Max Liebermann (1847-1935)

Liebermann had arrived in the Netherlands from his Paris travels and his first trip to England, together with friend Hugo von Tschudi, art collector and newly appointed director of the Nationalgalerie in Berlin. From Zandvoort he came to Laren, where he painted various works such as Innere einer Weberei or Sonntagnachmittag in Laren, proclaiming the inspiring nature of the landscape of the region and its village life. The works executed at that time in Laren almost seem to be reminiscences from the artist’s earlier days.
He often directly copied natural elements from his surroundings onto the canvas, in contrast to figures and movement which he worked in various studies before adding them to a work. He would follow the townsfolk around with his sketchbook in one hand and charcoal stick or a pencil in the other, capturing the physiology and gestures as accurately as possible.
Bauer mit Kuh shows an old farmer, back towards the viewer as he watches his cow grazing. The landscape and bushes only vaguely indicate the location, whereas the man’s clothing and posture, as well as the captured movement of the cow have been carefully observed and elaborated.

For almost 40 years this painting was part of the Max Cassirer collection, who acquired the work from his nephew Paul Cassirer, a reputable art collector in Berlin before the Second World War. Max Cassirer himself, who grew up in Silesia, was an important businessman, later magistrate and honorary citizen of Charlottenburg in Berlin. He supported and enabled numerous social, cultural and artistic projects, such as schools, family foundations, and monuments such as the Entenbrunnen in front of the Rennaissance-Theatre in Berlin. In 1936, Cassirer lent the work Bauer mit Kuh to the Jewish Museum in Berlin for a memorial exhibition (no. 29), and in 1937 to a dedicated Max Liebermann exhibition at the Neue Galerie in Vienna, which presumably was the last time that this work was shown to the public.