Sale: 468 / Modern Art I, June 09. 2018 in Munich Lot 720

 

720
Lovis Corinth
Luzerner See am Vormittag, 1924.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 300,000 / $ 324,000
Sold:
€ 375,000 / $ 405,000

(incl. surcharge)
Luzerner See am Vormittag. 1924.
Oil on canvas.
Berend-Corinth 950. Signed and dated in lower left. 62.5 x 75.8 cm (24.6 x 29.8 in).

One of just two views of Lake Lucerne that Corinth made in 1924. The other painting "Luzerner See am Nachmittag" is part of the collection of the Kunsthalle Hamburg.

PROVENANCE: Charlotte Behrend-Corinth (1925).
Munich, Bavarian State Painting Collections (1925-1937, acquired from aforementioned).
Public ownership (1937-1941).
Lucerne, Galerie Fischer, Paintings and Sculptures of Modern Masters from German Museums, auction on June 30, 1939, lot 22 (offer).
Hildebrand Gurlitt, Hamburg (acquired through an exchange in 1941).
Collection Walter Franz, Cologne.
Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne, Collection Walter Franz, June 2 and 4, 1984, auction 600, lot 223 (from aforementioned collection).
Private collection Germany.
Galerie Thomas, Munich (with label on frame).
Formerly in private collection Rudolf Leopold, Vienna.

EXHIBITION: Lovis Corinth. Commemorative Exhibition, Galerie Caspari, Munich, October - November 1925, cat. no. 24.
Internationale Kunstausstellung, Kunsthaus Zürich, May - June 1925, no. 82.
Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1926.
Lovis Corinth, Kunsthalle Basel, 1936, no. 76.
Deutsche Impressionisten. Liebermann - Corinth - Slevogt, Museum Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, 1955, cat. no. 99, with illu.
Deutsche Malerei, Volkswagenwerk, Wolfsburg, April - May 1956, no. 34
Lovis Corinth, zum 100. Geburtstag. Nationalgalerie Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg, January - March 1958.
Lovis Corinth. Commemorative Exhibition on occasion of his 100th birthday, May - June 1958.
Lovis Corinth. Commemorative Exhibition, Kunsthalle Basel, September - October 1958., no. 126.
Lovis Corinth, Commemorative Exhibition, Kunstverein Hanover, October - November 1958, no. 111.
Lovis Corinth, Commemorative Exhibition. Paintings: Städtische Galerie; prints: Staatliche Graphische Sammlung; portrait prints: Galerie Gurlitt, July - August 1958, no. 151.
Lovis Corinth, Tate Gallery London, January - February 1959, no. 64
Lovis Corinth, Tate Gallery London, February 20 - May 4, 1997, cat. no. 171 (verso with the label).

LITERATURE: www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/e/db_entart_kunst/datenbank (Nr. 15477).
"Later I saw two [..] pictures of Lake Lucerne that were so strong and clear and merry as if they were just one picture by Corinth."
Cuno Amiet, 1960, quote from: L. Corinth. Eine Dokumentation, Tübingen 1979, p. 316

While Lovis Corinth was staying in Switzerland with his family in the summer of 1924 he only made two views of Lake Lucerne: this glistening painting of the lake in the morning and the work "Luzerner See am Nachmittag" (Lake Lucerne in the Afternoon), today part of the collection of the Kunsthalle Hamburg. In a letter to Corinth's son Thomas from 1960 the Swiss painter Cuno Amiet noted down in retrospect of Corinth's visit to his studio and the context of the origin of these two significant works as follows: "[.] When I suggested our dear guests to stay until the next day Corinth refused energetically and wanted to return to Lucerne that evening, in order to make a long-planned painting of the landscape. Later I saw two landscapes, or rather pictures of Lake Lucerne, that were so fresh, lush, clear and merry as if they were just one picture." (Quote from: L. Corinth. Eine Dokumentation, Tübingen 1979, p. 316.). Contrary to Corinth's Alpine landscapes of Lake Walchen, made between 1919 and 1924 on summer stays at his house in Urfeld, the two views of Lake Lucerne are literally bathed in the blue of lake, sky and mountains, pushing the green color of the surrounding landscape aside. The picture solely lives on the vigorously applied shades of blue, white and red, which unfold an impressive landscape scenery in front of the observer's eyes that is characterized by a glistening light, an early morning view, deserted and in expectation of dawn. Lovis Corinth, longtime president of the Berlin Secession, died of pneumonia during a trip through the Netherlands one year after this work was made and was buried in Stahnsdorf near Berlin. Today Lovis Corinth is acknowledged as a master of Modernism, his works are part of many acclaimed public collections, such as the Bavarian State Painting Collection in Munich, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, the Kunstmuseum Basel and the Nationalgalerie, Berlin. [JS]



720
Lovis Corinth
Luzerner See am Vormittag, 1924.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 300,000 / $ 324,000
Sold:
€ 375,000 / $ 405,000

(incl. surcharge)