Description
A seasoned draftsman, Corinth produced more than 2,000 drawings over the course of his life. An elaborate crosshatch pattern of tightly packed charcoal lines creates this naturalistic view of a wooded landscape. The pale sky, described with white gouache on a tan sheet, suggests a cold, gray day; the palette is restrained except for a vibrant square of orange delineating the roof of a shed.
Provenance
[Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York]
Accession Number
1972.311
Medium
charcoal with orange pastel and white gouache
Dimensions
Sheet: 46.4 x 61.4 cm (18 1/4 x 24 3/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection
Tags
Drawing Early Modern (1901–1950) Pastel Charcoal Gouache German
Background & Context
Background Story
Lovis Corinth (1858-1925) was a German painter known for the vigorous, expressive manner that makes him one of the most important painters of the German Impressionist tradition. Landscape from 1904 depicts a landscape in the vigorous, expressive manner that distinguishes Corinth's best work from the more restrained Impressionism of his German contemporaries. The 1904 date places this in Corinth's most productive period, when he was producing the vigorous, expressive landscapes and portraits that are his most accomplished works, before the stroke in 1911 that would transform his manner into the even more expressive late style.
Cultural Impact
Landscape is important in the history of German Impressionism because it demonstrates the vigorous, expressive manner that Corinth brought to landscape as one of the most important painters of the German Impressionist tradition. Corinth's vigorous Impressionism—combining the color of French Impressionism with the expressive energy of the German tradition—represents the most important type of German Impressionist painting, and the 1904 landscape shows this combination at its most accomplished.
Why It Matters
Landscape is Corinth's vigorous German Impressionism: a landscape rendered in the expressive, energetic manner that combines French Impressionist color with German expressive energy. The 1904 painting shows the most important painter of the German Impressionist tradition at his most productive, before the 1911 stroke that would transform his manner into an even more expressive late style.
