Magnolienknospe im Krug. Um 1930.
Water-tempera.
Not in Vogt. Barely legible monogrammed lower right. Verso inscribed: "109 Magnolienknospe im Krug" by Helene Rohlfs. On wove paper by Van-Gelder-Zonen (with watermark). 64,8 x 49,5 cm (25,5 x 19,4 in), the full sheet.

Accompanied by a written certificate of authenticity (in copy) issued by the Christian Rohlfs Archive at the Osthaus Museum Hagen, dated 25 September, 2012. The work will be included into the Christian Rohlfs Archive under the number CRA 47/12.

PROVENANCE: Private collection North Rhine-Westphalia (acquired by the parents from the artist's widow in the mid 1960s).

Christian Rohlfs was born in Niendorf in Holstein on 22 December 1849. During a two-year sickbed confinement from 1864-1866 Rohlfs was nursed by a doctor called Stolle, who discovered and supported the painting talent of the boy. At this time, the first drawings came into being. Upon Theodor Storm's suggestion and recommendation, Rohlfs went to Berlin and began his studies of painting at the Großherzogliche Kunstakademie in Weimar in 1870. A leg condition aggravated so badly during the following years that one of his legs was amputated in 1873. His works found approval by the Großherzog von Sachsen-Weimar [Grand Duke of Saxonia-Weimar], who supported him for many years. From 1888 on, an independent stylistic development in parallel to the school of Barbizon and to French Impressionism can be recognised. Through Henry van de Velde Rohlfs got acquainted with the founder of the Folkwang Museum, Karl Ernst Osthaus in Hagen/ Westphalia. In 1901 Rohlfs moved there to run a painting school according to plans by Osthaus - which failed, however. During a summer stay in Soest in 1905, he got acquainted with Emil Nolde. Rohlfs' own tendency of expressive composition corresponded to the beginning Expressionism of the 'Brücke', to which early exhibitions at the Folkwang-museum attended. After his years of study at the academy, Rohlfs' work was formed for twenty years by Impressionism, but at the age of sixty, he found a late expressionistic style. Favouring tempera on canvas and paper, he also created watercolors and prints. Several honours prove the approval of his later works. In 1929 the Christian Rohlfs Museum in Hagen was founded for the artist's 80th birthday.

The water tempera technique, characteristic of Christian Rohlfs' works on paper, adds a very own texture to things. They appear in an almost ethereous easiness and even compact things such as the mug have an air of a deeply symbolic remoteness from reality. The magic of a singly blossom unfolds in front of a diffuse background into which it seems to sink. All seems to be enchanted and hovering in silence, in order effectively unfold its fine-tuned optical perception.

After the Nazis seized power Rohlfs was expelled from the Preußische Kunstakademie der Künste in 1937 and 412 of his paintings were rated 'degenerate' and were removed from German museums. One year later, on 8 January 1938 Christian Rohlfs died in his studio in Hagen. He was remembered as one of the most important representatives of German Expressionism in art history. [KD].