Lot Essay
Orientalische Frauen is a prime example of Macke's interest not only in the Orient, which led to his celebrated visit to Tunis in April 1914 with Paul Klee and Louis Moilliet, but also his acute awareness of developments in French painting, particularly in the work of artists such as Henri Matisse and Robert Delaunay.
Of all the Expressionists, Macke was the most indebted to France. Between 1907 and 1909 Macke made several crucial visits to Paris. After a journey to Italy in 1905 and another through Belgium, Holland and England in 1906, Macke first visited Paris in 1907 when he spent the summer there. This gave him the opportunity to see great Impressionist paintings at first hand as well as to familiarize himself with the extraordinary colourist experiments of the French avant-garde. After attending Lovis Corinth's painting Academy for a year he returned to Paris in 1908 with his patron Bernard Koehler and again in 1909 when he saw the work of the Fauve painters for the first time. The impact on Macke's painting was immediate. The success of Fauves gave Macke the the courage to experiment further with explosive pigments and flat prismatic planes of colour. In 1912 Macke made a final decisive visit to Paris with his close friend Franz Marc. The purpose of this visit was to see Robert Delaunay. Here they saw Delaunay's orphic window pictures and the impact of the style of both painters was immediate. Orientalische Frauen was painted in the year of this visit.
By the time Macke first visited Paris, in 1907, French interest in Orientalism had taken on a new lease of life, lead by the Societé des Peintres Orientalistes Français which had been founded in 1893. Members of the society, which held retrospective exhibitions of the works of earlier Orientalists, included Emile Bernard, Etienne Dinet, Paul Leroy, Albert Lebourg and Auguste-Pierre Renoir - the latter two having both visited Algeria. Discussing the history of France's interest in Orientalism, Thornton explains, "The passion for Eygptology at the end of the eighteenth-century, the founding of schools of Oriental studies and, most importantly, Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition to Eygpt in 1798, brought the East into public view ... The taking of Algiers by the French in 1830 and Delacroix's famous journey to Morocco in 1832 all helped open wide the doors to hundreds of artists who were to make the journey to the Orient ... Orientalism, with its scenes of opulence, exoticism, savagery and sensuality, offered an exciting escape from convention bound society". (L. Thornton, The Orientalists, Painter-Travellers, Paris, 1994, pp. 5-13).
Orientalische Frauen bears a striking resemblance to Delacroix's Femmes d'Alger dans leur apartement (Johnson no. 356) of 1834, painted after his visit to Morocco and Algiers in 1832 (fig. 2). As this celebrated painting has been housed in the Musée du Louvre, Paris since November 1874 (RF3824) it is more than possible that Macke studied it in the museum during one of his visits to the French capital, even if it was unknown to him through reproductions. Both paintings exude an atmosphere of sensuality and luxury.
It is hardly surprising that in May 1910 Macke made the trip from the Tegernsee, where he lived with his wife Elizabeth for a year, to visit a monumental exhibition of Oriental art, Meisterwerke Muhammedanischer Kunst held on the Theresienhöhe in Munich between May and October 1910. He mentioned his trip to Franz Marc in a letter dated 17 May 1910: "Donnerstag morgen 10 Uhr 4 bin ich in München H. B. Dann Glyptothek, Sezession, Thannhäuser. Zwischen 12 und 1/2 2 Paulanerbräu. Dann Mohammedanische Ausstellung" (see E.-G. Güse, 9 Gemälde des Deutschen Expressionismus, exh. cat., Munich, 1995, p. 90).
This remarkable exhibition, the first of its kind ever held and on a monumental scale, included some 3,600 works ranging from ceramics, tapestries, miniatures, metal work, glassware and textiles. Lenders to the exhibition included such dignitaries as the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of Russia, Prince Luitpold of Bavaria and Prince Johann Georg of Saxony. A three volume catalogue of the exhibition was published in 1912, incorporating over two hundred and fifty plates (see fig. 4).
