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拍品專文
In 1917 Isaac Israels embarked on the refurbishment of his late father's studio in the Laan van Roos en Doorn in The Hague. This studio, situated at the back of the family home at the Koninginnegracht (see lot 229), had been used by Isaac, too, when he was a young man, before he moved to Amsterdam in 1886. Twenty years later he felt the room was too dark and he removed the wooden lining that his father had installed to have the walls washed white, allowing the light to fall in directly. The new studio was the start of one of the most fruitful and productive period in the artist's career, bringing forth some of the best works in the oeuvre.
The present painting dates from this very fruitful period when the artist was at the peak of his artistic powers. It depicts a motif, that Israels saw at the The Hague Zoo, which was situated opposite his home on the Koninginnegracht. Depicted is the guard Mr. Ponsen bringing the parrots back to their cages at the end of the day. Israels must have been fascinated upon seeing the flapping of the colourful wings of the parrots and challenged to render this movement in paint. Indeed, in a few effective sweeps of the brush he brilliantly captured the flapping tails of the parrots, while Ponsen is holding their sticks on a sunlit lane in the zoo.
The motif was explored in three other versions, of which one is dated 1917 and the others are thought to have been executed in roughly the same time (see: W. de Vlieger-Moll, op.cit., p. 89). With the two others, the present painting shares the concentration on the guard as a single figure, standing on a sunlit lane against bushes, while in one he is attended by children. It differs from the others, however, in the white parrot, here depicted on a stick above the red bird, while in the others it is sitting on the right shoulder of the guard. Also different in each painting is the position of the birds. Here the parrot on the right is shown while it makes contact with his blue fellow bird in the front.
The motif of the parrotman was first painted by Max Liebermann (1847-1935) in a sketch executed from memory after a visit to the Amsterdam zoo Artis, in 1881 (see: M. Eberle, Max Liebermann 1847-1935. Werkverzeichnis, Munich, 1995, no. 1881/32). In 1901 he took up the motif again in two other sketches, preparatory to his large painting of 1902 (fig. 1, see: M. Eberle, op.cit, no. 1902/6. Collection: Museum Folkwang, Essen), which would bring him instant fame the next year when it was shown at Berliner Kunstausstelling der Secession. Israels knew this painting well, since Liebermann had finished it in his studio in Amsterdam in 1902 and thus must have had it in the back of his mind when he embarked on the motif circa 1917 or shortly before. In his renderings of the subject Israels uses the same colour scheme of red, yellow and blue as Liebermann. Yet, while Liebermann's painting concentrates on the rendering of the light effects and the atmosphere on a wooden lane in summer in the zoo, Israels is challenged to capture the movements of the wings. 'It is as if you hear the parrots yell!' wrote Simon Maris to his colleague Willem Witsen after he had seen the painting, and added that he had recommended the painting to collector Eduard van Dam for his collection of Impressionists (fig. 2).
The Israels and Liebermann families knew each other well. Having seen Liebermann's contributions to the Paris Salon over the years, Jozef's first encounter with him dates from 1881, when both artists met at an exhibition of the Hollandschsche Teekenmaatschappij in The Hague. Subsequently, the families met each year in Scheveningen during the summer. Young Isaac must have been very attracted by Liebermann's subject matter and free painterly style, especially in the years when he was searching for his own style. Indeed, Liebermanns impact runs throughout Isaac's entire oeuvre, from his first maids on the streets of Amsterdam to the views in the Oosterpark, Bois de Boulogne and Rotton Row and the easels on the beach. Yet, it is most evident in the Parrotman, in which Israels shows himself at his best.
The present painting dates from this very fruitful period when the artist was at the peak of his artistic powers. It depicts a motif, that Israels saw at the The Hague Zoo, which was situated opposite his home on the Koninginnegracht. Depicted is the guard Mr. Ponsen bringing the parrots back to their cages at the end of the day. Israels must have been fascinated upon seeing the flapping of the colourful wings of the parrots and challenged to render this movement in paint. Indeed, in a few effective sweeps of the brush he brilliantly captured the flapping tails of the parrots, while Ponsen is holding their sticks on a sunlit lane in the zoo.
The motif was explored in three other versions, of which one is dated 1917 and the others are thought to have been executed in roughly the same time (see: W. de Vlieger-Moll, op.cit., p. 89). With the two others, the present painting shares the concentration on the guard as a single figure, standing on a sunlit lane against bushes, while in one he is attended by children. It differs from the others, however, in the white parrot, here depicted on a stick above the red bird, while in the others it is sitting on the right shoulder of the guard. Also different in each painting is the position of the birds. Here the parrot on the right is shown while it makes contact with his blue fellow bird in the front.
The motif of the parrotman was first painted by Max Liebermann (1847-1935) in a sketch executed from memory after a visit to the Amsterdam zoo Artis, in 1881 (see: M. Eberle, Max Liebermann 1847-1935. Werkverzeichnis, Munich, 1995, no. 1881/32). In 1901 he took up the motif again in two other sketches, preparatory to his large painting of 1902 (fig. 1, see: M. Eberle, op.cit, no. 1902/6. Collection: Museum Folkwang, Essen), which would bring him instant fame the next year when it was shown at Berliner Kunstausstelling der Secession. Israels knew this painting well, since Liebermann had finished it in his studio in Amsterdam in 1902 and thus must have had it in the back of his mind when he embarked on the motif circa 1917 or shortly before. In his renderings of the subject Israels uses the same colour scheme of red, yellow and blue as Liebermann. Yet, while Liebermann's painting concentrates on the rendering of the light effects and the atmosphere on a wooden lane in summer in the zoo, Israels is challenged to capture the movements of the wings. 'It is as if you hear the parrots yell!' wrote Simon Maris to his colleague Willem Witsen after he had seen the painting, and added that he had recommended the painting to collector Eduard van Dam for his collection of Impressionists (fig. 2).
The Israels and Liebermann families knew each other well. Having seen Liebermann's contributions to the Paris Salon over the years, Jozef's first encounter with him dates from 1881, when both artists met at an exhibition of the Hollandschsche Teekenmaatschappij in The Hague. Subsequently, the families met each year in Scheveningen during the summer. Young Isaac must have been very attracted by Liebermann's subject matter and free painterly style, especially in the years when he was searching for his own style. Indeed, Liebermanns impact runs throughout Isaac's entire oeuvre, from his first maids on the streets of Amsterdam to the views in the Oosterpark, Bois de Boulogne and Rotton Row and the easels on the beach. Yet, it is most evident in the Parrotman, in which Israels shows himself at his best.