.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Margreet Nouwen, who will include the work in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the pastels, watercolours and gouaches by Max Liebermann.
In a barely furnished room four boys are busy weaving large and coarse wicker baskets. Three of them are sitting on the floor round about at a distance from one another and weaving the willow rods over the frames. The boy bent down in the left corner is probably just making the bottom for a new basket. The boys appear like anonymous minor characters; the two sitting below the window merge literally behind the high looming rods of their unfinished baskets. The bending boy has turned his face away and the one in front who is closer to the viewer, is cut abruptly by the left rim of the picture. The main emphasis is on the still life of the finished baskets moved togeher in the middle of the room, lying on the raw material.
With this pastel drawing of 1901 Liebermann is once again returning to the subject of an oil painting of 1872 (Staatliche Kunsthalle Karslruhe, inv. no. 1530). Erich Hancke, Liebermann's biographer, says the painter found this subject in Holland, in a small village between Katwijk and Leiden (E. Hancke, Max Liebermann - sein Leben und seine Werke, Berlin, 1914, p. 60). It was most likely Oegstgeest or Rijnsburg. This type of basket was used at that time in Holland for crop and fish.
Although the compositon of the pastel shows some similarities with the oil painting from almost 30 years before - four basket makers in a bare room, three of them sitting with their backs to the wall, one bending down - it is clear to see how much Liebermann's look has changed in the meantime: At first he has lowered his point of view as if he is sitting on the floor. Because of that the frames of the half-finished baskets are here looming up to the upper rim of the picture and restoring the composition. Also the willow rods scattered over the floor are much more accentuated by the lower view as in the painting of 1872, where they just appear like stage props. Whereas Liebermann in the painting of 1872 is clearly depicting the different stages in the process of basket making, the pastel concentrates on the light and lighting effects. Although there's a big window at the back, the light seems mainly to shine from a side window beyond the picture. It is casting brilliant reflexions on the skinned willow rods. The blue blouses of the boys are contrasting strongly with the blond yellow of the wickers. Their rhythmic arrangement together with the whirring lighting effects suggests the atmosphere of busy work.
The date of the pastel is based on the date by the painter's own hand. Although Liebermann often made mistakes in dating his own works, it may well be right in this case. In the fourth exhibition of the Berliner Secession, Berlin, winter 1901/02, this work was shown under lot no. 387 as Basket makers. Because the work was for sale, it might have been executed in the summer of 1901. Because there is no further information and two more pastels are known with the same subject from the same period, it is not possible to identify the then exhibited pastel with the present one.
We thank Dr. Margreet Nouwen for her academic contribution.
In a barely furnished room four boys are busy weaving large and coarse wicker baskets. Three of them are sitting on the floor round about at a distance from one another and weaving the willow rods over the frames. The boy bent down in the left corner is probably just making the bottom for a new basket. The boys appear like anonymous minor characters; the two sitting below the window merge literally behind the high looming rods of their unfinished baskets. The bending boy has turned his face away and the one in front who is closer to the viewer, is cut abruptly by the left rim of the picture. The main emphasis is on the still life of the finished baskets moved togeher in the middle of the room, lying on the raw material.
With this pastel drawing of 1901 Liebermann is once again returning to the subject of an oil painting of 1872 (Staatliche Kunsthalle Karslruhe, inv. no. 1530). Erich Hancke, Liebermann's biographer, says the painter found this subject in Holland, in a small village between Katwijk and Leiden (E. Hancke, Max Liebermann - sein Leben und seine Werke, Berlin, 1914, p. 60). It was most likely Oegstgeest or Rijnsburg. This type of basket was used at that time in Holland for crop and fish.
Although the compositon of the pastel shows some similarities with the oil painting from almost 30 years before - four basket makers in a bare room, three of them sitting with their backs to the wall, one bending down - it is clear to see how much Liebermann's look has changed in the meantime: At first he has lowered his point of view as if he is sitting on the floor. Because of that the frames of the half-finished baskets are here looming up to the upper rim of the picture and restoring the composition. Also the willow rods scattered over the floor are much more accentuated by the lower view as in the painting of 1872, where they just appear like stage props. Whereas Liebermann in the painting of 1872 is clearly depicting the different stages in the process of basket making, the pastel concentrates on the light and lighting effects. Although there's a big window at the back, the light seems mainly to shine from a side window beyond the picture. It is casting brilliant reflexions on the skinned willow rods. The blue blouses of the boys are contrasting strongly with the blond yellow of the wickers. Their rhythmic arrangement together with the whirring lighting effects suggests the atmosphere of busy work.
The date of the pastel is based on the date by the painter's own hand. Although Liebermann often made mistakes in dating his own works, it may well be right in this case. In the fourth exhibition of the Berliner Secession, Berlin, winter 1901/02, this work was shown under lot no. 387 as Basket makers. Because the work was for sale, it might have been executed in the summer of 1901. Because there is no further information and two more pastels are known with the same subject from the same period, it is not possible to identify the then exhibited pastel with the present one.
We thank Dr. Margreet Nouwen for her academic contribution.