Given Macke's interest in the work of Matisse, it is interesting to note that the importance of the 1910 exhibition was such that Matisse himself travelled to Munich to see the exhibition with Albert Marquet. "He and Marquet were met by [Hans] Purrmann at Strasbourg and the three of them reached Munich during the last days of the show. Matisse was by then deeply interested in New Eastern art so that he studied the exhibition intensively, especially the rugs and acquamaniles, and bought many postcards and photographs of miniatures and metalwork" (according to letters dated 20 September 1950, 3 March 1951 and 1 July 1951 written by Hans Purrmann to Alfred H. Barr Jnr, see A. H. Barr Jr, Matisse, His Art and His Public, New York, 1966, pp. 109 & 535). Gaston Diehl later wrote that Matisse often recalled "that extraordinary exhibition at Munich".
Two leading painters of France and Germany can therefore be seen to have been dramatically influenced by the same exhibition. Both had a great love for the Orient and painted several pictures of Algerian and Tunisian subjects during this period (see fig. 5). As Lynne Thornton comments "Islamic art would...have an enormous impact on early twentieth-century painters, including August Macke, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse and Paul Klee; after decades of playing the role of a decorative accessory in pictures, it would instead by laying the base for abstract painting' (op. cit., p. 16). The impact of the Munich exhibition is sure to have played a part in prompting Macke's trip to Tunis with Klee and Moilliet in 1914, which finally gave him the opportunity to experience the Orient at first hand.
Orientalische Frauen previously belonged to the German industrialist Emil Bührle (1890-1956), who amassed one of the world's leading collections of impressionist and modern art. The collection included masterpieces by artists such as Manet, Degas, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec and Matisse, and is now housed in the Foundation E. G. Bührle, Zurich. In this context one can assume that Bührle was attracted to Orientalische Frauen not only because of its significance within Macke's oeuvre but also because of its intimate relationship with early twentieth-century French art. Bürhle was to acquire two other major German paintings, by Macke's friend Franz Marc: Der Weisse Hund (L. 170) and Stute mit Fohlen (L. 191) both of 1912.
We are grateful to Christian Bührle for his assistance in researching this work.
Of all the Expressionists, Macke was the most indebted to France. Between 1907 and 1909 Macke made several crucial visits to Paris. After a journey to Italy in 1905 and another through Belgium, Holland and England in 1906, Macke first visited Paris in 1907 when he spent the summer there. This gave him the opportunity to see great Impressionist paintings at first hand as well as to familiarize himself with the extraordinary colourist experiments of the French avant-garde. After attending Lovis Corinth's painting Academy for a year he returned to Paris in 1908 with his patron Bernard Koehler and again in 1909 when he saw the work of the Fauve painters for the first time. The impact on Macke's painting was immediate. The success of Fauves gave Macke the the courage to experiment further with explosive pigments and flat prismatic planes of colour. In 1912 Macke made a final decisive visit to Paris with his close friend Franz Marc. The purpose of this visit was to see Robert Delaunay. Here they saw Delaunay's orphic window pictures and the impact of the style of both painters was immediate. Orientalische Frauen was painted in the year of this visit.
By the time Macke first visited Paris, in 1907, French interest in Orientalism had taken on a new lease of life, lead by the Societé des Peintres Orientalistes Français which had been founded in 1893. Members of the society, which held retrospective exhibitions of the works of earlier Orientalists, included Emile Bernard, Etienne Dinet, Paul Leroy, Albert Lebourg and Auguste-Pierre Renoir - the latter two having both visited Algeria. Discussing the history of France's interest in Orientalism, Thornton explains, "The passion for Eygptology at the end of the eighteenth-century, the founding of schools of Oriental studies and, most importantly, Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition to Eygpt in 1798, brought the East into public view ... The taking of Algiers by the French in 1830 and Delacroix's famous journey to Morocco in 1832 all helped open wide the doors to hundreds of artists who were to make the journey to the Orient ... Orientalism, with its scenes of opulence, exoticism, savagery and sensuality, offered an exciting escape from convention bound society". (L. Thornton, The Orientalists, Painter-Travellers, Paris, 1994, pp. 5-13).
