Cellospieler (Professor Dr Erwin Freundlich)

Details

Hermann Max Pechstein (1881-1955)
Cellospieler (Professor Dr Erwin Freundlich)
signed with the initials and dated 'HMP 1919' (upper left)
oil on canvas
39¾ x 32½ in. (101 x 82.4 cm.)
Painted in 1919

Provenance

Kate Freundlich, the sitter's widow.
Acquired from the estate of the above by the present owner in 1974.

Exhibited

Berlin, Kunstausstellung Berlin 1919 im Landesausstellungsgebúde Berlin, July - September 1919, no. 1229, p. 72.
Düsseldorf, Grosse Kunstausstellung Düsseldorf 1920, 1920, no. 1014 (illustrated p. 72, titled 'Bildnis Dr.E.F.F.').
Berlin, Brücke-Museum, Max Pechstein, Sein malerisches Werk, September 1996 - January 1997, no. 114 (illustrated in the catalogue); this exhibition later travelled to Tübingen, Kunsthalle and Kunsthalle zu Kiel.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The astronomer Professor Dr Erwin Finlay Freundlich (1885-1964) was the Director of the Astrophysical Observatory at the Albert Einstein Institute in Potsdam. He designed the Einsteinturm, often known as the 'main example for architectural expressionism', in collaboration with the famous architect Erich Mendelsohn (1887-1953), between 1919 and 1924. During the Second World War, Professor Dr Freundlich emigrated to Scotland, where he pursued his work at the Observatory of St Andrews University.
A very close friend of Pechstein's, the latter executed several portraits of Freundlich from 1933 onwards in various media, including paintings, drawings and woodcuts.

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