Max Liebermann (1847-1935)
Lot 182

Max Liebermann (1847-1935)

Kind, auf einem Esel reitend

Closed21 June 2018

Price Realised

GBP 50,000

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Max Liebermann (1847-1935)
Kind, auf einem Esel reitend
signed 'Liebermann' (lower left)
pastel and charcoal on paper
23 1/2 x 30 1/4 in. (59.8 x 76.8 cm.)
Executed circa 1901

(Possibly Mrs T. Lessing, Berlin.)
Werner David, Berlin, by whom probably acquired in Berlin before 1930, and thence by descent to the previous owner.

Specialist note

Dr Margreet Nouwen will include this work in her forthcoming Liebermann catalogue raisonné of pastels, watercolours and gouaches.

Kind, auf einem Esel reitend was probably executed en plein air on the Dutch coast at Scheveningen on the Dutch coast, where the artist had spent an extended sojourn during the summer of 1900. Inspired by the busy play of life that filled the beaches of this fashionable resort, Liebermann executed numerous drawings and paintings during his stay, which were then further developed in the artist’s studio upon his return to Berlin.

Writing to a friend shortly after his return from Scheveningen, Liebermann explained that this trip had heralded a distinctive shift in his art: ‘I have entered a new phase: during the three months in which I was in Holland, I’ve shed my skin again, I’m painting horses and naked women’ (Liebermann, quoted in B.C. Gilbert, exh. cat., Max Liebermann: From Realism to Impressionism, Los Angeles & New York, 2006, p. 209).