Orientalische Frauen bears a striking resemblance to Delacroix's Femmes d'Alger dans leur apartement (Johnson no. 356) of 1834, painted after his visit to Morocco and Algiers in 1832 (fig. 2). As this celebrated painting has been housed in the Musée du Louvre, Paris since November 1874 (RF3824) it is more than possible that Macke studied it in the museum during one of his visits to the French capital, even if it was unknown to him through reproductions. Both paintings exude an atmosphere of sensuality and luxury.
It is hardly surprising that in May 1910 Macke made the trip from the Tegernsee, where he lived with his wife Elizabeth for a year, to visit a monumental exhibition of Oriental art, Meisterwerke Muhammedanischer Kunst held on the Theresienhöhe in Munich between May and October 1910. He mentioned his trip to Franz Marc in a letter dated 17 May 1910: "Donnerstag morgen 10 Uhr 4 bin ich in München H. B. Dann Glyptothek, Sezession, Thannhäuser. Zwischen 12 und 1/2 2 Paulanerbräu. Dann Mohammedanische Ausstellung" (see E.-G. Güse, 9 Gemälde des Deutschen Expressionismus, exh. cat., Munich, 1995, p. 90).
This remarkable exhibition, the first of its kind ever held and on a monumental scale, included some 3,600 works ranging from ceramics, tapestries, miniatures, metal work, glassware and textiles. Lenders to the exhibition included such dignitaries as the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of Russia, Prince Luitpold of Bavaria and Prince Johann Georg of Saxony. A three volume catalogue of the exhibition was published in 1912, incorporating over two hundred and fifty plates (see fig. 4).
Given Macke's interest in the work of Matisse, it is interesting to note that the importance of the 1910 exhibition was such that Matisse himself travelled to Munich to see the exhibition with Albert Marquet. "He and Marquet were met by [Hans] Purrmann at Strasbourg and the three of them reached Munich during the last days of the show. Matisse was by then deeply interested in New Eastern art so that he studied the exhibition intensively, especially the rugs and acquamaniles, and bought many postcards and photographs of miniatures and metalwork" (according to letters dated 20 September 1950, 3 March 1951 and 1 July 1951 written by Hans Purrmann to Alfred H. Barr Jnr, see A. H. Barr Jr, Matisse, His Art and His Public, New York, 1966, pp. 109 & 535). Gaston Diehl later wrote that Matisse often recalled "that extraordinary exhibition at Munich".
Two leading painters of France and Germany can therefore be seen to have been dramatically influenced by the same exhibition. Both had a great love for the Orient and painted several pictures of Algerian and Tunisian subjects during this period (see fig. 5). As Lynne Thornton comments "Islamic art would...have an enormous impact on early twentieth-century painters, including August Macke, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse and Paul Klee; after decades of playing the role of a decorative accessory in pictures, it would instead by laying the base for abstract painting' (op. cit., p. 16). The impact of the Munich exhibition is sure to have played a part in prompting Macke's trip to Tunis with Klee and Moilliet in 1914, which finally gave him the opportunity to experience the Orient at first hand.
Orientalische Frauen previously belonged to the German industrialist Emil Bührle (1890-1956), who amassed one of the world's leading collections of impressionist and modern art. The collection included masterpieces by artists such as Manet, Degas, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec and Matisse, and is now housed in the Foundation E. G. Bührle, Zurich. In this context one can assume that Bührle was attracted to Orientalische Frauen not only because of its significance within Macke's oeuvre but also because of its intimate relationship with early twentieth-century French art. Bürhle was to acquire two other major German paintings, by Macke's friend Franz Marc: Der Weisse Hund (L. 170) and Stute mit Fohlen (L. 191) both of 1912.
We are grateful to Christian Bührle for his assistance in researching this work.