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Lot Essay
When Max Pechstein created this woodcut, he was a member of the Expressionist artists’ group Die Brucke (The Bridge). Having joined in 1906, he was expelled in 1912 for exhibiting with the more conservative Berlin Secession. Throughout his career, Pechstein pursued his artistic goals independently, sharing the Expressionists’ rebellious attitudes but not their ideological camaraderie.
Hunting the Roast for the Feast partakes of the Expressionists’ interest in primitivism, but the conception is nevertheless uniquely Pechstein’s. In presenting an episode preparatory to an unspecified tribal feast, he simplified the human figure, omitting detail except for rudimentary facial features. The hunter's grip on his bow, in reality impossible, adds to the naive expressiveness of the image. Pechstein’s technique, which exploits the texture of the woodblock, is characteristic of Expressionist printmaking, but he rarely shared the pessimistic viewpoint of his fellow artists. Instead of employing the dissonant angular forms used so effectively by Kirchner, for example, Pechstein created more decorative rhythms. This predilection for the decorative had several sources. First of all, in his youth, Pechstein was apprenticed to a house painter-decorator. Then, on his trip to Paris in 1907, he met the Fauve artists and was strongly affected by Henri Matisse’s art. The bright colors of Hunting the Roast for the Feast may be inspired by the Fauve artists’ color sense.
This print was published in the important German periodical Der Sturm (The Storm). Founded by Herwarth Walden in 1910, it provided the German Expressionists with a vehicle for publishing their graphic and literary productions. Walden, who was later to open a Der Sturm gallery, introduced a broader audience to advanced contemporary art, both German and foreign, through his publication and through the influential exhibitions he organized. Members of Die Brucke such as Kirchner and Nolde had been publishing woodcuts in the magazine since 1911, and Pechstein was, in his turn, to cut many blocks for publication there. It is clear that this image, the first of several cover illustrations he did, was one of the impressions originally intended for Der Sturm, since the magazine's typeset inscription (giving artist, title, and medium) is visible in the bottom margin. It was published in black and white; the festive colors were added later by hand and with the aid of Stencils.
Michael M. Floss, The Modern Art of the Print: Selections from the Collection of Lois and Michael Torf, p. 40
Hunting the Roast for the Feast partakes of the Expressionists’ interest in primitivism, but the conception is nevertheless uniquely Pechstein’s. In presenting an episode preparatory to an unspecified tribal feast, he simplified the human figure, omitting detail except for rudimentary facial features. The hunter's grip on his bow, in reality impossible, adds to the naive expressiveness of the image. Pechstein’s technique, which exploits the texture of the woodblock, is characteristic of Expressionist printmaking, but he rarely shared the pessimistic viewpoint of his fellow artists. Instead of employing the dissonant angular forms used so effectively by Kirchner, for example, Pechstein created more decorative rhythms. This predilection for the decorative had several sources. First of all, in his youth, Pechstein was apprenticed to a house painter-decorator. Then, on his trip to Paris in 1907, he met the Fauve artists and was strongly affected by Henri Matisse’s art. The bright colors of Hunting the Roast for the Feast may be inspired by the Fauve artists’ color sense.
This print was published in the important German periodical Der Sturm (The Storm). Founded by Herwarth Walden in 1910, it provided the German Expressionists with a vehicle for publishing their graphic and literary productions. Walden, who was later to open a Der Sturm gallery, introduced a broader audience to advanced contemporary art, both German and foreign, through his publication and through the influential exhibitions he organized. Members of Die Brucke such as Kirchner and Nolde had been publishing woodcuts in the magazine since 1911, and Pechstein was, in his turn, to cut many blocks for publication there. It is clear that this image, the first of several cover illustrations he did, was one of the impressions originally intended for Der Sturm, since the magazine's typeset inscription (giving artist, title, and medium) is visible in the bottom margin. It was published in black and white; the festive colors were added later by hand and with the aid of Stencils.
Michael M. Floss, The Modern Art of the Print: Selections from the Collection of Lois and Michael Torf, p. 40