits of . Macke had the opportunity to get acquainted with his paintings during his trips to Paris, made sketches with them, studied their reproductions on Tegernsee. A plate with apples in the hands of Elizabeth is another quote from Cezanne, this time from his still life [1] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Moeller, 1988 , S. 76.
- ↑ Vriesen, 1957 , S. 5.
- ↑ Richard L. Encyclopedia of Expressionism. - Moscow: Republic, 2003. - P. 93—96.
- ↑ Sonderbund ( German: Sonderbund Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler ) is a society created in Dusseldorf in 1909 for the interaction of artists, critics, collectors and the public.
Literature
- Moeller, Magdalena M. August Macke. - Köln: DuMont Buchverlag, 1988 .-- ISBN 3-7701-2209-7 .
- Vriesen, Gustav. August Macke. - Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1957.